Disruption to the social order

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  • Disruption to the social order- the 'rebels' of the winter palace and the 'girls on the moon'
    • The Laughter of Stafford Girls' High
      • Jouissance- the 'light breezes of laughter'
      • Ecriture feminine
      • Represents the 1960s upheaval of 2nd wave feminism
      • An 'allegory of the rise of feminism, sweeping away dowdy post war austerity and buttoned up sterility'
      • Mock epic so satirises the masculine, classical epic poem
      • Generational freedom: the students are initially suppressed, representing the 'conservatising' effect of the world wars on women in Europe
        • The teachers are overwhelmed with anarchy, laughter 'roar[ing] ... like a tropical wind'
        • The 'silly joy' of the girls inspires Mrs Mackay's 'heart' 'in its dark cave' to detach, 'like a genie popped from a flask'. Becomes a noctambulist and reaches 'for the moon' (seeking feminine roots)
        • Miss Batt abandons 'essays on Cardinal Wolsey' in 'bending down to Miss Fife'
        • Nadimbaba and Dunn also have freedom under Simone de Beauvoir's revelation (2nd wave feminism)
      • Doctor Bream fails to unlock opportunity, priding instead tradition, 'the finest of England's daughters and mothers and wives' and memerising 'Egbert, Ethelwulf'
  • Oranges
    • White Writing
      • Duffy voices the voiceless
      • 'She writes in white ink'- Cixous
        • Self produced (breast milk) rather than the stable, explicit black
      • Impossible task: 'wad[ing]' in sea, writing 'words on the wind', rules 'traced with a stick'
      • Anger: 'No vows...'
      • The old order is white ink in the face of the blackening female voice
      • Patriarchy is rejected: reference to 'maiden name'
      • Determined: 'I write them white'. Reclamation of invisibility; quiet confidence
      • Creates ceremony herself: 'My lips on yours'. This line is above the whole poem
        • Implicit declaration of love under guise of frustration. Poem is actually written in black in a sudden surge of rebellion
      • 4 line stanzas and serene copresence of 'palm against palm', 'lifeline', 'heartline'
    • Manipulation of the literary form
      • Meta narratives show an inclination towards the other
        • Woman 'working to a deadline', 'stroked [the prince's] hair', 'pulled him inside her home': interception of modern femininity
    • Overwhelming patriarchy: 'enormous' 'pink' mac, 'hood over [her] eyes', makes her 'sick' and insecure- feels like 'The Man in The Iron Mask', an uncomfortable fraud
      • The 'nasty': Melanie and Jeanette 'hugged and it felt like drowning', uncontrollable desire 'an octopus inside' her
    • Disgust at men: 'pig', 'skin bright pink'; unappealing sexuality
      • Crude awakening to hetero. marriage: 'A bit of love' confused with 'hurt', there is 'what we want' vs 'what we get'. Transformed princes were therefore a 'terrible conspiracy'
      • Crunched the 'Maureen 4 Ken' 'sweet hearts', 'miss[ing] the couples' due to the 'painful' noises of girls 'smashed against the wall'
    • The female future is bigots drowning in the 'blood' of courageous women

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