Glossing Over Text

The plotline of the short story of Winnet and the sorcerer in Oranges are Not the Only Fruit is very similar to the plotline of the story of Jeanette. Eventually, the two stories become so similar to one another that the author decides to use some elements of the stories interchangeably. On page 176, Jeanette concludes that her mother has "tied a thread around [her] button, to tug when she pleased." The idea of the existence of an invisible thread also appears in Winnet's story. When Winnet is preparing to leave the sorcerer's castle, she has a short discussion with a raven. During this discussion, the sorcerer "[ties] an invisible thread around one of her buttons" (148). It is possible that, in both stories, this invisible string signifies the power that both Jeanette's mother and the sorcerer have over Jeanette and Winnet, respectively.

Another element that appears in both Jeanette's world and the short story of Winnet is the attempt to hide from the problems that surround them. On page 142, Winnet "[hides] her nose in her jacket and [tries] not to breathe" when she discovers just how enticing the sorcerer can be. Trying to fight his power, she decides to use this attempt at hiding as a defense mechanism. Jeanette also has the tendency of trying to hide from the world. Her method of hiding is very similar to Winnet's, and, though I can't specify the page of the passage at the moment, there is one point when Jeanette goes so far as to suck on her toes while curling up into this familiar position of hiding.