Adult Boundaries in 'the Passion' and 'the God of Small Things'.
Winterson and Roy refuse to 'accept what we think of as adult boundaries '. How is this reflected in 'The Passion ' and 'The God of Small Things '?
In every civilisation, there are boundaries which are set by the adults to run our lives. They are the unspoken laws which were created by higher authorities and not supposed to be questioned. Adult boundaries present the strength of the society. Yet those boundaries suppress the individuals’ freedom. Most importantly it deters the lives of the weakest people in the society. Both Jeanette Winterson and Arundhati Roy have strong opinions on these adult boundaries. Arundhati Roy was born in 1961 in the North-eastern Indian region of Bengal, to a Christian mother and Hindu father in India’s caste system. She spent her childhood in Ayemenem in Kerala. Roy is widely known for political activism. Winterson was born in Manchester. She was adopted and raised in Elim Pentecostal Church. Her parents wanted her to be missionary. Winterson identified herself as a lesbian and left home at 16 as her parents would not accept her as a lesbian. Brought up as a Pentecostal Christian, “Jeanette never truly abandons her faith; her faith abandons her because of clear disagreements over her sexual identity”( Michael Dick on ‘Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit’). Here, Winterson’s faith could be her parents. Perhaps she had faith in them that they would accept her. Therefore she doesn’t abandon them but they abandon her. One might suggest that this is a false statement because Winterson’s rebellious personality may have pushed her to abandon her faith. Although both writers are attacking the adult boundaries to break them down, they know this would usually end in tragedy as adult boundaries restore orders. Both writers use their characters to define and then challenge the society’s rules.
The formation of and belonging to categories are adult boundaries. For example Estha and Rahel were not aware that they belonged to a categorised system
In every civilisation, there are boundaries which are set by the adults to run our lives. They are the unspoken laws which were created by higher authorities and not supposed to be questioned. Adult boundaries present the strength of the society. Yet those boundaries suppress the individuals’ freedom. Most importantly it deters the lives of the weakest people in the society. Both Jeanette Winterson and Arundhati Roy have strong opinions on these adult boundaries. Arundhati Roy was born in 1961 in the North-eastern Indian region of Bengal, to a Christian mother and Hindu father in India’s caste system. She spent her childhood in Ayemenem in Kerala. Roy is widely known for political activism. Winterson was born in Manchester. She was adopted and raised in Elim Pentecostal Church. Her parents wanted her to be missionary. Winterson identified herself as a lesbian and left home at 16 as her parents would not accept her as a lesbian. Brought up as a Pentecostal Christian, “Jeanette never truly abandons her faith; her faith abandons her because of clear disagreements over her sexual identity”( Michael Dick on ‘Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit’). Here, Winterson’s faith could be her parents. Perhaps she had faith in them that they would accept her. Therefore she doesn’t abandon them but they abandon her. One might suggest that this is a false statement because Winterson’s rebellious personality may have pushed her to abandon her faith. Although both writers are attacking the adult boundaries to break them down, they know this would usually end in tragedy as adult boundaries restore orders. Both writers use their characters to define and then challenge the society’s rules.
The formation of and belonging to categories are adult boundaries. For example Estha and Rahel were not aware that they belonged to a categorised system
Bibliography: 1. Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. IndiaInk, India. 1997. 2. Winterson, Jeanette. The Passion. Grove Press. August 7, 1997. 3. Luce, Edward. In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India. Anchor. March 11, 2008. 5. Winterson, Jeanette. Why Be Happy When You could Be Normal. Grove Press. March 6, 2012. 6. Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. USA. October 5, 2011. 7. Dick, Michael. ‘Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit’. Ryerson University. November 25, 2005. 8. Roy, Winterson. Homosexuality Quotes. Brainy Quote. 2001 - 2012 BrainyQuote. BookRags Media Network. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/homosexuality.html. 9. Ramsey, Pam. Psychological Effects of Incest on Girls Focusing on Sibling Incest. Pamramsey. 1994. http://www.pamramsey.com/incest.htm 10. Cengage, Gale 11. Book by Onega, Susana . Refracting the Canon in Contemporary British Literature and Film. 1994. Quote by Winterson, Jeanette. 1996. 12. Ahmad, Aijaz. Reading Arundhati Roy politically. Frontline. 8 August, 1997 13 France. 2008.