{"id":363,"date":"2016-10-31T02:53:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T06:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=363"},"modified":"2016-10-31T02:53:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T06:53:47","slug":"differing-depictions-of-religion-oranges-vs-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2016\/10\/31\/differing-depictions-of-religion-oranges-vs-angels\/","title":{"rendered":"Differing Depictions of Religion (Oranges vs. Angels)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Religion is a fundamental theme in both Winterson\u2019s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit<\/em> and Kushner\u2019s Angel\u2019s in America<\/em>. Both texts discuss characters\u2019 unfortunate circumstances of belonging to a religion that does not accept their sexuality. However, the repercussions of their \u201csin\u201d varies greatly between texts. Winterson depicts a loving and forgiving god while Kushner describes a religion focused on eternal damnation. When Jeanette\u2019s church first begins to realize she is attracted to other girls, they react by asking her to repent for her sins. Though, from the point of view of her church, Jeanette has sinned, she is still capable of forgiveness. \u201cThe Lord forgives and forgets.\u201d (Winterson, 109)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Joe fears the consequences of acting on his sexuality. When he finds himself attracted to Louis, he responds, \u201cI\u2019m going to hell for doing this.\u201d (Kushner, 122) There seems to be no opportunity for repentance in Joe\u2019s idea of his religion. He is certain that this act alone is enough to send him to hell. His religion does not have the same opportunity for forgiveness that Jeanette\u2019s seems to allow. Additionally, The Angel explains to Louis that, \u201cHE left\u2026and did not return.\u201d (Kushner, 177) In this quote, a messenger of god describes the way in which god, disappointed by the humanity he created, abandoned it and all the people within it. <\/p>\n

Kushner\u2019s god is capable of abandonment, while Winterson\u2019s is loving and faithful to all who are faithful to \u201cHim\u201d. Winterson\u2019s view of god allowed Jeanette to grow up and redefine her religion. It gave her the safety to discover where she fits within her religion with god\u2019s unconditional love as a safety net. However, Kushner\u2019s god responds to any deviance from \u201cHis\u201d word with eternal damnation and suffering. This is an immensely poignant way to frame a book centered around gay men during the AIDS epidemic. The characters of Kushner\u2019s novel exist in a world where their sexuality, which they are incapable of changing, will result in eternal suffering following their death, which could come suddenly and unexpectedly for a gay man during the AIDS epidemic. These two texts together show the very contrasting religious views one can hold, and the effects this view can have on you as a person, especially if you are a member of the queer community. Jeanette was able to meld her religion with her identity, while Joe continues to have a painful internal conflict between his sexuality and his religion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Religion is a fundamental theme in both Winterson\u2019s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Kushner\u2019s Angel\u2019s in America. Both texts discuss characters\u2019 unfortunate circumstances of belonging to a religion that does not accept their sexuality. However, the repercussions of their \u201csin\u201d varies greatly between texts. Winterson depicts a loving and forgiving god while Kushner … Continue reading Differing Depictions of Religion (Oranges vs. Angels)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}