A Study Of Personality Structure In Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (hereinafter referred to as Oranges) is a coming-out novel written by British writer Jeanette Winterson. In 1985, this novel won the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction. In 1990, this novel was adapted into the BBC TV series by Winterson herself. This television drama successfully won many international awards such as British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Drama.As a semi-autobiographical novel, Oranges mainly describes a girl named Jeanette and her special experience of growing up. Jeanette submits to her mother's orders and religious rules at first. But then she gradually awakens and tries to fight against all the oppressions for her own independence and freedom in the end. From Winterson's vivid description, the readers can realize the author's childhood experience through the life of the protagonist Jeanette. In addition, this novel shows readers a more profound meaning by presenting some distinctive characters and their tangled relationships with each other, such as the mother who enjoys controlling everything, Elsie who is different from other believers in church and Jeanette who bravely challenges the authority. According to this, this thesis tends to analyze the prominent personalities of these main characters and their complicated relationships from the perspective of Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. Through the specific interpretation of each character from the aspects of id, ego and super-ego, this thesis tries to help the readers better understand this novel and the profound meaning that each character stands for.The entire thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter one has three parts. The first part introduces Jeanette Winterson's life background and her works. It also provides a brief introduction of the novel Oranges for the readers. The second part reviews studies that are related to this novel both at home and abroad. The third part is about Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality.Chapter two analyzes the personality of Jeanette's adoptive mother from the aspect of super-ego. Jeanette's mother strictly teaches Jeanette religious knowledge, despises the education in school and changes Melanie into a "normal" person. From mother's relationship with Jeanette, the school and Melanie, it can be found that Jeanette's mother represents the super-ego personality. She is keen on controlling everything and pursuing the state of perfection. She regards religious beliefs as her morality principle and tries to change Jeanette into another super-ego who strictly follows the religious rules just like her.Chapter three presents the personalities of Jeanette's first lover Melanie, her second lover Miss Jewsbury and orange demon from the aspect of id. When Jeanette meets Melanie, she has a special feeling for Melanie and they fall in love quickly. Representing the id personality, they are deeply controlled by their sexual desire. Then Jeanette stays with her second lover Miss Jewsbury after Melanie leaves. In fact, Jeanette does not like Miss Jewsbury at all, but they still have sex since Jeanette is seduced by Miss Jewsbury and dominated by the id personality at that time. Orange demon also stands for the id personality, but it is different. When Jeanette decides to give up her id personality and yield to her mother, orange demon shows up. It talks to Jeanette and tells Jeanette the truth of the id, which helps Jeanette develop a new understanding of the id's world and gradually awaken.Chapter four focuses on the personalities of Jeanette's friend Elsie Norris and Jeanette who already changes her former personality from the aspect of ego. Elsie stands for the ego personality. She always makes efforts to help Jeanette get rid of her mother's control and become an independent woman with reason and bravery. Elsie passes away in the end, but she still gives Jeanette many pieces of effective advice and helps Jeanette a lot in leading Jeanette on the right road of life. When Jeanette goes to school, she gets a chance to become a rational girl under the help of teachers in school, but she does not change at all owing to some special reasons and she is dominated by the id personality later. However, when Jeanette fights against her mother, she increasingly realizes the fact and radically changes from an id into a rational ego. She casts off the oppression of her mother, gets rid of the control of sexual desire and grows into a totally new one who can think rationally, behave bravely and freely follow her own dreams at the end of the story.Chapter five is the conclusion of this thesis.On the basis of the interpretation of main characters' personalities and the analysis of their complicated relationships with each other, this thesis intends to help readers view this novel from a very different kind of view. Besides, this thesis tries to improve readers' understanding of the author Jeanette Winterson. She experiences a lot of sufferings and changes, but she successfully finds herself and lives an independent life.