How does Winterson explore Jeanette’s contrasting experiences outside of the church community?

Contrastingly to the comfort which Elsie provides, school or ‘the breeding ground’ is a shock to Jeanette who doesn't know how to react with other children. This is evident when she creates the sampler for Elsie which ‘terrorises’ the other children and justifies it with ‘Better to learn about hell now than to burn in it later’. This demonstrates the autonomous influence that Jeanette’s mother has had on her up until now as it sounds like something an adult would say but rather surprising to hear a child say it. The matter of fact nature of the statement enhances the reader’s shock at how different she is from a normal child who would probably never even think about the importance of Heaven and Hell. The simplicity is almost baffling and furthermore illustrates the black and white upbringing the Jeanette has had until now and how her mother has instilled very specific beliefs in her which seems to reiterate her separation from the other pupils. This idea of ‘black and white’ is a motif running throughout the whole novel for example her particularly avid approach to reading, books and Oxford in the development/climax which echoes her ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Although later on it seems to work in her favour, here, this motif emphasises ever more strongly the contrast in her upbringing and how isolated she is because of that. The strong adjective ‘terrorise’ also seems to support her radical thinking as this is what terrorism connotes. Therefore, through this polarisation of Jeanette against the class Winterson once again highlights the conflicts in Jeanette’s life which thus creates a pathos because it forces the reader to understand how alone she is and how difficult it is to come to terms with this new world she's experiencing after solely knowing the church, her mother and the bible. Through this, Winterson almost creates a sense of panic on the behalf of Jeanette because she can’t come to terms with the contrasting realities quick enough to be able to interact properly with the teachers or other pupils.