Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Is a memoir by J.Winterson  the writer tells about her life with no chronological order Constance Winterson the book is dedicated to her three mothers: Ruth Rendell Ann S. Constance Winterson is her foster mother Ruth Rendell is her ‘writer and literary’ mother Ann S. is her biological mother The structure of the novel is composed with the title: what expectation is created? What does ‘be normal’ mean and what does ‘be happy’ mean? J. Winterson wants to pave the way of what she is going to tell us. The memoire is divided into 15 chapters and a final coda

SETTING MANCHESTER Was the city where J.Winterson was born in Manchester was the world’s first industrial city; it was radical – Marx and Angels were her. It was repressive – the Perterloo Massacres and the Corn Laws. It was Utilitarian and Utopian – its Quakerism, feminism, anty-slavery movement, socialism, comunism ACCRINGTON Was the city where J.Winterson grew up and spent her childhood with her foster parents. ‘I LIVED ON A LONG stretchy street with a town at the bottom and a hill at the top’ from Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal

CHARACTERS MAIN CHARACTERS  Jeanette Winterson: protagonist and novelist  Mrs Winterson: Jeanette’ s adoptive mother  Mr Winterson: Jeanette’s adoptive father OTHER CHARACTERS  Helen: Jeanette’s first girlfriend  Susie Orbach: Jeanette’s girlfriend  Ruth Rendell: ‘writer and literary mother’  Ann S: biological mother  Gary: brother

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 1° CHAPTER: THE WRONG CRIB The first chapter is an introductory chapter where the novelist narrates about her difficulties in being an adoptive child and the difficulty in taking part of a new family: that’s why she felt in a wrong crib 2° CHAPTER: MY ADVICE TO ANYBODY IS: GET BORN The second chapter describes the town where the writer was born. It shows Manchester during the Industrial Revolution

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 3° CHAPTER: IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD The third chapter tells about the life in Jeanette’s family sphere where the Bible had an important role because it was a religious family 4° CHAPTER: THE TROUBLE WITH A BOOK The fourth chapter underlines the important role of the books in Jeanette’s life and the conservatory and austerity believe about life of her adoptive mother

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 5° CHAPTER: AT HOME The fifth chapter explains how reading books makes the novelist feel as if she was at home 6° CHAPTER: CHURCH The sixth chapter tells about the relationship between Jeanette and the Church. It shows also the first omosexual love for a girl named Helen

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 7° CHAPTER: ACCRINGTON The seventh chapter tells about the town where Jeanette spent her childhood 8° CHAPTER: THE APOCALYPSE The Apocalypse is a part of the Bible and it is associated to Mrs Winterson. In this chapter Jeanette discovers her omosexuality and Mrs Winsterson’s disapproval is shown

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 9° CHAPTER: ENGLISH LITERATURE A-Z The nineth chapter focuses the reader’s attention on Jeanette’s attitude in reading all the English Literature in order to excape from the real life and to take refuge in the literature world 10° CHAPTER: THIS IS THE ROAD The tenth chapter shows the women’s conditions during the Industrial Revolution and Jeanette’s attitude to make the society homophobicless

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 11° CHAPTER: ART AND LIES INTERMISSION The eleventh chapter tells about Jeanette’s life during her university and her point of view about literature 12° CHAPTER: THE NIGHT SEA VOYAGE The title of the chapter reminds of a dark atmosphere  night The Sea Voyage  Jeanette’s walk of life

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 13° CHAPTER: THIS APPOINTMENT TAKES PLACE IN THE PAST The thirteenth chapter tells about Jeanette’s memories regarding her parents and the death of her father 14° CHAPTER: STRANGE MEETING The fourteenth chapter describes Jeanette’s meeting with her biological mother and her emotions and feelings are shown

STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS 15° CHAPTER: THE WOND The title of the last chapter refers to the pains linked to the neglet and to the adoption that Jeanette had suffered during her life CODA Coda is a brief conclusion of the memoir where Jeanette explains how the book was born and how the relationship with her biological mother followed