Satire on Religion in Oranges are not the only Fruit

Abstract

Winters on thus decries the patriarchy of the Bible, which would exalt men and place them in places of authority when they do little to earn respect for that authority and abuse that authority, as the men who try to hit on her sexually when they are married show. In Winterson’s eyes women are not in any way inferior to men, she does not feel the need to defer to men when she is not intellectually inferior to them, it is only their superior standing inscribed by the bible that keeps her in her place and it is this that she escapes by running away from her Church and home. The alternative, to work in an asylum and funeral parlour, might seem lowly but it is to her a freedom from an oppressive patriarchal slavery which she will not accept. Indeed, with Winterson’s talent, it is little wonder she does not feel the desire to defer to a man. Less talented and weak minded members of the female species might be content to be always subordinate, but for Winterson’s case, it is clearly a case of one who does not see the need to defer to a male race which is not superior to her in any way.