Xhonneux Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

Xhonneux, L. "The Classic Coming Out Novel: Unacknowledged Challenges to the Heterosexual Mainstream." College Literature, vol. 39 no. 1, 2012, pp. 94-118. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/lit.2012.0005. Xhonneux argues within her article that Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit does not primarily focus on the protagonist’s sexuality. Instead, the author believes that the novel does not follow a chronological sequence in order to present the reader different sides of Jeanette. For example, Xhonneux points out that when Jeanette was a young child, her train of thought wonders simultaneously as she begins to make new connections with everything around her. As the story progresses, Jeanette’s mind begins to mature. This can be seen, as Xhonneux states, a

The author states “Winterson deconstructs Jeanette’s received ideology and demonstrates the ways in which self and reality are narrative” (Reisman 11). She compares the events that occur and the fairytales and states that they allude to Jeanette’s subconscious desires. For example, in one of the fairy tales, a prince searches for the perfect woman and stops at nothing to marry her. Like the prince, as Reisman points out, Jeanette is in search of a ‘perfect’ partner she wishes to be with. Like the fairy tale, she believes she found her perfect princess, Melanie, however, she becomes upset when she realizes Melanie was not a suited partner. Both have great similarities despite the vast differences in time era and the reality of each situation. The author later states that the stories are spaces in which Jeanette’s ‘inner power are stored’. This allows the character to define her true self through negotiation and soul searching, for example, when Jeanette leaves her evangelical home to reflect upon herself. I agree with Reisman’s interpretation of the fairytales and Jeanette’s reality. It is interesting how she believes that each fairy tale gives Jeanette powers. This journal source will help give a better interpretation of the relations between the fairytales and Jeanette’s