Ethical Growth Of The Protagonist In Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

Jeanette Winterson is one of the best and controversial writers in modern Britain.Oranges Are Not the Only Fruits,her debut novel published in 1985,has gained widespread acclaim,and won the 1985 Whitbread First Novel Award.This novel marks the beginning of Winterson’s exploration of her own narrative structure and language,and also establishes the foundation of her distinctive writing style.Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit tells an initiation story of the protagonist Jeanette.Due to Winterson’s obvious postmodernist writing style and strong feminist ideas,as well as the biographical feature of this novel,critics’ attention has mainly been directed towards its narrative techniques and lesbian feminism.Some critics have interpreted the novel as an initiation story,but their researches have generally been done from the perspective of psychology or sociology.The present author in her research finds that Jeanette’s growing process is also that of the construction of her ethics.Therefore,based on Professor Nie Zhenzhao’s ethical literary criticism,this thesis is to delineate Jeanette’s initiation from the ethical perspective:her ethical confusion caused by absence of ethical care,ethical conflicts faced by her in pursuit of ethical care,and her ethical selection which demonstrates her maturation,for in the ultimate ethical selection she acquires the ability to impart ethical care and she has constructed her own ethics which advocates dignity and individual liberty.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter gives an introduction of Jeanette Winterson and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit,and a general survey of studies on Winterson’s works at home and abroad.It also explains the focus and structure of the thesis.The second chapter is concerned with Jeanette’s ethical confusion about her identities in the growing process and argues that the root cause of her ethical confusion is absence of ethical care.Jeanette receives two ethical identities(daughter and Christian)after being adopted by a Pentecostal couple.However,parental love and sense of belonging to the church are both absent in Jeanette’s ethical relations due to the foster parents’ indifference and the rigidity of the church.The demands of ethical care in accordance with her ethical identities of daughter and Christian could not be satisfied,thereby provoking the little Jeanette’s confusion over her identities.The third chapter probes into the ethical conflicts faced by Jeanette in seeking for ethical care.It points out that the conflicts mainly exist between her identity as a lesbian and her ethical identities as a daughter and a Christian.Jeanette enters into a lesbian relation when she reaches her puberty.While her lesbian relation is not accepted by the society and the church of that time,Jeanette obtains love and respect which she could hardly receive in her foster family and the church.Therefore,the identity as a lesbian brings Jeanette into an ethical dilemma:Jeanette would betray her pursuit of love if she gives up the lesbian relations,however,she would betray God if she insists her lesbian love.The little Jeanette could not make a decision between love of God and her lesbian love,therefore she escapes from the town.The fourth chapter focuses on Jeanette’s ethical selection,and her ethical care as well as her own ethics reflected in the ultimate selection.To the ethical dilemma left since adolescence,the grown Jeanette has the ability to make her ethical evaluation and choice:while collecting back her identity as a daughter and imparting care and respect to her foster mother,Jeanette insists her sexual orientation and gives up the identity of Christian.From a little girl who suffers from lack of ethical care,to an adolescent seeking for ethical care,and eventually a provider of ethical care,Jeanette experiences the stages of her growth and finally achieves maturation.Her ultimate ethical selection reflects her recognition of dignity and advocacy of individual liberty.The last chapter is conclusion,which summarizes the previous discussions and states the major argument of the thesis:the novel under discussion is a record of its protagonist’s ethical growth,which provides a new perspective for the interpretation of growth.