Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

What do you believe?
I believe in myself and that everyone always has the ability to choose right or wrong. I believe that mistakes happen and you can learn from them and make the situation better.

What or Who has shaped your system of belief?
I think that my parents and siblings have shaped my system of belief. They have raised me to make choices and to think about the outcomes of situations before i act. I also think that where I grew up helped to shape my system of belief.

Think of a time when your belief system was challenged. How did you respond?
I can't really think of an exact situation where my belief system was challenged but I can see one being if all of my friends wanted to go do something and I didnt think it was the right thing to do. I think that if I were put into a situation where I didn't feel comfortable or I thought it was the wrong thing to do that I would remove myself from the sitaution and find something else to do.

What beliefs are firmly upheld in Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit?
The beliefs that I saw all through out the story were the beliefs in god and the bible. Jeanettes mother took Jeanette to church with her and Sundays were their holy days. There was no television watching on sundays just prayer. For example one Sunday when Jeanette adn her mother came home from running errands Jeanette's fatehr had the television on and Jeanette's mother made him turn it off right away and she was furious with him. In their family they went by the bible adn if the bible said to do something they did it and if the bible discouraged something they did everything in their power to avoid it.

How are Jeanette's changing beliefs demonstrated symbolically or through forshadowing withing the pages of the novel?
Jeanette's changing beliefs are forshadowed when she is a young girl and at the carnival. A fortune teller or a gypsey walks up to her and tells Jeanette that she will never marry a man. I think that this small piece of information gives the reader a big clue as to what is going to occur in the rest of the novel.

What struggles still exist for Jeanette, even after she has "accepted" herself?
I think a huge struggle that Jeanette faces is is she doing the right thing, she is worried that she is not doing the right thing by falling in love with anotehr women because her whole life she was raised that a man loves a woman and a woman only loves a man. She is disobeying her religion by choosing to follow her heart. But at the same time she does not want to be untrue to her heart.