Winterson's Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

In the poem, “Oranges,” Gary Soto uses the symbolism of the oranges to emphasize the theme of love that he has for this girl as well as the theme of sacrifice. It was his first time on a date and he was already prepared as he was “weighted down with two oranges in [his] jacket,” and later when the girl wanted a chocolate bar, he didn’t have enough money, so he sacrificed one of his oranges and a nickel “and set them quietly on the counter.” Based on the fact the he had two oranges in his pocket, the reader can assume that he had planned to give her one so that they could enjoy them together. Considering the importance that the oranges held in his mind though, he loved her enough to sacrifice his plans in order to fulfill her desires and show

Many readers who analyze Steinbeck's short story, "The Chrysanthemums", feel Elisa's flowers represent her repressed sexuality, and her anger and resentment towards men. Some even push the symbolism of the flowers, and Elisa's masculine actions, to suggest she is unable to establish a true relationship between herself and another. Her masculine traits and her chrysanthemums are enough to fulfill her entirely. This essay will discuss an opposing viewpoint. Instead, it will argue that Elisa's chrysanthemums, and her masculine qualities are natural manifestations of a male dominated world. Pertinent examples from "The Chrysanthemums" will be given in an attempt to illustrate that Elisa's character qualities, and gardening skills,

The speaker’s change in attitude and evolvement of emotions depict the enduring effects of prejudice and societal boundaries on the speaker. Unable to rise past the class system, the speaker remains on the outskirts of city limits, picking berries. Losing his enjoyment of picking berries, the speaker comes to a new realization about the cold side of reality, and consequently, when the speaker gives up his child-like view of the world and the sweetness of nature, he receives pain, the stinging thorns of

Angela McEwan-Alvarado was born in Los Angeles and has lived in many locations in the United States, as well as Mexico and Central America. She obtained her master’s degree at UC Irvine and since then has worked as an editor of educative materials and a translator. The story “Oranges” was the result of an exercise for a writer’s workshop in which the author managed to mix images and experiences accumulated throughout her life.

Oranges are not the Only Fruit starts out when Jeanette is seven years old and living with her adoptive parents in England. Jeanette’s mother is very religious, and her father is not around much. She gets pretty lonely; until she is seven years old she has been homeschooled. Her mother is so religious that she even taught Jeanette how to read from the Bible. Because Jeanette’s mother is so religious, she almost brainwashes her daughter to become a missionary. However, once Jeanette begins school things change. When Jeanette is seven years old, she loses her hearing. Her mother and the church think it is something religious when it is really just a sickness, so she is admitted into the hospital. When Jeanette is well again so goes back

When Jeannette was a child, and they were not running out of food, Jeannette was happy. As long as she had a

The first social issue that Barbara Kingsolver wants to bring awareness to in The Bean Trees are refugees. Kingsolver sympathizes for the tall hurdles that refugees must overcome. She wants to prove that people who are not from America have the same value as those who are. In order to express this, Kingsolver uses Turtle as a symbol of the refugees as she was also separated from her parents and taken to a foreign land. By the end of the novel, Turtle finds a home within Taylor which is symbolic for Kingsolver's opinion that all refugees deserve a loving, accessible home. Virgie Parson is also a symbol for all Americans who have conservative political ideals and the nation’s haste towards allowing refugees and immigrants into our country. Although Virgie is not portrayed as evil, she is portrayed as having no sympathy for the consequences that alienating these aliens from our country will have and not thinking about the moral implications. By providing a happy ending for almost all the character, Kingsolver demonstrates how Refugees and American can both live peacefully as one.

Thus, when considering the sexualized symbolism of the pear tree blooms, Janie reveals she comprehended the idea of what a marriage should be through witnessing the pollination of a bee into the blossoming pear tree.

Janie is, of course, drawn to the forbidden fruit and soon eats of it when she kisses Johnny Taylor over her grandmother’s fence. And just as Adam and Eve enter into life when they eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, so Janie’s “life commence[s] at Nanny’s gate” (10). Spying her kissing Johnny Taylor over the fence, Janie’s grandmother calls her into the house. Janie “half believe[s]” that her grandmother has not seen her, and her grandmother circuitously approaches the subject. Finally, confronting Janie, her grandmother “slap[s]” her “face violently” (13). The scene maintains a detailed parallel with Genesis. God, by definition, knows when Adam and Eve have eaten of the forbidden fruit. Yet, like Janie’s grandmother, God temporarily feigns ignorance, first calling out to Adam as if unaware of his whereabouts, and then asking innocently how Adam came to know he was naked. And Adam, like Janie, apparently believes, or half believes, that God does not know he has eaten of the fruit. And finally, just as Janie’s grandmother punishes Janie by slapping her and forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, so

In the music video/song “Strange Fruit”, the phrase strange fruit doesn’t really refer to a fruit that is strange. It actually refers to people being lynched and hanging from trees. More specifically, the term strange fruit applies to the lynching of African Americans. This song was performed by Billie Holiday in 1939 at the Cafe Society in New York. The music video was actually a recorded performance from 1959. The song was written and performed because the purpose of was to raise awareness and fight against African American lynching because during that time, African Americans were being discriminated and abused. Billie Holiday in the music video/song “Strange Fruit” displays logos through context and imagery, pathos through her sorrowful tone and facial expressions, and lastly, ethos because she won many awards during her career in singing, and Strange Fruit is one of them.

Since she does not seem to idolize her parents and respect them in any form, she finds another person to admire and dedicate her time to. By Connie claiming that the “drive-in restaurant where the older kids hung out,” (Oates) is her form of church, the reader develops a sense of what is important to Connie at this time in her life. A biblical allusion could be made between the confrontation of Arnold Friend and Connie. Arnold Friend and his charismatic attempt to persuade Connie to get out of her house and “come for a ride” (Oates) in his car with him could be interpreted as Eve and the serpent that tempts her to eat the forbidden apple. Just as the serpent exclaimed, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,” Arnold Friend attempted to persuade Connie to do as he desired. (Genesis) By including all of these religious contexts in a story about a supposedly non-religious family, the reader can decipher that Oates story was meant to encase a deeper

“The gardener croons, it is your nature to be small and cozy”, “how lucky, little tree, to have a pot to grow in” or by the sarcastic description of the tree’s pot as being ‘attractive’. Piercy illustrates a gardener who dictates the appearance and growth of a bonsai tree, and compares this relationship to the way men treat women in society. Her opinions of men are represented within

After the baker takes all the rage thrown on him by Ann, he in return begs for forgiveness and gives the parents what they were lacking, that is food. The baker does all this even though he is alone and virtually makes contact with anybody.

Janie is a modernisation of the Roman deity Jana and Vergible is derived from the demi-god Virbius, making him King of the woods” (King, 1998), which brings hope to their union by adding in an element of the divine thereby raising expectations. Indeed, the readers sees Tea Cake put Janie up on a pedestal and frequently mention that Janie holds “da keys tuh de kingdom”, reminiscent of her namesake’s status as the highest god – receiving the veneration she deserves and not “da mule of de world” as Nanny feared. ‘Sethe’ is a feminisation merging the Egyptian god Set and Seth from the Old Testament, the former who “commits an atrocity upon a family member, and the latter who revives hope in God upon his birth” (Mayer, 1993) alluding to the split in her maternal identity for which she needs to seek forgiveness to have hope of redemption. Additionally, “Amy becomes worthy of deeper scrutiny given the striking fact that etymologically the name, from the Latin amatus, literally means beloved,” (Coonradt, 2005).

"[Elisa's] passionate involvement with the process of planting becomes an expression of all the suppressed romance in her life" (Lewis 393). "She is a strong, childless woman of thirty-five that has subliminated her maternal instincts by producing remarkable flowers" (French, John 83). Nevertheless, "the plants and flowers cannot compensate for the lack of understanding and affection from her husband" (McCarthy 27). In the story, Elisa plays the role of a simple-minded lady who allows her husbands thoughts and actions to dominate her. "Elisa's marriage neither fills her time nor fulfills her desires" (Hughes 24). However, Beach concludes that Elisa without a doubt has a "soul" and is much less simple than she seems (Beach 32).