38 pages • 1 hour read
Jeanette WintersonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Throughout the novel, the narrator’s love relationships are compared to new worlds that the narrator discovers and then explores. The narrator’s life with Jacqueline is compared to an “new island” discovered by the narrator after surviving a shipwreck. As well, Louise’s body is compared to a foreign land as the narrator uses explorer imagery to describe the process of becoming familiar with Louise’s body: “How could I cover this land?” (52). The narrator identifies with Christopher Columbus and uses the words “explored” and “discovered” repeatedly in a sexual context.
As the narrator and Louise grow closer, they see the world through each other’s eyes. Like many new lovers in this situation, they explore their new world together, as intimates. The narrator, however, pushes on Louise’s boundaries and invites a darker interpretation of this metaphor. While exploration and adventure are often linked, exploration can also suggest colonization and domination. The narrator breaches Louise’s “borders” by breaking into her kitchen to observe her everyday items, including her underwear in a laundry basket. Later, after learning about Louise’s leukemia, the narrator makes a unilateral decision to end the relationship so that Louise will stay with her husband.
By Jeanette Winterson
Frankissstein
Frankissstein
Jeanette Winterson
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Jeanette Winterson
Sexing the Cherry
Sexing the Cherry
Jeanette Winterson
The Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale Retold
The Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale Retold
Jeanette Winterson
The Passion
The Passion
Jeanette Winterson
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Jeanette Winterson