W HY B E H APPY, W HEN Y OU C OULD B E N ORMAL ? Jeanette Winterson Author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

T O MY THREE MOTHERS : C ONSTANCE W INTERSON R UTH R ENDELL A NN S. The dedication at the beginning of the book is for the novelist’s three mothers: her biological mother, her adoptive mother and her literary mother. Ruth Rendell is an English writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries. The novelist says “Ruth has known me since I was twenty-six, and she lent me a cottage to write in when I was trying to make my way. She had been the Good Mother – never judging, quietly supporting, letting me talk, letting me be”. The novelist starts her book with a dedication to thank the women who contributed to her life, education and literary base.

I NTRODUCTION written in Great Britain, 2011 published by Vintage, 2011 and 2012 CONTENTS: Jeanette Winterson’s memories The writer’s explanation based on the novel “Oranges are not the only fruit”

HAPPY: is a way to live life; everyone of the world try to reach this way of being. NORMAL: a different way of living. Normality coincides with masses. The intelligent reader from the title normally expects something. In this case he/she could expect a strange situation developed during the whole book, connected through the chapters. TITLE: “Why Be Happy, When You Could Be Normal?”

S TRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE NOVEL 1) NARRATOR: the novelist (protagonist) speaks for herself 2) NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: 15 chapters strictly connected, based on the novelist’s autobiography 3) LANGUAGE: simple language but the writer adopts a straight - forward way of speaking

1) NARRATOR: THE MAIN CHARACTER The book is defined from the novelist as a MEMOIR: the protagonist is the writer, Jeanette Winterson. She tells her story and for this reason she doesn’t have to introduce the character. For example, in the novel the reader does not find her physical description; instead he comes to know her thoughts, feelings and behaviors depending on different situations. * Memoir is a literary genre and it is different from an autobiography because in the memoir the writer focuses on her personality. The chronological sequence of events is not the most important element because memoir is principally based on emotions and feelings.

Right from the start the character of the mother is perfectly described, both physically and psychologically, through Jeanette’s thoughts She is described as a person with a strong personality. In the novel “Oranges are not the only fruit” Jeanette Winterson says “my father liked to watch the wrestling, my mother liked to wrestle”. In this way she underlines the passive figure of her adoptive father instead of the active character of her adoptive mother. CHARACTER OF THE MOTHER:

The book is organized into fifteen chapters, each having a own title and a particular function in the story: each one describe a period or a fact of the writer’s life. They don’t have the function to describe facts and events in a chronological way because the novel is a memoir, so the most important elements are memoires, feelings and emotions of the protagonist. 2) CHAPTERS

Manchester and Accrington In the second chapter of the novel the writer describes the city of Manchester during the period of the Industrial Revolution. She reflects on negative aspects which the revolution brought; the city is described with: “the filth, the smoke, the stink of dye and ammonia, sulphur and coal”. Men and women were exhausted and ill-clad, their children were weak and they went in the industries with their parents: often they lose hands and arms. With industries Manchester became a new active, uncontrollable reality, which showed its effects on ordinary people. The most terrible thing about industrialization is that makes escape necessary: in a system that generates masses, individualism is the only way out. SETTING

She writes to repair to the suffering that her adoption brought to her. WHY DOES JEANETTE WINTERSON WRITE?

Martina Toso 5 A a.s