Religious symbols, narratives and language play an important role in both A portrait of the artist as a young man which in oranges are not the only fruit. In The Portrait, religious symbols and language permeate Stephen's consciousness, so much so that his spiritual and physical experiences are inextricably intertwined. While Stephen attempts to deny and distance himself from the dominant discourses provided by the state and religion, his artistic sensibility is ultimately rooted in the language of religion. In Oranges, through the retelling of biblical myths and fairy tale stories, Jeanette frees herself from the grip of narratives that trap her in a system of patriarchy, fundamentalist religion, and heterosexuality. In doing so, Jeanette opens the text to a fluidity of interpretations, which results in a destabilization in the narratives of fairy tales and biblical texts. As such, she has succeeded as an artist where Stephen has yet to succeed, in her use of narratives and language to subvert dominant discourses such as religion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the Portrait, the religious and sacred associations are "mixed" (Akoi 301) with the secular and physical associations. Spirituality and physicality become inextricably intertwined, as seen in his use of sacred language to describe his encounter with the prostitute. His sexual awakening is also an awakening of his spiritual desires; it is a "holy encounter" (106), which allows him to transcend vulgarity, "compared to which everything else was idle and extraneous" (105). He venerates the prostitute with a religious intensity, whose 'candid uplifted eyes' move him to 'Tears of joy and relief', he '[surrenders] body and mind' 'conscious of nothing in the world' (107-108) . In contrast, the virgin Mary is described sensually, “the glories of Mary held her soul captive…her soul, timidly returning to its home…the very savior of an obscene kiss” (112). This intertwining of the physical and the spiritual culminates in his vocation as an artist-priest, “a priest of eternal imagination, who transmutes the daily bread of experience into the radiant body of eternal life” (240). Here we can see that Stephen's aesthetic conception remains interpreted in the language of priesthood and religion. In doing so, it confers a divine and sacred legitimacy on the artist, who holds the power to materialize and capture intangible experiences of desire and excitement. By contrast, the “cold and order” of the Catholic priesthood “repelled him” (174), anathema to Stephen's desire and craving for excitement, to “learn his own wisdom away from others or to learn wisdom himself of others wandering through the perils of the world" (175). He accepts his "destiny... to escape the social or religious order," seeking to escape the "grasp... of order and obedience" that "threatened to put an end forever... to his freedom." (175). Yet despite Stephen's lofty artistic ambitions, his religious influences remain deeply rooted, as his pastor, "once a priest, always a priest" (173) and Cranly, warns that his "mind is oversaturated." with the religion [he] says he doesn't believe in" (261). However, he proudly assumes "the name of the fabulous craftsman" (183), "a living thing, new and slender and beautiful, impalpable, imperishable" (184). His cry joyfully attributes sacredness to physical reality, "Heavenly God!", "in a rush of profane joy" (186). His romanticization of nature and beauty is driven by the intensity of the Catholic resurrection and the transcendence of the soul.“By uniting the Catholic and Romantic versions of the soul, Stephen essentially creates his own soul, functioning both as the Catholic God who creates the soul and as the Romantic poet who finds his soul in the life of experience” (Howell61) .Stephen becomes a creator just like Daedalus, who creates wings for himself and his son Icarus to escape their imprisonment. This motif of flight pervades his consciousness, and Stephen longs to “fly through those networks” “of nationality, language, religion” (220). Here, Joyce gives us a double meaning of "flying by", as Stephen's ambitions to fly further, beyond social constraints, overlook the second meaning of "flying by", with the meaning of him inevitably using the material of his "flying close". nationality, language, religion". Furthermore, while embracing the namesake of the great architect, Stephen does not deny the spiritual associations of his name, Saint Stephen, the first martyr who was stoned for the defense of his faith. Furthermore, the myth of Daedalus also warns against the arrogance of Icarus, who falls to his death by flying too close to the sun. Ultimately, while Stephen is confident in his vocation as an artist, his great ambitions result in alienation and suffering from his art, parallel to Icarus and Saint Stephen, thus leaving us critical of his ability to "fly beyond ” the networks of “nationality, language, religion,” without borrowing and relying on them to “fly.” In Oranges, religious and fairy tale narratives are appropriated and rewritten, to deliberately interrupt the heterosexual and patriarchal binary reading imposed by the traditional and fixed reading of these narratives. Furthermore, the autobiographical intertextuality of Winterson's Oranges allows for an integration of the fantasy of Oranges as a story about Jeanette, with the reality of Winterson's life. It is through her process of integrating stories and reality, that Winterson collapses the "walls" of narratives to shape a more fluid narrative that fits her personal narrative, ultimately allowing her to "fly beyond" the narratives that traditionally oppress her identity.Winterson appropriates religious narrative to construct his identity. His experimentation with history and narrative began in his childhood, where he rewrote the tale of Daniel being eaten by lions. The Fuzzy-Felt episode is one of the first instances in Jeanette's childhood where biblical narratives are shown as open to interpretation, a "place where slippage occurs so that Jeanette can see that the meaning is continuous change, narrative revision is possible and that the authority to restructure the story and its inherent power relations lies with the narrator' (Reisman 14) is addressed by Pastor Finch, attempts to disguise the story by saying that he was depicting Jonah and whales, "but they don't do whales in Fuzzy Felt" (13). The interchangeability of signifiers proposed by Jeanette in her retelling represents a threat to the authoritative and exclusivist reading of the church. In response, Pastor Finch seeks to " put things right" (13), suggesting that "in his view, there is only one correct version of a story" (Reisman 14). Through the retelling of the scene possible through "Jeanette's medium and imagination" (Reisman 14), Jeanette discovers the possibilities of interpretation and the rigidity of the singular interpretation provided by the church, at ease in its static signifiers to support absolute truth. People like Jeanette's mother and Pastor Finch cling to the certainty and order provided by a single authoritative reading of a text, conveniently insisting on their correct interpretation of the text, while rejecting the validity of all othersinterpretations. Jeanette argues that this clinging to a single authoritative reading establishes "order" and "security," but it is a reading that "does not exist" and "cannot exist" (96). Initially, Jeanette attempts to reconcile her love for Melanie with her love for the Lord, but she is unable to convey her intended meaning to the priest. Initially he sees «Melania as a gift from the Lord», and «it would be ungrateful not to appreciate her» (104). However, she is unable to convey the mutually inclusive nature of her love for both the Lord and Melanie, as the pastor constantly peppers her with weighty questions. First he asks her: "Do you deny that you love this woman with the love reserved for husband and wife?". (105), to which she responds, “No, yeah, I mean, obviously I love her.” (105) What appears superficially as confusion resulting from inconsistency and guilt is best explained as a calm, collected, and rational attempt to explain his homosexual love to the Church. His initial "no" in response is a denied refusal to love Melanie with the intensity and quality of romantic love, such as that of heterosexual romance. Then he continues with a "yes", intending to explain that his love is a different type of romantic love and that it is certainly not a love "reserved for husband and wife" (105). While she is sincere in her attempt to validate and affirm her same-sex romance, it is the very construction of the question that is informed by the unchallenged morality of the religious narrative, which causes its superficial inarticulability. Religious language simply cannot adequately accommodate his position. Ultimately, it is the unquestioned deference to the authority of the biblical narrative that promotes this exclusive, binary conception of romantic love and denies the validity of Jeanette's defense. Through the appropriation of religious narratives and symbols, Jeanette is ultimately able to transcend the constraints of biblical narratives. Like the walls that “protect” and “limit,” Jeanette recognizes the comfort and security these narratives offer, but also believes that “it is the nature of walls that they must fall.” That the walls fall is the consequence of blowing the trumpet” (113). “Sooner or later there will be a choice: you or the wall… The City of Lost Possibilities is full of those who have chosen the wall” (114). Here Jeanette appropriates the story of the Battle of Jericho. Like the prophet Joshua, Jeanette puts her faith in the power of the trumpet, a blowing horn, to tear down and conquer these walls. However, unlike Joshua who received prophecy from God, she is a prophet who "has no books" and "is full of sounds that do not always give meaning" (164). On the contrary, she is a prophetess who cries out because she is "tormented by demons" (164), who "are not really" "evil", "simply different and difficult" (109). While her church believes that demons are inherently evil and must be cleansed and "cast out" (109), Jeanette portrays the demon favorably, as an integral inner voice, "here to keep her whole" (109). Jeanette accepts the unstable fluidity of all narratives and chooses only to listen to her inner voice, and it is the strength of her personality that allows her to resist the easy comfort and security of these narratives, consciously appropriating the material and symbols of these narratives to build your own. He confidently assumes the position of the 'prophet', as in the case of Stephen, who abandons the order of the 'priesthood' to become an artist-priest. However, although both characters reject dominant religious discourses, only Jeanette is realistic in recognizing the seductive power of narratives. Therefore, it constructs its own narrative, which successfully appropriates and destabilizes the biblical narrative, while desire. 11-35.