Genesis Response

Genesis was an interesting read because what I understood about it at the end was a story of a girl who grew up in a very religious home. I kind of laughed a bit at the Buzule of Carpathian with the mice collecting your hair and giving you a headache. I’ve read a lot of short stories in my life but nothing like that. With how religious her mom is it surprised me how much they let her out even to the fair where her mom considered the Gypsies as fornicators. She gave out a lot of short stories and what stuck out to me was how many lists she had in the over all story (milk goats, educate, compose songs) and then how her mother had wanted to raise a Christian child (a missionary child, a servant of God and a blessing) (Winterson, 10). I don’t know if she actually stole her from the orphanage or if that was normal but I guess it was in that time. I think it was also interesting to see the lack of fatherly role her dad had or how little he was brought up in the story. I have also heard a of never praying for someone to shrink and I am sort of religious myself. That was a first for me. She also likes to ramble a lot which reminds me of that saying that women’s brains are like spaghetti where their thought are continuous train of thoughts. The narrator will go from one thought to another and it can be difficult to get to her point.

A repeating motif in this story is short stories and religion. She tells the story about the princess, and about Daniel in the lions den. I think these short stories are important because it describes how Jeanette has grown up and what kind of environment she’s grown up in. Which brings us back to the title of the story Genesis which in the Bible is the beginning chapter or the beginning and upbringing of Jeanette. I think it’s important that she repeatedly remembers what the old Gypsy said, “You’ll never marry” (Winterson, 7) because she follows it about a story of two women she met that didn’t have husbands and her mother was telling her friend that those ladies dealt in unnatural passions. She repeats the words again later on as she remembers Pastor Finch and says to herself it might not be a bad thing to not even marry. She repeatedly uses the number seven a lot and how for 7 days and 7 nights she cried out and later on she says she is 7 days which the pastor refers to the 7 days of creation, seven branched candle sticks, the seven seals (Winsterson, 11) but I feel like he also omits the seven deadly sins of the Bible. I could also be making things up but there weren’t many symbols or stories that stood out to me and plot of the story felt very flat. If there was a peak it would probably be when her mother stole her to be dedicated to the Lord which could also be seen as a symbolism for how Jesus had spent his time on earth.

Winterson, Jeanette.  “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit”. Publisher Group West: Great Britain. 1985