the flip side essay on Sexing the Cherry by jeanette winterson
Sexing the Cherry, written by Jeanette Winterson, abandons traditional literary form altogether. The main story line is very simple. At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to the Dog Woman, her adopted son Jordan and the life they lead in sixteenth century England. The Dog Woman is a large grotesque giant who has a very direct view on life. Jordan, on the other hand, has a more philosophical view on life. He has a calm personality and is a dreamer. He meets Tradescant, both an adventurer and the king's gardener. Jordan travels with him, but his most important travels seem to be those in his mind. Sexing the cherry is unlike many novels. The book doesn't seem to set time in a linear fashion. This means the author writes a book in which time is flexible. Both Dog Woman and Jordan are characters who have traits opposite to their own. This is an interesting element to Winterson's novel, for it allows the audience to look at the characters in a different manner. In this novel, Janette Winterson creates stories within the inherent tale. She sets her characters between two time dimensions, and there is a chapter on dancing princesses. Why has she done this? And has this writing style been successful?
Winterson's final sub hypothesis is do humans exist? If so, she demonstrates that there is no way humans can place themselves in a certain time frame. Although we might think we are living in the present, we can actually be dreaming all of this in another time frame. For instance, humans sometime know they are in a dream yet can't do anything about it. Jordan says, " I had a childhood, but I cannot assume to have had one I remember."(102) This is similar to most people who usually remember the good things of their past. Remembering that we wanted to be firemen, or land on the moon, are all memories that have stuck with us for a while. This is because we have chosen to remember them. Lives are very complex and diverse. To remember everything from our lives is simply impossible. Therefore, we usually remember those unforgettable moments, be it good or bad as well as those instances we enjoyed. To conclude Winterson's point Jordan says " The future and the present and the past exist only in our minds, and from a distance the borders of each shrink and fade like the borders of hostile countries seen from a floating city in the sky. qualities set Dog Woman apart from most women? She is much larger than any women can ever be. She has no self-respect for her looks. She says "How hideous am I? My nose is flat, my eyebrows are heavy. I have only a few teeth, and those are poor show, being black and broken...The caves in my face are home enough for fleas"(19) Her past has not treated her well. We know she fell in love once, but her husband ran away because she was too hideous for him. Jordan is the only person she loves, while she likes Tradescant. It seems that Dog Woman is not looking for someone to love her back. She has Jordan and seems to be content. This contrasts most women today who all seem to be searching for the "right person" in their lives. She has no problem with killing people and not being clean. "Many of them have set upon me for my insolence, and of most those are dead"(91) If we where to use clear binary divisions, then one could observe that women today seem to be typecast as being the sex that represents cleanliness; Dog Woman doesn't clean at all. Most characteristics that represent women today don't fit Dog Woman. As Jordan states, " she is silent, the way men are supposed to be"(114). Ultimately
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Approximate Word count = 1572
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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