Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit: 8. Ruth Summary & Analysis

Jeanette tells a story that took place “a long time ago, when the kingdom was divided up into separate compartments like pressure cookers,” and people took travels to other realms a lot more seriously than they do now, considering problems such as what sort of monsters they might come across and what to do should they encounter a wizard “who wants to keep an eye on you.” In these days of old, Jeanette says, magic was very important, and many people drew chalk circles around themselves to keep themselves safe from magic and harm. Wizards, especially, must spend many years in a chalk circle during their training, until they can push their magic outside the bounds of their own hearts. It is not possible for them to change anything, she says, until they understand the substance they wish to change. 

A young girl named Winnet wanders the woods, and is followed by a strange black bird with huge wings. After a while, the bird disappears. Later that same afternoon, Winnet comes upon a sorcerer standing on the opposite bank of a rushing stream. The sorcerer calls out to Winnet, and tells her that he knows her name. Winnet is afraid—if the sorcerer is telling the truth, then that means he has power over her. Naming means power, after all; Adam named the animals and then the animals came at his call.

Winnet tells the sorcerer she doesn’t believe him, and the sorcerer tells her to cross the stream so that he can whisper her name in her ear. Winnet, knowing that the land across the bridge must be the sorcerer’s territory, refuses. The sorcerer warns her that she will never get out of the forest without his help. After a difficult night struggling in the mud and fighting off an army of water ants, Winnet is taunted by the sorcerer, who smiles at her from the other side of the river. The sorcerer lights a fire and gets out a cooking pot, trying to tempt Winnet to cross the bridge with the promise of food.

Winnet tells the sorcerer she will not dine with him because he will try to poison her. The sorcerer, shocked, promises that he would never poison her. Winnet asks the sorcerer how she can trust him, and he confesses that he does not know her name—if he did, he would have been able to spirit her over the river. Winnet makes a pact with the sorcerer—she will dine with him, and after the meal he will tell her what he wants from her and the two of them will hold a contest to decide what to do. The sorcerer creates a chalk circle for Winnet to ensure her protection.

Winnet joins the sorcerer at his table and eats hungrily. After the meal, the sorcerer reveals to Winnet that he wants to make her his apprentice—he can tell she has gifts, he knows she can take his message to other places, and though he cannot force her to study under him, he hopes that she will tell him her name. If she doesn’t, he says, she will never be able to get out of her chalk circle. Winnet is angry to have been tricked, but strikes another bargain with the sorcerer—if he can guess her name, she’ll be his, but if he cannot, he must help her leave the forest. The sorcerer agrees, and the two of them play hangman. Eventually, the sorcerer guesses Winnet’s name, and the chalk circle around her vanishes. Winnet is nervous, but goes with the sorcerer to his castle.

As Winnet settles in to castle life, she finds herself unable to remember how she got there, or what her life had been like before. She begins to believe that she had always been in the castle, and that she is the sorcerer’s daughter. The sorcerer has a good relationship with the villagers nearby, and soon Winnet becomes a friend to them as well. One day, a stranger comes to town, and he and Winnet strike up a friendship. On the day of the great feast, Winnet invites the stranger to the castle. She introduces him to her father, and asks the sorcerer if he will present the stranger with a present, as is customary at the feast. The sorcerer replies that Winnet has already decided the stranger’s present, and disappears. Winnet’s friend tells her that he is frightened, but Winnet assures him there is no need to be.

The feast is great fun, and at midnight the sorcerer gives his customary speech before handing out presents to the villagers. Soon, though, his face grows solemn, and he speaks of a blight upon the land. Then he seizes Winnet’s boyfriend and proclaims that the blight lies within him, and that he must be cast out—he has spoiled the sorcerer’s daughter. Winnet protests, but the sorcerer casts the boy down into the deepest darkest dungeon. That night, Winnet goes to the boy and sets him free, urging him to go to her father and deny her, blaming her for anything he wants.

In the morning, Winnet goes to her father. The sorcerer tells Winnet that she has disgraced him, and must leave. Winnet begs to stay, and the sorcerer tells her that if she stays she must stay in the village as a goatherd. The sorcerer leaves Winnet to make up her mind. Winnet is about to cry, but then one of the sorcerer’s ravens lands on Winnet’s shoulder and offers her some advice. He tells her that if she leaves she won’t lose her power, she’ll just use it differently—sorcerers can never take back their gifts. If she stays, however, she will be “destroyed by grief.” The raven offers Winnet its heart, which is shaped like a brown pebble—he chose to stay, long ago, and his heart has grown thick with sorrow. Now it will serve as a reminder to Winnet to remain confident in her choice to leave.

Winnet’s father sneaks into the room, disguised as a mouse, and ties an invisible thread around one of Winnet’s buttons. She does not notice the thread, and in the morning she leaves the castle and crosses the river, leaving the forest behind.

Jeanette is living with a considerate teacher from school and working at a funeral parlor, which pays well and allows Jeanette to wash the hearses if she needs extra money. Jeanette still drives the ice cream van, and sometimes does both jobs in one day. One day, making her rounds in the van, Jeanette turns onto Elsie’s street. She doles out some ice creams and then parks the truck. She goes into Elsie’s house, where she finds her mother, Mrs. White, and the pastor gathered in the parlor. Elsie is nowhere to be found. Jeanette asks what’s going on, but no one will answer her directly. Jeanette, distraught, begs her mother to tell her what’s going on, but the pastor tells Jeanette to go home. Jeanette replies that she doesn’t have a home.

The pastor brings Jeanette into the hall and the two begin arguing. The pastor accuses Jeanette of using her “powers” over Melanie, but Jeanette protests that Melanie loved her, and told her so—but is wounded when she realizes that this is a lie, and that the pastor has trapped her in a clever kind of violence that “leaves no visible mark.”

The story switches back to the tale of Winnet, who has wandered into a different part of the forest and become lost. A woman roaming the woods finds Winnet and helps her. Winnet returns to the woman’s village, where she is welcomed warmly. The people there have heard of the sorcerer and believe him to be dangerous. Winnet attempts to learn the language spoken in the new village, but has trouble gaining fluency. One day, Winnet hears of a beautiful, faraway city, with buildings that stretch to the sky. None of the villagers have ever been there, but they all “h[o]ld it in awe.” Winnet lies awake each night dreaming of the big city, sure that if she can get there, she’ll finally feel safe.

The next day at the funeral parlor, Jeanette’s bosses tell her that Elsie’s funeral is to be held there the following day at noon. Jeanette volunteers to clean out the hearse, because she wants Elsie to “have the best.” By the time Jeanette is done cleaning the car out, everyone has gone home, and Jeanette is able to see Elsie’s open coffin lying in the parlor. Jeanette talks to Elsie for a long time, and it is dawn before she goes home to her teacher’s house.

In the morning, Jeanette is awakened by the telephone. Her boss at the funeral parlor has called to ask her if she will come in and serve the meal—his partner has suffered an injury and won’t be able to help him with the wake. Jeanette attempts to explain that she is an outcast in her congregation, and that there will be chaos if she shows up to Elsie’s funeral. Jeanette’s boss tells her that he doesn’t care, and Jeanette agrees.

Jeanette manages to lay the food out surreptitiously without being noticed while Elsie’s service is going on in the next room, but when it is time for ice cream, another mishap means Jeanette has to serve it directly to all of the mourners. As she walks around the parlor serving vanilla ice cream to the pastor, Mrs. White, her mother, and her mother’s friends, the members of the congregation become enraged. Mrs. White tells Jeanette’s mother that her daughter is a demon, and Jeanette’s mother replies that Jeanette is “no daughter of [hers]” before leading the congregation out of the parlor.

After the commotion, as Jeanette returns to the kitchen, she feels someone standing behind her. It is Miss Jewsbury, who asks Jeanette how she’s faring. After the two catch up briefly, Miss Jewsbury asks if Jeanette will come visit her—Jeanette declines, and Miss Jewsbury leaves. Elsie’s funeral is the last time that Jeanette works in the funeral parlor—she takes a new job at a mental hospital, where she is able to live in the facility and have a room of her own.

Winnet continues dreaming of the faraway city, though many villagers tell her that it doesn’t even exist, or insist she’ll be unhappy even if she finds it. Nevertheless, Winnet’s determination grows. She finds a map and realizes she must venture out into the sea if she wishes to find the city, and she is afraid, but decides to build her own boat anyway. On her last night in the village, Winnet has a dream in which her eyebrows become two bridges leading to a hole between her eyes. In the dream Winnet must drop down the hole and follow the spiral staircase inside, encountering horrible things on her way down. When Winnet wakes up it is raining, and she is crying. She gets into her boat and rows out to sea, more determined than ever to find the city.

Jeanette has left her hometown and is living in a city. One of her new friends asks her when she last saw her mother, but Jeanette does not want to think of her past. Her friend asks her if she ever thinks of going back, which Jeanette sees as a “silly question.” She’s always thinking of going back, but more out of shame and pain than longing. Jeanette’s friend asks her what would have happened if she had stayed, and Jeanette muses that she could have been a priest instead of a prophet, following prescribed words from an ancient book rather than being a “voice in the wilderness.” Still, Jeanette acquiesces, admitting that the demons that lie within her have traveled with her.

Jeanette travels by train to her hometown through heavy snow. The journey is uncomfortable, and it seems as if many mad people are on Jeanette’s train. At last, Jeanette arrives home and disembarks the train. As she walks through her town, she sees a tall Christmas tree out front of the town hall.

Jeanette arrives at her front door, and she peeks through the window into the parlor. Her mother is playing a Christmas carol on an electric organ. Jeanette lets herself in and greets her mother, who is excited to show off her new keyboard. Jeanette asks her mother if she got the organ from the Society for the Lost, and Jeanette’s mother, embarrassed, admits that the society has been disbanded after corruption was discovered at the Morecambe guest house. The place has fallen into disrepair despite Jeanette’s mother’s fundraising efforts to save it, and now a medium who offers séances has set up shop there. Jeanette and her mother catch up for a while, and then Jeanette, tired from her trip, heads to bed.

Sir Perceval comes to a glorious castle on a hill. As he approaches, the drawbridge lowers to let him in. Two dwarves welcome the weary Sir Perceval to the castle and show him a room where he can rest. Perceval laments having ever left Camelot, knowing that he has traveled too far to turn back. Perceval falls asleep and dreams of the moment the Grail first appeared to the Knights of the Round Table, and they each saw themselves and each other anew. When Perceval wakes, it is time for dinner, and he plans to greet his host warmly and tell them, whoever they are, of his quest, but not his reason for seeking it—his desire to become the perfect hero.

Jeanette’s mother wakes her up with a cup of hot chocolate and a shopping list, and bids her to go run some errands. Jeanette picks up a pair of snow boots and then decides to visit Mrs. Arkwright at the pest shop. Jeanette asks Mrs. Arkwright how business is, and Mrs. Arkwright reveals that things are terrible ever since everyone in town has stopped using outhouses and gotten indoor plumbing. Jeanette asks Mrs. Arkwright what she’s going to do, and Mrs. Arkwright excitedly confides in Jeanette: she is planning to use all her savings and emigrate to Spain, but first, she is going to burn down her shop for the insurance money. She offers to send Jeanette a newspaper clipping after the incident occurs.

After Jeanette finishes running her errands, she stops at a restaurant to eat and think. She puzzles at how her mother is treating her as she always has and doesn’t even seem to remember why Jeanette left. Jeanette wonders if, in making the choice to leave, she somehow left a part of herself behind, and that she is, in some universe, still an evangelist living in her hometown.

After leaving the restaurant, Jeanette doesn’t go straight home. She walks up the hill, and stands at the top, thinking about God and her abandoned faith. Jeanette misses God, and doesn’t see Him as her betrayer, but has come to realize that “if God is your emotional role model, very few human relationships will match up to it.” Jeanette has had trouble in her own relationships for this reason, and as per the “gypsy” woman’s prediction, has never been able to settle. She wants a powerful and deep love, but is afraid of being betrayed, and considers how she can reconcile her wild dreams of passion with the realities of romantic love.

Looking down the hill, Jeanette can see the house where Melanie used to live. She reveals that she once ran into Melanie in the city—Melanie was pushing a stroller and had appeared almost vegetable-like. Jeanette wondered at how the two of them had ever had a relationship. She repeats her theory that “time is a great deadener.” As Jeanette walks down the hill it is getting dark outside. She misses her dog, who has died, and her old self, who she feels has died as well.

When Jeanette arrives home, she startles her mother, who is listening to the radio. The two eat dinner, and Jeanette’s mother tells her the story of how she built her own CB radio and now speaks regularly to Christians all over England. As Jeanette listens to her mother speak, she begins to wish that when she goes to bed she will “wake up with the past intact.” She feels she has “run a great circle,” and met herself again at the start.

After dinner, Sir Perceval’s host retreats to bed, but Perceval stays at the dinner table, examining his hands. One hand is strong and firm, but the other looks “underfed” and uncomfortable. At dinner, Perceval’s host had asked him why he left Camelot, and Perceval stayed silent, feeling shame in the realization that he had left for his own sake and “nothing more.” That night, when Perceval finally goes up to bed, he dreams that he is a spider hanging on an oak tree. A raven comes and breaks the thread holding him to his web, and he hits the ground and scuttles away.

At Christmas Eve dinner with Mrs. White, Mrs. White becomes so nervous in Jeanette’s presence that she suffers a fit and has to be taken home. Jeanette’s mother faults Jeanette for Mrs. White’s illness. To pass the time before opening presents, Jeanette and her mother play a board game. When Jeanette wins, her mother exclaims that she cheated, and mutters to “never trust a sinner.” At midnight, Jeanette’s mother gleefully opens her presents, one of which is a catapult Jeanette’s father built so that she can launch dried peas at the cats next door.

For the next few days, Jeanette does not see much of her parents, as they are in church. A few days later, Jeanette reads a letter that has come from the Society, which contains “dreadful news” about the guest house in Morecambe: the owner has taken to drink, and has embarked on an affair with a “strange charismatic man who had once been the official exorcist to the Bishop of Bermuda.”

Jeanette feels for her mother, whose involvements with the Society for the Lost and the Morecambe house have brought her only pain. Jeanette sits by the fire, waiting for her mother to return home from church, and reflects on how she has no means of joining another family and no means of dismissing her own. After a while, her mother blusters in through the kitchen door, reads the letter, and throws it on the fire. She calls for Jeanette to fetch her her headphones, and she settles in with her radio, calling someone in Manchester.