Time
Time is not linear within the novel. The characters are able to experience events in the past, present, and future at the same time. This time manipulation gives the characters the ability to see times within the past and the future although they may not understand what they are seeing. Time is seen as always bending and the story slips from the past to the future and back seamlessly and in a nonlinear fashion. Time is important in the novel and allows the reader to see the characters in different times throughout history (if we assume that Nicholas Jordan and the woman represent Jordan and Dog Woman at another point in time). It shows how their lives connect even in the distant future and how important they are in one another’s lives.
Love
Jordan travels the world to find love, and in hopes of better understanding it. His encounters make him wonder if he has ever experienced love, or if love is just an illusion. Jordan seeks to find Fortunata after seeing her at a dinner party. Once he finally finds her, he cannot stay with her, but finds it hard to leave her. He will never forget her and finally realizes the meaning of love. Fortunata and Jordan's relationship shows that love does not necessarily require two people to be in the same place, or even in the same time.
The Dog Woman loves Jordan. She has loved him from the moment she found him; she finds it difficult to watch him go to travel the world but knows that she cannot keep him at her side. She knows if she loves him, she must let him go. Jordan loves Dog Woman and returns to her after 13 years at sea. The love between Dog Woman and Jordan shows that romantic love is not the only, or even the most powerful, connection between people.
Female Unhappiness in Marriage and Relationships
Many female characters are shown to be unhappy when they are married to men, or engaged in romantic relationships. When Jordan is disguised as a woman, he is shocked to learn how suspiciously and disdainfully women speak about men. Later, he meets Fortunata's 11 sisters, most of whom have had unhappy experiences while married to men (and all of whom have ended up single again). After Dog Woman kills Preacher Scroggs, she notices that his wife seems to be very happy to be single again. All of these incidents show that historically, women have often lacked agency and been unhappy or vulnerable when engaging in heterosexual relationships. Fortunata does seem to genuinely love Jordan, but she chooses to protect her independence rather than marry him and go back to England with him.
Religious Conflict
Jordan and Dog Woman live through a time of great upheaval in England. The Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, want sweeping reforms within the country. They are against the Church of England and want a purer, simpler life. The Puritans do not like the extravagance of wealth. They do not see the need for elaborate outfits and jewelry. They want people to dress simply, return to a more simplistic way of worship, and abandon ritualistic ways that seem similar to Catholicism. This leads to a divide within the country and pits neighbor against neighbor. Dog Woman is strongly opposed to Puritans because she does not like the way they create shame around the body and sexuality; she can also tell that many prominent Puritans are cruel hypocrites.
Travel and Exploration
Travel and exploration is an important theme in the novel; Jordan becomes very interested in traveling to far-away places, and eventually spends 13 years outside of England, sailing with Tradescant. In the contemporary storyline, Nicholas Jordan also dreams of taking to the sea and traveling faraway. For male characters, travel and exploration seems to be a way of realizing their dreams of heroism and achievement. Interestingly, female characters like Fortunata and Dog Woman seem to prefer to live more fixed lives, identifying a place and then remaining rooted there. Travel is also shown to be a way of achieving a new beginning; when Dog Woman is no longer comfortable being in London, she seeks a new life by sailing abroad.
Violence
Dog Woman participates in a number of violent acts and murders many people, including her father and a number of Puritans. She is never repentant or regretful about these actions; because Dog Woman is so pragmatic, she does not worry about emotions or morality. Dog Woman lives in a historical epoch filled with violence and suffering; for example, she witnesses the gruesome executions of both a king and Parliamentary leaders, and then she sees mass death during the plague outbreak. All of these experiences harden Dog Woman's perception of physical suffering.
Family
Jordan and Dog Woman create a loving and close-knit family, even though it is not traditional and they are not biologically related. Nicholas Jordan, by contrast, lives with his biological parents but seems to have a more distant relationship; he and his parents cannot truly appreciate one another's value. Fortunata and her sisters end up very unhappy after their father tries to control them and forces them into marriages they don't desire. By depicting these different families, Winterson shows that biology is not the only grounds for close and loving bonds, and that parents can make their children happy by truly loving and accepting them for who they are.
