Dialectic of Gender and Desire in Shaping the Female Identity in Pope Joan and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

The present study examines the picture of women in Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Woolfolk Cross’s Poe Joan and shows how the writers redefine what makes femininity and the notion of female subjectivity in their novels. To do so, Judith Butler’s theory of performativity is used to provide a clear portrait of the female characters in these works. In addition to an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the opposite sexes, the study explores how women from different perspectives are related to each other. The two authors cry against any notion of masculine and feminine relations that justify and fixate on female subjugation and play down female characteristics and focus mainly on what contributes to shaping the female identity. Through the lens of Butlerian performativity, it is revealed that Winterson and Woolfolk unanimously depict a different feminine identity that crosses the boundary of typical female figures and renders a new persona for them that fits with no usual portrait of women in male-centered societies.