Chapter 8: Ruth

            The last chapter of the book was inter-spaced with more stories than usual. The girl, Winnet, taken in by the sorcerer was very interesting in how it connected to the book. Many parts of that story can be related to the book. Winnet is alone at the beginning before being take in by the sorcerer, Jeanette was an orphan before her mother found her. Upon arrival to the sorcerer’s home Winnet the sorcerer slowly causes Winnet to forget her past and herself, Jeanette’s mother raised her in a certain way on purpose in an attempt to raise the perfect follower. A boy caused Winnet to lose everything when the sorcerer cast her out. Jeanette’s homosexual relationship was wrong in the eyes of the church and her mother and was cast out because of it. Both leaving on a journey to hopefully a better place. However, I think both the parental figures did feel some misgiving about casting out their daughters. The sorcerer tied a string to his daughter, and Jeanette’s mother acted as if no time had passed when Jeanette returned for Christmas. No apology was given by Jeanette’s mother during the story, which is disappointing but like all things a problem has different solutions based on one’s perspective. From her mother’s view Jeanette betrayed her by being sinful, from Jeanette’s view her mother betrayed her by burning her things. I think at the end of the story both parties involved were able to get at least a little closure, they’ll never be as close as when Jeanette was a child but perhaps there is a future where they both can be happy for the other.

            An interesting scene in this chapter was during Jeanette’s return home for Christmas. Jeanette was standing on the of a hill, making it possible to see where Melanie lived. During this she thought back to when she had coincidentally run into Melanie in her second year away from home. According to Jeanette time had only deadened Melanie, “If she had been serene to the point of bovine before, she was now almost vegetable.” (Winterson 190) I think for Jeanette this was a sad thing to see. A previously good friend and lover had become normal, “I kept looking at her, and wondering how we ever had a relationship; yet when she first left me, I thought I had blood poisoning. I couldn’t forget her. Now she seemed to have forgotten everything” (Winterson 190) Throughout the book Jeanette has mentioned how the past can shape people and how the past is subjective. This scene is an example of that very thing, to Melanie their past relationship was not as important as it was to Jeanette. Melanie looks back on it with detachment and recommended getting rid of meaningless letters, while Jeanette didn’t need letters to remember what they had. The differences described here emphasize how the past can be remembered differently by two people who lived that same event.