Judges Response

Thankful for having to write only two more one thousand word responses to the story of Orange is Not the Only Fruit. She got to that conclusion in Joshua. What particularly is aping men? I have never heard of that phrase. I would say that this is the phase of Return with the Elixir. Jeanette has come back to realize that she is more than just what her church or her mother tells her what she is. She has ideas and feelings and she realizes that the gender roles that are placed on men and women are just made by society and not what they feel they should be doing. Jeanette has accepted who she is and realizes that she can never find her true self if she stays at home. The first quote is with the Queen is from the novel Alice and Wonderland which represents how her mother had wanted her to be out of her house. I struggled with the fact that because she doesn't like how she is being treated she hides it. I know that the times were considered different back then. I really liked reading Elsie's role throughout this whole book. She is the mother Jeanette has never known and she is extremely accepting of who she is. I crossed my fingers a lot in hopes that Jeanette does not become exorcised for having desires to make an emotional connection with another person. I don't understand the point of the story of Perceval and the number seven came back again like in the beginning when she was just seven. Oranges are back. Hooray. I laughed when she said, "If there's such a thing as spiritual adultery, mother was a whore" (134). It's interesting how her perspective on her mom has slowly started to unravel as a character. I think it's interesting how Jeanette retells this story of Sir Perceval while she is telling what is currently going on in her life. Sir Perceval leaves Arthur's court where is considered darling and beloved while Jeanette also leaves the church where she is considered adored for her sermons (135). Sir Perceval and Jeanette both leave to find their Holy Grail. I think it's clever that she has such a play on words at the end saying "it's not judgment day, but another morning" (137). I read online that while she considers herself to be Sir Perceval she then sees her mother as being King Arthur but in the role of a man. That is why the chapter Judges follows the stage of Return with the Elixir. She holds the truth within her hands and has been transformed. She lies to evade being persecuted from her church and Jeanette knows inwardly that to find her true self she needs to separate herself from her home and the church. The church and her mother's preachings were everything she has been taught to love and has grown up knowing. The next chapter is Ruth which is amazing because that is one of my favorite biblical stories.

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