Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Text typology – Genesis
The main function of the text is expressive. The text is an extract from the novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. The author is a writer, journalist and poet, whose breadth of experience comes across in this text. The field of discourse is the narrative genre of the novel. The mode of discourse is “written to express views and feelings in an artistic way”, which Katarina Reiss refers to as “creative composition” where the sender is at the forefront (Hatim, B. and Munday, J. p 183). To this extent, the writer’s emotions represent a medium through which she expresses her own feelings towards her parents.
The subject of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is the bizarre relationship of the author’s parents, although most of the narrative concentrates on the description of the writer’s mother thus highlighting certain traits of their relationship. The writer’s mother is portrayed as a dominant figure in the life of the author; she is a rebel and anti-conformist, a concept that comes across in the narrative. The references to religion also contribute to portraying the rebellious spirit of her mother. The reader gets the impression that the author was in a better rapport with her mother than her father. The use of emotive language is present throughout the text which contributes to the expression of affection towards the author’s mother.
The text is written to be read. There is a clear paragraph structure where, however, the author chooses to defy norms and conventions of grammar and punctuation (ex: starting with “And” after full stops or at beginning of paragraphs; unusual employment of indent and bullet points, or lack thereof). There is also a large use of figurative speech; the writer uses alliteration to evoke emotion in the reader (http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/46-alliteration.htm). For instance, in the sentence “she hung out the largest sheets on the windiest days” we can see the repetition of the “s” sound.
The main function of the text is expressive. The text is an extract from the novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. The author is a writer, journalist and poet, whose breadth of experience comes across in this text. The field of discourse is the narrative genre of the novel. The mode of discourse is “written to express views and feelings in an artistic way”, which Katarina Reiss refers to as “creative composition” where the sender is at the forefront (Hatim, B. and Munday, J. p 183). To this extent, the writer’s emotions represent a medium through which she expresses her own feelings towards her parents.
The subject of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is the bizarre relationship of the author’s parents, although most of the narrative concentrates on the description of the writer’s mother thus highlighting certain traits of their relationship. The writer’s mother is portrayed as a dominant figure in the life of the author; she is a rebel and anti-conformist, a concept that comes across in the narrative. The references to religion also contribute to portraying the rebellious spirit of her mother. The reader gets the impression that the author was in a better rapport with her mother than her father. The use of emotive language is present throughout the text which contributes to the expression of affection towards the author’s mother.
The text is written to be read. There is a clear paragraph structure where, however, the author chooses to defy norms and conventions of grammar and punctuation (ex: starting with “And” after full stops or at beginning of paragraphs; unusual employment of indent and bullet points, or lack thereof). There is also a large use of figurative speech; the writer uses alliteration to evoke emotion in the reader (http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/46-alliteration.htm). For instance, in the sentence “she hung out the largest sheets on the windiest days” we can see the repetition of the “s” sound.
References: Hatim, B. and Munday, J. (2004) Translation: An advanced resource book, Abingdon: Routledge Applied Linguistics. http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/index.asp http://thesaurus.com/ http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/46-alliteration.htm