{"id":2599,"date":"2025-02-06T23:30:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T04:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=2599"},"modified":"2025-02-06T23:42:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T04:42:21","slug":"the-christmas-conundrum-rewriting-the-family-in-written-on-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2025\/02\/06\/the-christmas-conundrum-rewriting-the-family-in-written-on-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christmas Conundrum: Rewriting the Family in “Written on the Body”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0For a brief period in the text, Louise and the narrator of <\/span>Written on the Body <\/span><\/i>share a quaint and domestic life together. With Elgin out of the picture, the two lovers can fully enjoy each other\u2019s company and embrace the positive aspects of stable, affectionate monogamy. Notably, this domestic reprieve occurs during the Christmas season. Louise and the narrator, along with the rest of the world, get caught up in the holiday spirit. They cannot help but decorate their \u201cflat with garlands of holly and ivy woven from the woods\u201d (Winterson 99). Though they have \u201cvery little money,\u201d they still find peace and cheer in \u201cthe season of goodwill\u201d (99-100). Sadly for the two lovers, though, this fragile joy comes crashing down around them. By setting all scenes of domesticity at Christmastime, Winterson emphasizes the ubiquity of hegemonic ideals of domestic happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick points out in <\/span>Tendencies<\/span><\/i>, Christmas marks a \u201ctime when all the institutions are speaking with one voice\u201d (5). As all institutions repeatedly promote the monolith of Christmas, an increasing connection emerges between Christmastime and \u201cthe image of \u2018the\u2019 family\u201d (6). Of course, Louise and the narrator do not conform to any traditional concept of what \u201cthe family\u201d looks or acts like; their relationship begins with an affair, they do not share children, and they may both be women. Still, they enjoy the holiday season just like any other family. \u201cWe sang and played and walked for miles looking at buildings and watching people,\u201d says the narrator (99). The couple\u2019s singing calls to mind Christmas carols, while their playing evokes a childlike joy. Perhaps they also admire Christmas lights while taking their milelong walks. They even learn the quintessential lesson of Christmas: the importance of family. \u201cA treasure had fallen into our hands,\u201d says the narrator, \u201cand the treasure was each other\u201d (99). The statement is overly schlocky, romantic, and sentimental, especially for such a cynical narrator. In other words, the statement embodies all the cardinal aspects of Christmastime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Despite their poverty and unconventionality, Louise and the narrator remain \u201cinsultingly happy\u201d (99). Their happiness does not just insult Elgin or Jacqueline. Rather, it insults the established order. The couple demonstrates that one does not have to adhere to conventional expectations in order to find fulfillment. However, their rebellion comes at a cost. Elgin arrives on \u201cChristmas Eve\u201d to inform the narrator that Louise has leukemia (100). He undercuts the couple\u2019s happiness the night before the glorious day, the symbolic culmination of their joy. In a season characterized by brilliant lights and twinkling stars, Elgin casts \u201ca shadow\u201d over their contrived domesticity (100). His cruelty reveals that even the most \u201cjovial\u201d of seasons can have a \u201cmenacing\u201d underbelly if you do not conform to societal expectations (100). The two lovers will never fit in, no matter how many garlands they string. Winterson illustrates that individual acts of resistance against hegemony only ever end in tragedy or martyrdom. To effect real change, the entire system must be discarded like the carcass of a Christmas turkey.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0For a brief period in the text, Louise and the narrator of Written on the Body share a quaint and domestic life together. With Elgin out of the picture, the two lovers can fully enjoy each other\u2019s company and embrace the positive aspects of stable, affectionate monogamy. Notably, this domestic reprieve occurs during … Continue reading The Christmas Conundrum: Rewriting the Family in “Written on the Body”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346812],"tags":[2087,346817,346822,346823,346819,93494,346821,346820,346824,346818,93493],"class_list":["post-2599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-class-post","tag-cancer","tag-christmas","tag-deviancy","tag-eve-kosofsky-sedgwick","tag-hegemony","tag-jeanette-winterson","tag-punishment","tag-rebellion","tag-tendencies","tag-unconventionality","tag-written-on-the-body"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}