English Literature: Comparing Texts on the Colour Purple by Alice Walker and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Rites of passage or baptisms of fire are part of the process of growing up. Compare and contrast the ways in Jeannette Winterson and Alice Walker present growing up in the light of this comment. ‘The Colour Purple’ and ‘Oranges are not the Only Fruit’, both novels share strong themes of bildungsroman, which is a novel of emotional and personal development of the character. ‘The Colour Purple’ follows the story of a young girl living in the early 20th century in a rural area in Deep South America, growing up and living a life of oppression and abuse. Celie faces many hurdles along the way, experiencing traumatic events which tests the strength of her endurance, and even though she is able to overcome these events eventually out on the other side, Celie as a young girl said ‘I don’t know how to fight, all I know how to do is stay alive’. Celie uses this philosophy to get through her abusive marriage, where with the help of the people around her, she is able to come out on top. Jeannette’s story of growing up is quite different to Celie’s, she does not suffer from physical abuse, but you can argue that she does encounter an extent of mental abuse from her mother, and from the religious group she is brought up in due to their narrow minded beliefs of her lifestyle. Jeanette grows up in Lancashire, England in the 1960s, where during this period lesbianism was not very public as it was negatively stigmatised, and in fact illegal which would contribute to the negative way in which she was received by her community. Jeanette experienced a lonely childhood, where she had to deal with and live by the values of her mother. Once she tore away from these values, her life went from bad to worse, where she was put in a position where she had to choose between acceptance within her community, and happiness within her personal beliefs and lifestyle. Both novels trace a girl’s struggle to find independence whilst bearing the negative surroundings they have to endure throughout