What was the demon concept meant to explore?
what about her mom's demon? the color differences?
what's brown or orange referenced to?
Is it the fantasy delusion she experienced with her loneliness? confusion of oppression? starvation or the fever hallucinations from her sickness?
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I think we are not meant to read that passage literally---i.e., as delusion induced by starvation etc., but here the story takes a more fanciful turn (because it is never a realist narrative despite being rooted in her own life experiences). From Mrs. Winterson's point of view, Jeanette is possessed, is possessed by a demon, something bad, evil, other. But, what if she's wrong? What if having a demon isn't bad? What if everyone has demons? What if it is wrong to cast our your demon, maybe you should get to know it instead? I think this is one way the story is playing with the world view of Mrs. Winterson: everything she thinks of as evil, is in fact good.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jeanette's demon is flaming orange (like her hair) a bright colour, not a drab brown...
I think she is seeing the demon in the first place as a distraction to stop her from thinking about Melanie and also because she is starving. I think the reason why Jeanette's aura is orange because she is different and unique she's not like the people in church or her mother. Her mother's aura is brown because she is ordinary and just goes by what the church says she should do she only sees things in one way. The church thinks the demon is bad while the demon is saying they aren't bad which I think means don't believe everything everyone tells you.
ReplyDeleteI think its also an autobiographical reference to her flaming ginger hair.
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