Lesson 4.2.2.14

4.2.2.14 Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.2.2.14, Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA English Literature A (7712), Unit 2: Texts in shared contexts, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is the narrative perspective of Oranges are not the Only Fruit?

    • Multiple first-person letters from a family
    • First person, told by a girl named Jeanette
    • Third person, told by an omniscient narrator
    • Second person, addressed to the reader

  2. In which northern English town is the novel mainly set?

    • Newcastle upon Tyne
    • Manchester, Lancashire
    • Accrington, Lancashire
    • Leeds, Yorkshire

  3. Which religious tradition shapes the family life depicted in the novel?

    • A Roman Catholic parish
    • A Pentecostal church
    • The Church of England
    • A Methodist chapel

  4. What is Jeanette's adoptive mother's main role in the novel?

    • She is a strict evangelist who raises Jeanette within the church
    • She is a nurse who works in the local hospital
    • She is a schoolteacher who encourages Jeanette's reading
    • She is a shop owner who wants Jeanette to take over the business

  5. Who is Jeanette's first love in the novel?

    • Carol
    • Melanie
    • Sarah
    • Elaine

  6. Which literary form does Winterson use alongside realist narration?

    • Fairy tales and Bible stories
    • Sonnets and epic poetry
    • Newspaper cuttings and advertisements
    • Court transcripts and legal documents

  7. What does Jeanette struggle against in the novel?

    • A rival school in the town
    • The pressure to conform to her mother's religious and social expectations
    • The threat of war during her childhood
    • The financial hardship of a poor family in Lancashire

  8. How does Winterson present the church in the novel?

    • As a powerful force that polices emotions and sexuality
    • As a neutral community that offers no real influence
    • As a source of comfort with no harmful effects
    • As a school for the children of the town

  9. What is the effect of Winterson's use of fairy tales?

    • It explains Jeanette's religious views in detail
    • It removes any sense of emotion from the narrative
    • It adds a symbolic and mythic layer to Jeanette's experiences
    • It makes the novel feel like a children's history book

  10. What does the novel's title, Oranges are not the Only Fruit, suggest?

    • That there are many forms of life and love beyond the ones the church allows
    • That oranges are the only fruit available in the north of England
    • That the family's diet is limited to fruit
    • That the church bans the eating of oranges

  11. Which theme is central to Jeanette's growing self-knowledge?

    • Economic ambition and social mobility
    • The loss of a national identity after war
    • Sexual identity and the courage to be true to oneself
    • Political change in the trade unions

  12. What role does the setting of Lancashire play in the novel?

    • It is a backdrop with no effect on the characters
    • It provides a claustrophobic working-class background that intensifies the conflict with the church
    • It offers a glamorous cosmopolitan setting that contrasts with the church
    • It is a rural idyll where the family lives in peace

  13. How does Winterson's narrative handle time in the novel?

    • It follows a strict chronological order from birth to adulthood
    • It moves non-chronologically, linking past and present to explore memory and identity
    • It stays in a single year throughout
    • It uses only the future tense to describe events

  14. Which relationship in the novel is shaped by the church's disapproval?

    • Jeanette's relationship with Melanie
    • The friendship between two children at school
    • The bond between Jeanette and her birth mother
    • The relationship between Mrs Winterson and her husband

  15. What does Mrs Winterson's response to Jeanette's sexuality show about the novel's concerns?

    • The importance of loyalty to the local football club
    • The importance of education for working-class girls
    • The benefits of industrial work for families
    • The conflict between religious conformity and personal freedom

  16. Which technique does Winterson use to show Jeanette's sense of exclusion?

    • Long descriptions of the family's domestic routines
    • Dialogue written entirely in a dialect
    • Imagery drawn from fairy tale and Bible stories that sets her apart
    • Lists of the family's finances

  17. Why might the novel be seen as partly autobiographical?

    • Winterson based it on a newspaper report about a crime
    • Winterson draws on her own childhood in a Pentecostal family in northern England
    • Winterson wrote it as a translation of a German novel
    • Winterson wrote it as a memoir of a famous politician

  18. What does the novel suggest about the relationship between religion and identity?

    • Religion is shown as entirely positive for young people
    • Religion always brings families closer together
    • Religion can shape identity, but it can also be a source of conflict and rejection
    • Religion has no effect on the characters' sense of self

  19. How does Winterson's blend of humour and seriousness work in the novel?

    • The humour hides the pain, making the novel light-hearted
    • The seriousness is undermined by constant comedy
    • The humour exposes the absurdity of rigid belief, while the seriousness reveals real pain
    • The humour is used only in the final chapter

  20. Which social group does Winterson's novel focus on in its portrayal of community?

    • Working-class families and their religious communities
    • Students at Oxford University
    • Aristocratic families in southern England
    • Immigrant business owners in London

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