Essay Questions

Why does Jeanette place such emphasis on her life as an adopted child?

As Jeanette tells in her story, there is no denying or running from the part of her life that will be the most real in every sense, that is, not having a normal beginning to her life. "A crucial part of our story is gone, like a bomb in the womb." Jeanette constantly re-emphasizes his part of her life in order to show that she has accepted and come to terms with the fact that she, like others adopted children, won't ever get a chance to seek out that 'missing' part of their lives, not ever. So instead of denying it or fooling herself into a false delusion, she accepts the reality that there is indeed something amiss. "The feeling that something is missing never, ever leaves you--and it can't, it shouldn't, because something is missing".

In what twisted way were Jeanette and Mrs Winterson connected?

Both Jeanette and her adoptive mother felt united in the experience of feeling a sense of "dislodgement". Although the source of each of their "dislodged" feelings were different, what with Jeanette being able to pinpoint the exact source of her grief while Mrs Winterson felt it in a general sense of misery, both women felt lost and longed to belong somewhere. However, this united feeling ended at the emotion of "dislodgement" itself since instead of turning to each other to create a better bond over this common ground, they continued to turn against each other and made more efforts to misunderstand each other rather than be understanding.

How has storytelling, particularly orally, shaped Jeanette?

Aware of the fact that in communities made of largely illiterate and often uneducated people, Jeanette realises the importance of storytelling in more than the written form. Not having access to anything but the Bible as a written story in her own household, Jeanette took comfort in her own made-up tales and those of others that were told to her. This sense of community that Jeanette experienced through these orally told tales, was also what helped shape the communal history of the town as well as the town itself. These skills of storytelling that she observed in her childhood are what shaped Jeanette as an adult in general and an artist in specific.