Deuteronomy Response

Extremely bloody thankful that this next chapter is short because I am running out of things to say about old gal Jeanette. It's hard to write thoughtful and meaningful posts each time because guess what... I have to write not only one post but three more fantastical posts on top of all the ones I've already written. While it is good for me I would rather focus on writing the other essay that is currently due on Thursday. No amount of coronavirus will make up for the time that we missed. As she says everyone who tells a story tells it differently. There are many sides to it and depending on who's perspective it is, it is what is true to them. I kind of agree with her when she says about denying the past thing. But she relates all the past things that have happened in history to events that have happened in the Bible. For example, Noah and the Ark. It is hard to believe that man took two kinds of every animal and placed them in a boat without them each tearing and fighting each other to the death. If everyone outside of the boat died then are we to believe that Noah filled the land with just his children? It's all faith-based for sure. I got kind of lost in the end but I think what she says is true that you should make your own sandwich yet I feel as if that this chapter doesn't really belong in the book.

The literary element that I would like to emphasize in this chapter is Point of View/Perspective because not only is this chapter not being told by Jeanette or have anything related to Jeanette. This feels as if it is written in third person talking to the audience. Deuteronomy in the Bible is the book of law and instead of Jeanette giving us her set of laws, the author, Winterson starts to question histories and laws itself. She says, "Everyone who tells a story tells it differently, just to remind us that everybody sees it differently," (93) and I think that is important because she is a telling a story but she also says that it is a work of fiction and that it is uncertain what had happened in her life even though it could be true but there is no way of knowing. She emphasizes on the fact that knowing what to believe can build empires and create profit in some people's wallets. She describes how the Bible, history and the story of her life are all fiction meaning they are make-believe but also made with biasedness based on who exactly is telling the story. Which is why she states, "And so when someone tells me what they heard or saw, I believe them, and I believe their friend who also saw, but not in the same way, and I can put these accounts together and I will not have a seamless wonder but a sandwich laced with mustard of my own" (95). This leads us to question whether or not if the need to follow the laws of the Bible is necessary since it is considered fiction.

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