49 pages • 1 hour read
Jeanette WintersonOranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Religious Impact on Family Relationships
Content Warning: This section contains depictions of anti-LGBTQIA+ bias and abuse.
In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, religion and the institution of the church play an important role in defining personal and familial relationships. The church is often seen as one large family unit, in which each family comes together to form a cohesive community. When Jeanette’s mother explains her past and conversion into the church to Jeanette, she frames her place in the church as that of belonging to a family: “‘The church is my family,’ she always said whenever I asked about the people in the photograph album. And the church was my family too” (38). The people that Jeanette points out are her mother’s former family members, now separated from her because of her conversion into the church and their lack of support of her. Her mother soothes the divide between them by throwing herself completely into the church community, considering them her family and looking to them for support and guidance as she would from her own parents. This belief and approach to the church trickles down and has an impact on Jeanette, who sees the church as her family as well.
The church community to which Jeanette and her mother belong is strong, but its impact on the family units that comprise it can be severe. The pastors of the church often preach about sin and temptation and the secretive natures of each. Pastor Finch even warns his flocks that evil and sin can appear at a moment’s notice in their loved ones and that they must take care to notice the signs: “It has been known for the most holy men to be suddenly filled with evil. And how much more a woman, and how much more a child. Parents, watch your children for the signs. Husbands, watch your wives. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (12). Pastor Finch declares that evil is more likely to find women and children and places the responsibility of leading wives on men and of leading children on parents. This creates a domineering environment within homes as parents watch their children for any misdeed or sign of evil and husbands do the same for their wives. The declaration that any unapproved behavior is evil also mandates a harsh response, creating tension in family relationships.
This tension manifests later on in the book when Jeanette’s sexuality is revealed and meditated on by the church. Her mother’s reaction and attitude toward her mirrors that of the church and its leaders, and her judgment is severe. Jeanette is essentially banished from the church and given a pariah status until she repents. Only then will she be accepted back into the community at large and into her family at home: “Certainly it was the belief of the Faithful that God was cleansing me of all my demons, and there was no doubt that I would be welcomed back into the fold as soon as I recovered” (113). In the aftermath of the trauma inflicted by isolation, starvation, and the emotional labor of separating from Melanie, Jeanette develops a fever. She repents, to stop the process and attention, though she does not mean it, and those around her, especially her mother, see it as a cleansing fever. They believe that the fever is ridding Jeanette of the sickness of her sexuality, and once it runs its course, they will accept her back into the community. Her mother approaches the fever in the same way, seeing no distinction between her church community and her family. She can only have family that is in the church, and if her daughter is at odds with the church, then her daughter cannot be a part of her family.
Sexuality and Personal Identity
Jeanette’s undergoes a long journey of self-discovery over the course of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and as she struggles against her mother and the church, she begins realizing her sexuality and the ways in which it shapes her personal identity. Her journey begins at a young age as she looks to the women in her life and fails to understand their preoccupation and commitment to men as she finds herself repelled by them. She laments the reality that women must be with men and hopes for a different future for herself: “There were a lot of women, and most of them got married. If they couldn’t marry each other, and I didn’t think they could, because of having babies, some of them would inevitably have to marry beasts” (74). Even at a young age, Jeanette recognizes that romantic love in her world is heteronormative and centered around having children. She also understands the imbalance of these relationships and categorizes men as beasts, who are unfaithful, mean, and unrewarding to many women. She even begins to wonder if women could marry each other, but soon realizes this kind of union does not follow the heteronormative goals of marriage. She resists these romantic expectations for women, and as the novel continues, seeks to live a different life.
As Jeanette grows older, she begins to understand that her feelings toward men and heteronormative romance are in fact reflections of her own identity as a lesbian. To her, being a lesbian means living outside of societal and religious norms, and she therefore accepts the identity as a complex one: “At that point I had no notion of sexual politics, but I knew that a homosexual is further away from a woman than a rhinoceros. Now that I do have a number of notions about sexual politics, this early observation holds good” (129). Jeanette believes that she is farther away from a woman than a rhinoceros because of the ways in which religious and societal expectations of women universalize straight identity and relationships. To be a lesbian is to live outside of a heteronormativity that forces women to marry for childbearing and rearing and to support their husbands. The future opens up for Jeanette and there is a sense of freedom that comes with being openly lesbian. She can pursue a future that Melanie, who enters a heteronormative relationship, cannot. With her freedom, Jeanette can shape her own future.
One impact of Jeanette’s commitment to living her authentic self and embracing her sexuality as a key part of her personal identity is the strain it places on her relationship with her mother and her childhood community. When she returns to her mother in the final chapter of the novel, Jeanette recognizes the pain the visit brings and identifies its root: “Going back after a long time will make you mad, because the people you left behind do not like to think of you changed, will treat you as they always did, accuse you of being indifferent, when you are only different” (164). When Jeanette returns, many members of the church, and even her own mother, are wary and disapproving of her sexuality. They do not like that she leads her own life, confident in her identity apart from them. They place the responsibility of their judgment and ill will on her though, because she changed from the person they raised her to be. Jeanette does not change to spite them, but begins living honestly, respecting her true identity. Their ire stems from an inability to accept her and change themselves, leading to added pressure for Jeanette, who must contend with these attitudes while also staying firm in her commitment to be herself.
Stress of Religious Fundamentalism on LGBTQIA+ Relationships
Christian fundamentalism is at direct odds with LGBTQIA+ relationships and identities, seeing them as a sin and swiftly condemning them. This attitude is echoed throughout the religious community in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit as well as the community of the town, whose residents, perhaps not as religiously opposed, still do not approve of such relationships. Jeanette hears such condemnation at a young age, as people make comments about the women who own the paper shop: “Nellie thought that Jane might be seeing a boy on the quiet, pretending to be at Susan’s. Doreen shook her head. ‘She’s there all right, I checked with Susan’s mother. If they’re not careful folk will think they’re like them two at the paper shop’” (78). In this instance, a mother worried that her daughter may be a lesbian is concerned that the town will begin spreading rumors. Jeanette hears the condemnation in this statement and recognizes that people look at the two women who live together and operate the paper store as outcasts to be looked down upon. The disapproval of LGBTQIA+ relationships stems from religious belief and trickles down into every level of society. These comments and others like it make it difficult for Jeanette to understand her own feelings and reconcile them with the sin they supposedly are.
The church and its pastors often preach about the demonic nature of LGBTQIA+ relationships and denounce them as a sin, calling them “Unnatural Passions.” From the way it is spoken of and condemned, Jeanette’s image of “Unnatural Passions” is a negative one. Therefore, she is very confused when her relationship with Melanie, which she thinks of with love and warmth, is so harshly addressed: “I knew demons entered wherever there was a weak point. If I had a demon my weak point was Melanie, but she was beautiful and good and had loved me. Can love really belong to the demon?” (108). To Jeanette, her relationship with Melanie is one built on love and kinship, both holy qualities in her mind. Therefore, when her mother, the pastor, and the congregation as a whole condemn her and Melanie for living in sin, she refuses to agree, resisting the notion that anything they do or feel is unnatural or sinful. Jeanette is raised to believe that sin is evil, violent, and grotesque and yet no adjective with which she associates sin is found in her feelings or actions with Melanie. As Jeanette confronts this religious sentiment, resisting it as best she can, she begins to see cracks in her relationships with the church community and her mother.
Though Jeanette repents to stop the abuse she suffers at the hands of her mother and the pastor, she continues living her authentic self and begins another relationship with Katy. When their relationship is discovered, the fallout is severe, and her mother throws her out of the house. Once again, Jeanette must confront the fact that her identity and feelings are at direct odds with those of her mother and community: “It seemed to hinge around the fact that I loved the wrong sort of people. Right sort of people in every respect except this one; romantic love for another woman was a sin” (128-29). The world Jeanette knows condemns her identity and her relationships, leading to her departure from the church and eviction from her mother’s home. In the background of these exits is the dismantling of another romantic relationship. Jeanette’s relationships with both Melanie and Katy are complicated and destroyed by the actions and beliefs of the church. Their condemnation of LGBTQIA+ relationships places so much stress on Jeanette’s relationships that they cannot survive. In the case of her romance with Melanie, Melanie is so affected by the disapproval of the church that she marries a man and engages in a heteronormative relationship.
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