“That was a bad example but I knew what she meant. It meant that to create was a fundament, to appreciate, a supplement. Once created, the creature was separate from the creator, and needed no seconding to fully exist. “(Winterson, p.46).
“I don’t know if it’s up your street, it tells you how to build a perfect person, it’s all about this man who does it, but it’s not food if you ain’t got the equipment” (Winterson, 67).”
The ideas of perfection and separation are major themes in Jeanette Winnterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. In the chapter entitled Exodus, Elsie tells Jeanette that “once created, the creature was separate from the creator, and needed no seconding to fully exist.” This line strikes me as a perfect description of Jeanette’s character. Jeanette is separate from almost everything in her life. She’s adopted, making her physically separated her biological mother. She also expresses doubts about her mother during several point in the novel, saying that “people didn’t understand the way she thought; neither did I, but I loved her because she always knew exactly why things happened” (43). She’s isolated at school, seen as something of a ‘religious fanatic’ which leads to abuse from both the students and the teachers, but after her temporary hearing loss, realizes that her church sometimes gets things wrong. In short, Jeanette has been shaped by all these factors in her life, but is completely separate from all of them and does not need their validation to continue to exist.
When I was reading the chapter Leviticus, I was struck by the line towards the end of the story about the prince searching for the perfect woman to marry: “I don’t know if it’s up your street, it tells you how to build a perfect person, it’s all about this man who does it, but it’s not food if you ain’t got the equipment” (Winterson, 67). In the same chapter, Jeanette talks about how she was enraptured by a sermon about being perfect. The story referenced in the quote is the story of Frankenstein and his monster. This implies that a person created solely to be perfect is predisposed to become a monster. I think this is included as a warning to Jeanette. Frankenstein’s monster was created to be a perfect human, but once released from his creator, he becomes a murderous monster, disgusted with his creator and with his situation. Jeanette is becoming separated from her creators and she may soon find herself changing from perfect to ‘monstrous’.
I agree very much with your idea of perfection and separation. It’s as though Jeanette fulfills her perfection through religion but, as we read more, she sees this separation from church and her identity. Such as, we this separation more when Jeanette starts to se Melanie and how Jeanette still is trying to deconstruct her intrinsic feelings for Melanie while still attaining a holiness. However we also see that her mother, who was once described as being that of a saint at the beginning of the novel, is now having her “perfection” being challenged and broken down.
I found the connections between separation and perfection interesting. I understood the quote “Once created, the creature was separate from the creator, and needed no seconding to fully exist” (Winterson pg 46) differently. I understood it as a symbol for Jeanette’s relationship with her mother. I thought she was trying to say that once separated from her mother, due to her coming out, she would not need her mother’s approval or validation to exist. That she would remain herself, despite her mother’s opinion because she had been separated from her because of her sexuality. I connected it back to our class discussion on identity and how nobody can define your identity, specifically sexuality. That is why the statement is, “I am___”. So only Jeanette can define her identity. Not her mother. Not her religion.
I think your comparison between this piece and Frankenstein regarding the seek for perfection is very relevant. The protagonists in both stories are obsessed with the idea of finding a flawless figure who is superior compared to all the mundane human beings they see around every day. While the prince cannot find the one who satisfies all of his requirements and he even kills the goose who gives him honest advice, the doctor in Frankenstein is able to create a being as perfect as his imagination – a murderous monster. Either way, we see blood and sacrifice result from those desires for the unblemished ideal. At first, the hunt for perfection seems to represent the search for innocent, the guiltless being who possess qualities that are better than normal person full of mistake, flaw or sin. But at the end of the day, the cost for chasing that ideal is brutal and inhumane. The tragic is brought to light when “The restless search in this life, the pain, the majority of who opt for the second best” only to find “the impossibility of perfection” (pp 62). All in all, it is wise to realize that perfection does not exist in the form that perfectionist like Janette imagines; instead, improving oneself and accepting one’s ability and personal characteristics would be a way to both be better and lessen the misery one may feel.
I think that this interpretation is an extremely accurate depiction of what is going on in the story. The perfection that people often try to achieve is not possible, and therefore creates a sense of never being enough, or never being close to that perfection. In that attempt to be perfect, I think Jeanette is starting to realize that this idealization of perfection is a flawed within itself. The story of the prince teaches us that, that when one searches for perfection, the perfection that people must seek is the one that is already within. Trying to reach for a perfection that is given by other people will drive someone to madness. One other idea that came to mind while reading this was how misunderstood all of the “monsters” in these scenarios you discussed are. In both situations the monster doesn’t want to be what society thinks of as a monster, they are just trying to learn how to define themselves in societies idea of perfect.