CHAPTER I

GENESIS
Consider the following aspects:

The opening paragraph. How does it connect with the novel? What is its effect?

How does the fulm version start?

What is its effect?

How many references are made to the Bible or have a religious Christian contex.

Keeping in mind that the chapter is called Genesis, what does it suggest about the setting and the context of the novel?

Characterization/s

Make a note of all the facts that you know about Jeanette's mother

How has her character been built up?

What kind of a person do you think she is?

How many paragraphs begin with the words "My mother". What may all this mean or suggest?

What facts do you know about Jeanette at this early stage?

What sort of person do you think her to be?

How is your judgement affected by the fact that it is Jeanette who is telling the story in a first-person narrative?

Remember this is not an autobiography. It is a novel. Also consider that the character is called Jess in the television adaptation.

What significance might there be  in the story  of the gipsy and her palm reading? Why do you suppose Jeanette is attracted to the gipsy fair in the first place? 

The short insert story about the princess and the moths. How does the story connect connect to the main story about Jeanette, her mother's ambition and her calling?What parallels can you draw?
How much  work is the reader expected to put into it? While you were reading  Oranges you will have found that other similar inset "fairy stories" appeared. Remember always to relate them to to the themes and the events being played out in the main story.