Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit 1165all, Winterson also discourages any kind of labeling
of her work as “lesbian” and thus avoids the stereo-
types that come with the term. This way, Winterson
allows Jeanette to assert her individuality, rejecting
the notion that her experience is like other “lesbian”
experiences.
One of Jeanette’s earlier experiences of not fit-
ting in occurs at school. School turns out to be a
disappointment for her, as she does not find the
answers to questions she has about the world, such
as Elsie’s enigmatic statement that “there’s more to
this world than meets the eye.” “After three terms,”
we are told, “I was beginning to despair. I’d learnt
country dancing and the rudiments of needlework,
but not a great deal more.” Jeanette is also bullied
and begins bullying others herself, for which she
is punished by being sent into the “shoebag room,”
which is “dark and smelly.” She spends quite a fair
bit of time in solitary confinement at school, which
foreshadows her “exorcism” later on after her affair
with Melanie is found out. After a while, Jeanette
stops minding the smell in the closet and even seems
to enjoy being in the room, setting herself apart from
everyone else, in a kind of exile.
After the summer holidays, the children are
asked to share with the class what they each did
on vacation. Jeanette shares her experience at an
evangelism camp at Colwyn Bay with the class. Due
to its moral and religious overtones, her story meets
with the disapproval of the teacher, who does not
allow her to complete it. Jeanette returns to her seat
as the class giggles, still unsure why she has been
prevented from continuing. Some weeks later, the
children are asked to make a sampler in cross-stitch.
Jeanette chooses the text: “The summer is ended
and we are not yet saved” in the color black. The
disturbing motif scares the children, and Jeanette is
sent to the head of the school. When asked where
she learned these things, she reveals that her mother
had taught her to read out of the Bible. What we see
here is a clash between the religious and the secular,
with Jeanette caught in the middle, as she struggles
to fit in with the secular world. At this point, she
finds comfort in her church, which she understands
better: “It was clear and warm and made me happy.”
The comfort she finds with the church, however,
does not embrace her for long. When her affair with
Melanie is found out, Jeanette once again finds her-
self at variance with society.
The relationship between the individual and
society is not portrayed simply in opposition. There
is a sense that the individual cannot escape from
society completely. Winnet’s story illustrates this
idea. Throughout her story, Winnet is portrayed as
always being alone. When the sorcerer finds her,
she is traveling alone. Even after she becomes his
apprentice and daughter, she remains isolated from
her father in her love for the young boy. Because she
refuses to obey her father to denounce her love for
the boy, she is forced to leave the village. After Win-
net leaves, she arrives at another village where she is
set apart from its villagers. She does not speak their
language and does not talk very much, even though
she would like to, especially about the world she has
just left. This is because there is so much wrong in
the previous world that if she were to speak of it,
the villagers would think her mad. Therefore, she
says nothing and pretends to be like them. Winnet
hears that there is a beautiful city and decides to go
there. When she tells the villagers her plan to go
there, they merely laugh at her. Undaunted, Winnet
sets her mind to the task of making the journey hap-
pen. On the day she sails away, she realizes that “one
thing is certain; she can’t go back.” Unbeknownst
to her, her father, the sorcerer, has tied an invisible
thread around one of her buttons. This symbolizes
the impossibility of severing her ties with her father
and shows that one day, she will inevitably come
back.
This story parallels Jeanette’s own individual
journey through the world. Like Winnet, there is
an invisible thread that binds her to her mother
and home. At the end of the novel, Jeanette returns
home for Christmas. There is none of the animosity
previously shown, though we sense an unbridge-
able gap in the relationship between mother and
daughter.
Jeanette’s mother is another character who fits
into the paradigm of an individual fighting society
at large—in this case, the society of the sinful. She
certainly stands out from the other Christians in the
community in her dedication to the Lord. Through-
out the novel, she continually takes it upon herself
to smite the sinful and fight God’s battle on earth.