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The beginning code given us in the title of Jeanette Winterson¡¦s book, Oranges are not the Only Fruit, is an orange. Winterson created a book and a heroine which is herself, lover of women crowned with flame under the tubercular sky surrounded by orange crates of theology1. Oranges are not the only fruit, but they are what Jeanette has to start with, a zero, an O, gaping round and empty, looking still searching for a place to belong.

Female identity is a process contingent upon the mother-daughter metaphor, a development which ultimately requires the separation/independence of mother and child. The discovery of sexuality and formation of identity in Jeanette¡¦s case is complicated since she tells her own story as both heroine and author. First we will examine texts in psychology and sociology d

¡§In both Hebrew and classical tradition the fruit4 is associated with sexual love, which Adam and Eve discover, in some interpretations, after eating it.¡¨ (Ferber 13) The biblical and heterosexual fruit was the apple5, but all Jeanette ever got was oranges. As she grew up, however, she discovered other fruit, a charming melon6 for instance:

Kisses and much tenderness followed, but in the wake of these, the young friends with lesbian inclinations were called unholy. Under pressure of the pastor and congregation, Melanie repented, Jeanette didn¡¦t:

¡¥Don¡¦t worry,¡¦ I reassured her, ¡¥you don¡¦t any more.¡¦

¡¥We are called to be apart,¡¦ she said.

Some topics in this essay:
Jeanette Oranges, Door Gazing, Pastor Finch, William Blake, There¡¨ Door, Oranges Fruit, Male Experience, , Adam Eve, Nancy Chodorow¡Kfirst, female identity, jeanette¡¦s mother, separation mother, preface oranges, winterson preface oranges, winterson preface, process female identity, lesbian gay, gay male, metaphorical mother, gardiner 186, winterson 42, lesbian gay male, contingent mother-daughter metaphor, identification separation mother,