What are oranges

In The Book of Goose, oranges represent the inevitable separation between human beings. Early in the novel, Agnès conceptualizes herself and Fabienne as two halves of the same orange. The girls—like orange halves—share a deep and intimate bond. Over the course of the novel, however, Agnès gradually acknowledges that she and Fabienne will never be able to fully connect and coalesce into a singular self. Like an orange split in two, the friends can never form a unified whole. In this way, the symbol of the orange gestures at the unbridgeable divide that exists between separate selves.