# Tangerines in Small Pleasures: How a Shared Fruit Becomes a Symbol of Friendship and Memory

What the Tangerines Are, Literally and SymbolicallynTangerines appear twice in Small Pleasures, separated by more than a decade and by a shift in form. The first appearance is as a literal fruit: four tangerines brought to a hospital ward in 1946, recorded in Alice Halfyard's diary. The second is as a work of art: a silk-screen print of a bowl of tangerines that Martha Campkin gives to Jean Swinney in 1957, asking her to pass it to Gretchen Tilbury. Between these two moments, the fruit moves from a perishable object of conflict and quiet generosity to a durable image of memory and reconciliation. In both forms, the tangerines are a small thing—a modest fruit, a postcard-sized print—and the novel's title insists that small pleasures matter. The tangerines are one of the novel's clearest examples of how a tiny, concrete object can carry emotional weight far beyond its size.nn## First Appearance: The 1946 Ward Diary and the Night of the Peeled FruitnThe diary entry from July 1946 records that M's mother brought four tangerines to the ward, a gift from a parishioner. M refuses to share them. When Sister Maria Goretti attempts to take the bag, it splits and the fruit scatters across the floor. M calls the sister a name, and the incident escalates into open enmity: M deliberately soils herself and accuses the sister of rough handling. The tangerines themselves are eaten overnight, peeled by G.nnThis episode is dense with meaning. The tangerines are scarce—four pieces of fruit for a ward of patients—and their scarcity triggers the conflict. M's refusal to share can be read as selfishness, but the diary also suggests a deeper context. M is a patient in a convalescent home, likely in pain and dependent on others for nearly everything. The fruit is one of the few things that is hers alone, brought by her mother, and the sister's attempt to redistribute it is experienced as an intrusion into the one small possession she has. The escalation—M soiling herself and accusing the sister—is a desperate act of defiance from a patient with almost no other form of agency.nnThe detail that G peeled the tangerines overnight is the emotional heart of the episode. G is Gretchen, and the act of peeling—quietly, in the dark, while the ward sleeps—is an act of care. It transforms the tangerines from a source of conflict into a shared, private pleasure. The fruit becomes a small currency of friendship between two women who are otherwise powerless in the institutional setting. Gretchen's gesture is consistent with the character she becomes in the novel's present: a woman who expresses care through practical, domestic acts, whether peeling fruit, sewing a dress, or baking a Sachertorte.nn## Second Appearance: The 1957 Silk-Screen Print and the Gift of RemembrancenIn Chapter 9, Jean visits Martha Campkin in her Chelsea studio. Martha is an artist, and among her work are postcard-sized silk-screen prints of birds, fruit and flowers—bold, graphic, and colorful, in deliberate contrast to her gray urban landscapes. After riffling through the collection, selecting and discarding different possibilities, Martha settles on a print of a bowl of tangerines. She asks Jean to give it to Gretchen, calling it something for her to remember her by.nnThe choice is not accidental. The tangerines connect Martha and Gretchen to their shared past at St. Cecilia's. For Martha, the print is a way of acknowledging that shared history without needing to speak of it directly. It is also an oblique gesture of reconciliation: Martha had assumed Gretchen was lying about her pregnancy, and the gift, delivered through Jean as an intermediary, is a way of reaching back to the friendship without requiring either woman to confront the past face to face.nnThe print also transforms the tangerines from a perishable fruit into a durable object. The 1946 tangerines were eaten in a single night; the print can hang on a wall for years. Martha's art, which she is so reluctant to have praised, becomes a vehicle for memory. The tangerines, once a source of conflict, are now a symbol of what the two women shared. The print is also a small pleasure in itself—a modest, colorful object that Jean imagines hanging on the Tilburys' wall between the Alpine scene and the embroidered sampler, a quiet addition to a home that values order and routine.nn## How the Meaning Changes Between the Two AppearancesnThe shift from fruit to print changes the tangerines' meaning in several ways. In 1946, the tangerines are scarce and contested: four individual pieces of fruit, fought over, then consumed in a single night. In 1957, the print shows a bowl of tangerines—an image of abundance rather than scarcity. The fruit that was hoarded and fought over becomes a bowl that can be shared, at least visually. The conflict with Sister Maria Goretti is replaced by a gesture of friendship between Martha and Gretchen. And the perishable fruit, eaten and gone, becomes a durable image that can be kept and remembered.nnThe meaning also shifts from private to mediated. In 1946, the tangerines are shared directly between G and M, in the dark, without witnesses. In 1957, the print passes through Jean's hands. She is the intermediary, the journalist who connects the two women's stories. The tangerines become part of the novel's larger pattern of evidence and testimony: a small, verifiable fact—a fruit, a print—that links people across time.nn## Character ConnectionsnMartha Campkin: The M of the diary, who refused to share the tangerines, is the artist who later makes a print of them. Her trajectory from a difficult, combative patient to a working artist is reflected in the transformation of the fruit into art. The print is her way of reaching back to the past, and it reveals a softer side beneath her spiky exterior. She is reluctant to accept praise and dismissive of her time at St. Cecilia's—when Jean asks if she is in touch with anyone from those days, she snorts and says hardly—yet she has kept the memory of Gretchen's kindness and chooses to acknowledge it through her work.nnGretchen Tilbury: The G who peeled the tangerines overnight is the recipient of the print. The act of peeling was an early sign of the care and loyalty that define her character. The print, delivered years later, acknowledges that loyalty. Gretchen is also the woman who, in the novel's present, expresses care through domestic acts—sewing, baking, tending to her family—so the tangerines connect her past and present selves.nnJean Swinney: Jean is the intermediary. She carries the print from Martha's studio to the Tilbury home, and in doing so she connects the two women's pasts. Her role as a journalist—gathering evidence, connecting people, carrying stories from one place to another—is mirrored in her role as a bearer of gifts. She also imagines the print in its future home, picturing it on the Tilburys' wall, which shows her investment in the relationships she is helping to build.nnSister Maria Goretti: The nun who tried to take the tangerines represents the institutional authority that the patients resist. The conflict over the fruit is a small rebellion against that authority, and it foreshadows the larger questions of control and belief that run through the novel.nn## Theme ConnectionsnThe tangerines connect to several of the novel's central themes. The title Small Pleasures is the most obvious reference point: the tangerines are a literal small pleasure, and the novel repeatedly shows how small things sustain people—the florentines Jean brings to Martha, the magazine Jean buys for Margaret, the tangerines peeled in the night. The tangerines also connect to the theme of friendship and memory: the print is explicitly a memento, a way of remembering a time that was difficult but also formative. The diary entry is a piece of evidence, recorded by Alice Halfyard, and it documents the tangerine incident in the same way Jean documents Gretchen's story—a small, verifiable fact in a story full of contested claims. Finally, the tangerines touch on appearance and reality: they look like a simple fruit, but they carry complex emotional weight, and the print looks like a decorative object but is a gesture of reconciliation.nn## Study Questionsnn**1. Why does Martha choose the tangerine print rather than one of the other prints?nnMartha selects the tangerine print after riffling through the collection, selecting and discarding different possibilities. The choice is deliberate. The tangerines are the one image that connects directly to her shared history with Gretchen at St. Cecilia's. The other prints—birds, flowers—are generic; the tangerines are specific. They reference the night when Gretchen peeled the fruit for Martha, and they carry the memory of that act of care. The print is also a way for Martha to acknowledge the past without having to speak of it directly, which suits her character.nn2. What does the 1946 tangerine incident reveal about the relationship between the patients and the nuns?nnThe incident reveals a relationship of tension and resistance. M refuses to share the fruit, and when Sister Maria Goretti tries to take it, the bag splits and the fruit scatters. M calls the sister a name, and the conflict escalates into open enmity. The tangerines are a small site of power struggle: the patients have little control over their lives, and the fruit is one of the few things M can control. The sister's attempt to redistribute it is experienced as an intrusion, and M's response—soiling herself and accusing the sister—is a desperate act of defiance from a patient with almost no other form of agency.nn3. How does the meaning of the tangerines change between 1946 and 1957?nnIn 1946, the tangerines are a literal fruit, scarce and contested. They are a source of conflict between M and the sister, and a source of quiet care between M and G. In 1957, the tangerines are an image—a print that Martha gives to Gretchen. The meaning shifts from scarcity to abundance (the print shows a bowl of fruit, not four individual pieces), from conflict to reconciliation, and from the perishable to the durable. The print is a way of preserving the memory of the friendship, and it passes through Jean's hands, making the tangerines part of the novel's larger pattern of mediation and testimony.nn4. What does the tangerine print suggest about Martha's character?**nnThe print suggests that Martha, despite her spiky exterior, is capable of sentiment and loyalty. She is reluctant to accept praise for her work, and she is dismissive of the past, but the gift of the print reveals a softer side. She has kept the memory of Gretchen's kindness, and she chooses to acknowledge it through her art. The print is also a practical gesture: it is small, portable, and can be delivered by Jean without requiring Martha to confront the past directly. It shows that Martha's care for Gretchen has survived the years, even if she cannot express it in person.