Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson and Blankets by Craig Thompson are coming-of-age stories that focus primarily on beliefs religious of their respective authors. Winterson grew up in an evangelical family. His mother was a very religious woman with a totalitarian parenting style. This, in turn, corrupted Winterson's young mind and his understanding of the world was greatly distorted. Later, as a young adult, her lesbianism and being shunned by the family she found within the church allowed her to overcome that mindset. Thompson, on the other hand, grew up in similar circumstances. His parents were fundamentalist Christians. They were extremely religious and conservative with a rather abusive parenting style. In addition to that, Thompson and his brother were also molested by their babysitter. His parents' religious abuse and the babysitter's physical abuse put him in a real conundrum when it came to his sexuality. To close the loop, the authors' upbringing had a negative effect on their mentality. Winterson and Thompson lived their lives in fear of disappointing God and their earthly gods – their parental figures – by attempting to live free from sin and temptation. Winterson's mother raised her in a very evangelical, very totalitarian family. His word was law and the biblical scriptures guided his word. Winterson's adoption story is as follows: My mother, while walking that night, had a dream and held it up to the light of day. He will take a child, raise him, build him, dedicate him to the Lord: a missionary child, a servant of God, a blessing. (Winterson 10) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Her mother wanted to create the perfect little girl, immaculately conceived by the Church's erroneous notions that had brainwashed her mother's mind. He had dreamed that Winterson was holy and devout, obedient and submissive, a perfect Christian in the eyes of God; and made sure Winterson knew how “special” she was (3). In her childhood, she was homeschooled by her mother. She was taught “to read the book of Deuteronomy because it is full of animals” (Winterson 42). Her religious upbringing left her very closed to the truths of the world and led her to believe that other people outside of her church were “heathens” (54). Once he had to attend public school, he had a hard time transitioning into the real world. He believed that Hell was a real place and terrified other schoolchildren with detailed stories of being burned in Hell for eternity. When making a sewing project, Winterson chose to add the motif “SUMMER IS OVER AND WE ARE NOT SAVED YET” (39). The other children and his teachers were very worried about his behavior; however, her mother glowed with pride. Winterson had proven herself to be the child she had always hoped to grow up: a devout, submissive Christian girl. Although her mother beamed with satisfaction, Winterson herself was spiraling deeper into confusion. She couldn't understand why other children didn't find what she liked as interesting as she did, thus making her a social outcast, just as Thompson was during her childhood. Thompson and his younger brother were raised in a fundamentalist Christian family. His family was very poor and openly religious, which led to altercations with other children at school. Like Winterson, Thompson attended public school where he was a social outcast and constantly bullied. During onebrawl, some bullies mocked him: You know... it's not just you we hate, but your whole family. Your father looks like a Mexican, too poor to feed you, and your mother is so religious that she makes everyone in town sick, and your brother... your little brother with his messy hair and stupid voice must be retarded. (Thompson 21) Thompson resented something that was completely out of his control. This began his separation between himself and his religion. He began to despise his religious upbringing because of the backlash that followed, and when he attempted to retaliate, he was thwarted by his teacher for writing "an eight-page poem about people who eat excrement" (Thompson 28). The teacher scolded him, telling him how embarrassed and ashamed his mother would be because “she is a good Christian woman” (Thompson 28). No matter which side he chose, there would always be naysayers to discourage him. He used his religion as a security blanket because it was the only way to live he knew. He felt it was safer for him. After the teacher finished scolding him, Thompson thought, “If only God could forgive me for all the times I imagined people eating their own excrement” (29). Even as he tried to distance himself from his religion, he still needed God's forgiveness for having such sinful thoughts. The church was the only place where he felt truly safe. At church Sunday school, Thompson was further from his faith. As one of his teachers explained that their heavenly task would be to sing praises to God for all eternity, Thompson explained that he could not sing and preferred to draw his praise to God. The teacher laughed at him and taunted him: "I want to say, 'Come on, Craig.' How can you praise God with drawings?” (137) This discouraged young Thompson even more. Drawing was the thing he loved to do most in life. He felt that if he couldn't praise God the way he wanted to, then why praise him? his children for who they are? Why praise a God who allows abuse and molestation to happen to kids like Craig and his brother? His parents were loving and caring, but they also had very crude methods of punishment that bordered on mental abuse. When Thompson and his brother were very young, they had to sleep together in one bed; their parents couldn't afford to buy another bed. One night, while Thompson and his brother were arguing over blankets, their father intervened in a mock diplomatic tone , the father declared: “Okay, don't you guys want to go to bed together?” (Thompson 14), put Thompson in their bed and forced his brother into the closet in the wall of their playroom that was being used as storage. He was forced to sleep there in the dark with spiders and other insects crawling on him all night. His brother was completely horrified, and Thompson felt like a failure as an older brother because "[he] neglected [his] protective role in dangerous situations" (18). This also applies to their childhood babysitter who tricked the kids into a room, saying she had “a really funny prank. So funny that I can only tell you one at a time” (Thompson 29). He then continued to molest them, making Thompson feel like he had completely failed as his brother's protector and damaging his view of sexuality even more than his fundamentalist parents had already done. In most religions, sexualities other than heterosexual, sexual relationships and everything related to sexuality are considered sinful. Winterson was taught from an early age that all forms of sexuality were sinful and tithey would have sent straight to hell. One day, after returning from church, Mrs. White, her mother, and Winterson were greeted by the sounds of their neighbors engaging in sexual intercourse. This drove his mother crazy. He began a retaliatory attack with hymns and prayers and sent Winterson to the ice cream truck. Winterson thought to himself, “I didn't really know what fornication was, but I had read about it in Deuteronomy and knew it was a sin” (54). His mother had ingrained this knowledge into his brain. Sexual intercourse was a sin, as were Winterson's “unnatural passions” (105). Her love for another woman was seen as an abomination before God. Her mother was mortified by her daughter's sexual identity and attempted to wield Winterson's demon. His mother introduced her lover Melina and Winterson to the entire church. The congregation then proceeded to shower them with hymns and Bible verses to teach them the godly way of life—to show them that their love was "a love reserved for a husband and a wife" (105)—thus leaving Winterson to wonder what loved. more: his sexuality or his God. Thompson was also raised to believe that many forms of sexuality were sinful. His conservative family feared the thought of their son being sexually active in any way. On page 167, the reader sees a conversation between Thompson and his mother in which she appeared to be physically disgusted by the fact that "sex education" was taught in public schools. He then stated, “Why we let these people teach our children, I will never know” (Thompson 167); she shared the same ideals as Winterson's mother. Thompson's mother believed that those who are ungodly should not teach their children. Although she doesn't say it outright, her behavior suggests that she too believes that good Christians were better than everyone else. Another example of his parents' fear of sexuality was when they scolded him for drawing a naked woman, asking, "How do you think Jesus feels?" (Thompson 207). Young Thompson was ashamed and ashamed of the prospect of Jesus disapproving of his interest in female anatomy. Ultimately, this fear of sin and sexual shame had a great effect on Thompson as a teenager. On page 146, the reader sees an image of Thompson becoming sexually aroused by the letters he and Raina exchanged. Thompson then went on to tell the reader that “this was the ONE and ONLY time [he] masturbated in [his] senior year, but such are the willpower that faith provides” (147). His faith and fear of God were enough to curb his lust and temptation; however, this time his willpower faltered and he was emotionally distraught. After the accident, he lay naked on the floor, in a fetal position, and felt the full weight of his actions and sins against God (Thompson 148). Thompson felt crushed by the figurative weight of his wrongful actions. With Raina, however, his fear of losing God's approval vanished. The teenage Thompson felt that sexual exploration was okay because he was in love with Raina. Thompson associated Raina's naked body with religious overtones, stating that "she had been created by a DIVINE ARTIST...sacred, perfect, and unknowable" (429). God created her wonderfully. Every curve, dimple and inch of flesh was perfect. He saw Raina as a perfect, God-like, holy individual. He was not ashamed of having sexual contact with Raina because he saw it as an act of worship. His sexuality was no longer a sinful act; it was something absolutely right because of his love for her. Winterson and Thompson, however, found that they could not have the, 1985.