Queer As Art issue 2 April-May-June 2017 | Page 13

Religion, lesbianism and the
crime of loving both
“To the pure, all things are pure”
wrote Paul the Apostle in Titus 1-15 ; its
the proverb by which Jeanette Winterson
seems to rule her life, as to reconcile both
God and her love for women. Her novel,
Oranges are not the only fruit, is a clear
rendering of this difficult situation. Despite
being characterised by many as
autobiographical novel, Jeanette
Winterson herself wrote that Oranges is
far from being only an autobiography.
Mixing up fantasy parts to more realistic
and personal events, Winterson’s Oranges
is a fabulous testimony of postmodernist
novels. Despite rejecting the term of
“lesbian novel” as a definition, Oranges
has indeed become a book that helped
many girls and women to overcome their
fears.
Th e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e n o v e l
immediately gives the tone. We’re in a
small village lost somewhere in England
and we evolve through the eyes of a small
girl, whom we’ll see growing up page after
page. Jeanette is a special little girl, raised
by her mother, whose goal is to make of
Jeanette the one missionary who will
change the world, and her dad, submitted
to the latter. Jeanette is thus brought up
by her mother until she turns seven, age of
reason, when she is forced to go to school.
Religion is the main word in the house and
biblical readings and tests are the primary
focus of her education. The weight of
religion on Jeanette’s life is strongly
depicted from the beginning. Once at
school, she has trouble integrating as she
makes everything revolve around God and
religion. She’s the abnormal one, for
having always lived in a oh so religious
home, for not liking the same things as the
others, for being too religious. However,
Jeanette feels detached from the vision of
her schoolmates and teachers, as her
direct entourage is as religious
enthusiastic as she is. Religion is here
depicted as a very pure thing, towards
which everyone should turn to.
Even if, little by little, Jeanette
realises she is different from others in
another way, as she is interested by whom
she shouldn’t think of, she never turns her
back from religion. In fact for the young
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