One of the most interesting, and yet bazaar aspects of Janeatte Winterson’s, Written on the Body would have to be the pidgeons.  Inge, the porcelin pummeling Dutch feminist, gives the reader a definite sense that is a strange woman.  This character is so radical in her belief that she decrees that the only way to escape male chauvenism is to only communicate through pigeon.  Her beliefs on male domination can be seen when the narrator states, ”She forbade me to telephone her. She said that telephones where for Receptionists, that is, women without status.  I said, fine, I’ll write.  Wrong, she said.  The Postal Service was run by despots who exploited non-union labour. ”(Winterson, 23).  After reading this piece of the novel, I couldn’t understand why the author had decided that pigeons were an appopriate way to solve Igna’s quest for male free communication.

              Jeanette Winterson could have decided to use homing pigeons  as a symbol of Sam’s failure in their relationship.  The failure of the homing pigeons on page 24 seems to correlate with the collapse of Igna and “Sam’s” courtship.  This can be seen when the text states, “The pigeons, Adam, Eve and Kissmequick, couldn’t manage Holland.  Eve got as far as folkestone.  Adam dropped out and went to live in Trafalgar Square, another victory to Nelson.  Kissmequick was scared of heights, a drawback for a bird, but the WI took him in as their mascot and rechristened him Boadicea.  If he has not died yet he is still living.  I don’t know what happened to Inge’s birds.  They never came to me”(Winterson, 24).  All three of the character’s birds seem to lack any real fervor in their duties.  Two give up trying while the third refuses to fly at all.  This lack of enthusiasm in the birds correlates with the narrator’s indiffernce with his/her relationship with Igna.  There seems to be no real emotion put into the description of the failure of the pigeons ability to keep the two together.  Even the character of the pigeons’ refusal to perform their instinctual duties furthers this idea.  Homing pigeons (according to wikipedia) were pigeons bred to develop the ability to be able to return to their nests and waiting mates in spite of long distances.  This fact is interesting when compared to Adam, Eve, and Kissmequick.  these were obviously very poor homing pigeons who had no real interest in returning to their mates and nests.  He/she seems to share the same enthusiasm in returning to Igna.   

               Although there is a lot left to the novel, I can start to sense that the narrator will have substantial issues with his/her relationships.  The pigeons, Adam, Eve and Kissmequick seem to come together to effectively hint at the romantic failures the narrator has, and will continue to have.