“Why Be Happy When You Could be
Normal”
Genre: Memoire
•
In a memoir the events are not told in a
chronological order.
•
The goal of the writer is to tell the reader the
story of her life basing on emotional facts.
•
There is a true nature of the facts.
•
The story is based on the development of the
personality of the writer along the novel.
Jeanette Winterson’s memoire is the painful story of a lonely
adopted child and her struggle in finding her biological mother. Along
the novel, J. Winterson tells the facts following the emotional impact
they had on her. In her narrative tecnique she uses a lot of
quotations (postmodern novel), flashbacks and flashfowards.
J. Winterson dedicates her novel to her
three mothers:
•Constance Winterson- Adoptive
mother.
•Ruth Rendell- Literary mother
•Ann S – Biological Mother
Every woman the writer quotes at the beginning of
the novel had a particular influence on J.Winterson’s
personality. Each one of them contributed to create
the Jeanette Winterson of nowadays.
MANCHESTER
The city in which J.Winterson was
born in 1959. Described by the
writer as “a good place to be
born.”, it was radical, repressive,
it was all mix. Manchester was
placed in the “south of north of
England” it was a city full of
contradictions. It represented the
typical industrialized city.
SETTING
ACCRINGTON
The Lancashire city in which
the writer spent her
childhood with her adoptive
family. She lived “on a long
stretchy street with a town
at the bottom and a hill at
the top.”Jeanette’s centre of
life in Accrington was the
Elim Pentecostal Church.
MAIN CHARACTERS:
JEANETTE WINTERSON :Protagonist,
novelist and first person narrator. She
tells her painful story of growing up in a
narrow-minded place, feeling unwanted
for most of the time.
Mrs.WINTERSON: Jeanette’s
adoptive mother. She used to work
in a factory. She was a depressed
woman who refused every contact
with the other sex, and who
compelled her adoptive child to live
her life feeling unwanted and wrong.
Mr.WINTERSON: Jeanette’s
adoptive father, he was a full-time
worker. He was totally controlled by
Mrs Winterson, and after a life of
sacrifice he decided to remarry. He
died after making peace with
Jeanette in 2008.
OTHER CHARACTERS:
SUSIE ORBACH: Latest
Jeanette’s girlfriend, she helps
the writer in the quest of her
biological mother, making her
feeling good and loved.
RUTH RENDELL: Jeanette’s
literary mother, she is the
one who helps the
protagonist in finding her
real mother Ann.
The novel is made up by:
•
15 chapters
•
An intermission
•
A coda
1st Chapter: The Wrong Crib.-It introduces the
story to the readers.
MAIN THEMES
•J.Winterson life as a child, in which she felt as the girl of “The wrong
crib”.
•Difficulties of lonely and adopted children.
•Relationship with her parents, in particular with her mother .
2 nd Chapter: My advice to anybody is:get born. - It deals with
the description of the writer’s birth city: Manchester. It underlines
that everybody’s place of birth is fundamental for our future life.
MAIN THEMES:
• Manchester in the 60s and how it developed along the years, from
the Industrial Revolution till nowadays.
•Reflections about life, and how Mrs Winterston used to deal with it.
3rd chapter: In The Beginning Was The Word- It focuses on Mrs
Winterson and Jeanette realtionships with religion, in particular on the function
of Bible at Wintersons.
MAIN THEMES:
• Use of Bible during the 60s, how population felt about it.
•Importance of religion in Jeanette’s life.
•Rendering of child- Jeanettes thoughts about the facts she used to read in the
Bible.
4th chapter: The Trouble With a Book- It underlines the writer’s relationship
with books, which created the home she didn’t have with her adoptive parents.
MAIN THEMES:
• The difficulty of growing up both emotionally and phisically.
•How books can affect people, and people’s life, so how books affected
Jeanette’s life.
• Mrs Winterson fear of books.
5th chapter: At home- It deals with Jeanette’s life at home, in Accrington.
MAIN THEMES
• Mrs Winterson’s odd ways of raising up a child
•Jeanette’s memories about her house, and life at home with her parents
6th chapter:Church- It underlines the writer’s dedication to church when she was a little
girl, also, il deals with the common consideration of church by the people of the age.
MAIN THEMES:
• Life at Elim Pentecostal Church, Accrington,where Jeanette spent most of her childhood.
• Jeanette’s first painful love with a girl named Helen.
• Church and society attitude towards omosexual relationships at that time. (the exorcism
the writer was subjected to.)
7th chapter:Accrington- it deals with the description of the Lancashire city in which
Jeanettes lived during her childhood and teenage.
MAIN THEMES:
• narrow-mind of Accrington
•Hopes of escape.
8th chapter:The Apocalypse- the chapter focuses on Mrs Winterson passion for religion
and her disapproval towards her daughter’s omosexuality.
MAIN THEMES:
•Forbidden love
• Mrs Winterson’s strict vision of life effects.
• Relationship between Jeanette and Janey.
:
9th chapter English literature A-Z. It deals with the importance of books,
especially poetry.
MAIN THEMES:
•How time flies briefly.
•Effects of our actions on other people.
•Importance of the language.
10th chapter:This Is the Road: It focuses on the conditions of women during the
Industrial Revolution.
MAIN THEMES:
•Social and political differences between women and men.
•Determination of the writer in making the society less homophobic.
•Politic situation analisys of 45 years.
11th chapter: Art and Lies.- It deals with the parallelism between art and lies.
MAIN THEMES:
• J. Winterson studies.
•J. Winterson point of view about literature and culture.
•Mrs Winterson’s opinion about literature.
12th chapter: The Night Sea Voyage-it deals with J.Winterson journey in literature.
MAIN THEMES:
•Feelings of Jeanette after finding her birth certificate
• Consequences and feelings after the publication of “Oranges are not the only fruit.”
•Difficulty of dealing with a chilhood of violence.
13th chapter: This Appointment Takes Place In The Past. It focuses on Jeanette’s
legal struggle for finding her biological mother.
MAIN THEMES
•Jeanette’s feelings of fear during the finding.
•Important past event’s of Jeanette’s life, the father’s death.
14th chapter: Strange Feelings.-It deals with the meeting of J.Winterson with her
biological mother and the opposite feelings of joy and fear she feels.
MAIN THEMES:
• Love of Ann.S and her difficult choice to give Jeanette for adoption.
•Information about Ann, her life and her husbands.
15th chapter: The Wound.-It deals with J.Winterson’life wound, caused by her mother.
MAIN THEMES:
•Jeanette’s reflections about her journey from childhood to aduthood till nowadays.
•Awareness of the writer of feeling finally at home.
Coda:Brief conclusion of the memoire.
MAIN THEMES:
• Following meetings between Ann and Jeanette.
•Reflections about maternity, love, past and future events of life.