Why be happy when

1. Why be happy when When You Could Be Normal ? (by J.Winterson) Structural Analysis L.Gaddi (5°B)

2. “Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal” • Genre: Memoire • In a memoir the events are not told in a chronological order. • The goal of the writer is to tell the reader the story of her life basing on emotional facts. • There is a true nature of the facts. • The story is based on the development of the personality of the writer along the novel. Jeanette Winterson’s memoire is the painful story of a lonely adopted child and her struggle in finding her biological mother. Along the novel, J. Winterson tells the facts following the emotional impact they had on her. In her narrative tecnique she uses a lot of quotations (postmodern novel), flashbacks and flashfowards.

3. Dedications • J. Winterson dedicates her novel to her three mothers: • Constance Winterson- Adoptive mother. • Ruth Rendell- Literary mother • Ann S – Biological Mother Every woman the writer quotes at the beginning of the novel had a particular influence on J.Winterson’s personality. Each one of them contributed to create the Jeanette Winterson of nowadays.

4. MANCHESTER The city in which J.Winterson was born in 1959. Described by the writer as “a good place to be born.”, it was radical, repressive, it was all mix. Manchester was placed in the “south of north of England” it was a city full of contradictions. It represented the typical industrialized city. SETTING ACCRINGTON The Lancashire city in which the writer spent her childhood with her adoptive family. She lived “on a long stretchy street with a town at the bottom and a hill at the top.”Jeanette’s centre of life in Accrington was the Elim Pentecostal Church.

5. Characters OTHER CHARACTERS: MAIN CHARACTERS: SUSIE ORBACH: Latest Jeanette’s girlfriend, she helps the writer in the quest of her biological mother, making her feeling good and loved. JEANETTE WINTERSON :Protagonist, novelist and first person narrator. She tells her painful story of growing up in a narrow-minded place, feeling unwanted for most of the time. RUTH RENDELL: Jeanette’s literary mother, she is the one who helps the protagonist in finding her real mother Ann. Mrs.WINTERSON: Jeanette’s adoptive mother. She used to work in a factory. She was a depressed woman who refused every contact with the other sex, and who compelled her adoptive child to live her life feeling unwanted and wrong. Mr.WINTERSON: Jeanette’s adoptive father, he was a full-time worker. He was totally controlled by Mrs Winterson, and after a life of sacrifice he decided to remarry. He died after making peace with Jeanette in 2008.

6. Structure • The novel is made up by: • 15 chapters • An intermission • A coda 1st Chapter: The Wrong Crib.-It introduces the story to the readers. • MAIN THEMES • J.Winterson life as a child, in which she felt as the girl of “The wrong crib”. • Difficulties of lonely and adopted children. • Relationship with her parents, in particular with her mother . • 2 nd Chapter: My advice to anybody is:get born. - It deals with the description of the writer’s birth city: Manchester. It underlines that everybody’s place of birth is fundamental for our future life. • MAIN THEMES: • Manchester in the 60s and how it developed along the years, from the Industrial Revolution till nowadays. • Reflections about life, and how Mrs Winterston used to deal with it.

7. 3rd chapter: In The Beginning Was The Word- It focuses on Mrs Winterson and Jeanette realtionships with religion, in particular on the function of Bible at Wintersons. • MAIN THEMES: • Use of Bible during the 60s, how population felt about it. • Importance of religion in Jeanette’s life. • Rendering of child- Jeanettes thoughts about the facts she used to read in the Bible. • 4th chapter: The Trouble With a Book- It underlines the writer’s relationship with books, which created the home she didn’t have with her adoptive parents. • MAIN THEMES: • The difficulty of growing up both emotionally and phisically. • How books can affect people, and people’s life, so how books affected Jeanette’s life. • Mrs Winterson fear of books. • 5th chapter: At home- It deals with Jeanette’s life at home, in Accrington. • MAIN THEMES • Mrs Winterson’s odd ways of raising up a child • Jeanette’s memories about her house, and life at home with her parents

8. 6th chapter:Church- It underlines the writer’s dedication to church when she was a little girl, also, il deals with the common consideration of church by the people of the age. • MAIN THEMES: • Life at Elim Pentecostal Church, Accrington,where Jeanette spent most of her childhood. • Jeanette’s first painful love with a girl named Helen. • Church and society attitude towards omosexual relationships at that time. (the exorcism the writer was subjected to.) • 7th chapter:Accrington- it deals with the description of the Lancashire city in which Jeanettes lived during her childhood and teenage. • MAIN THEMES: • narrow-mind of Accrington • Hopes of escape. • 8th chapter:The Apocalypse- the chapter focuses on Mrs Winterson passion for religion and her disapproval towards her daughter’s omosexuality. • MAIN THEMES: • Forbidden love • Mrs Winterson’s strict vision of life effects. • Relationship between Jeanette and Janey.

9. 9th chapter: English literature A-Z.It deals with the importance of books, especially poetry. • MAIN THEMES: • How time flies briefly. • Effects of our actions on other people. • Importance of the language. • 10th chapter:This Is the Road: It focuses on the conditions of women during the Industrial Revolution. • MAIN THEMES: • Social and politicaldifferences between women and men. • Determination of the writer in making the society less homophobic. • Politic situation analisys of 45 years. • 11th chapter: Art and Lies.- It deals with the parallelism between art and lies. • MAIN THEMES: • J. Winterson studies. • J. Winterson point of view about literature and culture. • Mrs Winterson’s opinion about literature.

10. 12th chapter: The Night Sea Voyage-it deals with J.Winterson journey in literature. • MAIN THEMES: • Feelings of Jeanette after finding her birth certificate • Consequences and feelings after the publication of “Oranges are not the only fruit.” • Difficulty of dealing with a chilhood of violence. • 13th chapter: This Appointment Takes Place In The Past. It focuses on Jeanette’s legal struggle for finding her biological mother. • MAIN THEMES • Jeanette’s feelings of fear during the finding. • Important past event’s of Jeanette’s life, the father’s death. • 14th chapter: Strange Feelings.-It deals with the meeting of J.Winterson with her biological mother and the opposite feelings of joy and fear she feels. • MAIN THEMES: • Love of Ann.S and her difficult choice to give Jeanette for adoption. • Information about Ann, her life and her husbands.

11. 15th chapter: The Wound.-It deals with J.Winterson’life wound, caused by her mother. • MAIN THEMES: • Jeanette’s reflections about her journey from childhood to aduthood till nowadays. • Awareness of the writer of feeling finally at home. • Coda:Brief conclusion of the memoire. • MAIN THEMES: • Following meetings between Ann and Jeanette. • Reflections about maternity, love, past and future events of life.