For my English class, we will focus on the chapters of the book “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit”. It is about an adopted girl raised by a very religious mother, in a life journey from religiousness to identity, towards her own story.

What to be aware of:

My professor wants us to focus on Character, Imagery, Point of View, and Setting. Also, besides focusing on the Plot, he would like us to focus on deeper elements such as character, theme, tone, etc, the deeper meaning of what is written. Also, he wants us to be aware that some opinions in the book might be biased since it is written in the first person, so to be aware of what is a fact and what is an opinion.

What professor directly wants from us: Our Personal Reactions from the story, and Key Literary Elements

Genesis

My personal Reactions:

The first chapter is very descriptive about her mom’s personality and the values the main character, Jeannet, was raised with. She describes the way her mom educated her and honestly as a Christian is very interesting to read. Her mom created a ludic world where the devil is the enemy in its many forms, and God is their friend. She would create stories based on the bible for dinner time and homeschool her daughter, and they would have a Sunday in family time. But also, it would be everything they had. Her dream was to have a child and dedicate it entirely to the Lord, so she adopted Jeannete to train her to be a missionary from an early age. She is so strict in this that people outside start noticing, and she is summoned by law to put her daughter in a public school otherwise she would be arrested. Did she become a mom to be a mom and love and raise this child for the world, or to project her dreams and aspirations into her? That is something to think about. Also, she is in love with the pastor. She blushes when the pastor directs his attention to her, and she wants to please him with her bible studies. But she does not respect her husband’s views, who converted to the Lord because he wanted to marry her. In my personal opinion, I see her mom has the right rationale, but internally, I can see the unbalances in the way the character was raised.

Literary Elements:

This story is written in first person by the protagonist, who is still a child, Jeanette. She retreats her childhood, which in this chapter is mostly focused on the way she raised her towards religion. Her mom is a very lived figure in the book, that I would describe as the antagonist based on her observations, and her father is rarely mentioned but he does not speak much and is not involved with her education. Her mom wanted to have a child to dedicate to God, and most of the chapter is in her house, church, and a discussion saying she will now start going to school. The devil is often mentioned, and it is symbolized as anything that is not good. Any lie, or wrongdoing that happens. But God, very much mentioned, is the focus of her whole education. That symbolizes a distinct duality that Jeanette was raised with. Important imagery is also the bible, her mom would tell stories and or educate mostly based on inspirations from there, introducing an inner world in her childhood that would be full of lively characters stories, and teachings. The narrator is very factual and descriptive in her storytelling while describing reality but also retreating the absurdity of some situations that happened. For example, at the beginning of the chapter she describes her mom’s personality, and she highlights: “She wanted the Mormons to knock on the door.” The emphasis on “wanted” is descriptive, but still denotes some emotion in this situation.