Themes of Middlesex
Coming of Age
Cal's story is one of coming of age, of learning about himself, and going through the stages of life: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Believe it or not, this story is very relatable. Despite being a hermaphrodite, all adolescents feel abnormal and monster-like at some point while growing up. Ultimately, we all have to learn to accept ourselves as we are. Although at the end of the book, it seems that Cal has yet to become totally comfortable with who he is and his physical differences, the reader is left with the feeling that he is on the path to self-acceptance.
Rebirth
Succeeding the Great Fire of Smyrna, Lefty and Desdemona must start life once more. At 14 years old, Callie experiences a second birth to come to be Cal. To become a male, Callie peregrinates across the United States and becomes a midwife of her new life by teaching herself to forget what she has learned as a female. Likewise, Cal's grandparents undergo a transformation, becoming husband and wife instead of brother and sister. Middlesex digs into the concept of identity, including how it is formed and how it is administered. The immigrant dilemma is a metaphor and synecdoche for Calliope's hermaphroditic condition; Callie's paternal grandparents become Americanized through the unification of the elements of heredity, cultural metamorphoses, and probability. Callie's maternal grandfather, Jimmy Zizmo, undergoes a rebirth when he transforms from a bootlegger into Farrad Mohammad, a Muslim minister.
American Dream
As the Stephanides family seeks the American Dream, we discover the hardships faced with time. Beginning with Lefty and Desdemona, Cal's grandparents, fleeing from their homeland to Ellis Island and the United States, the novel later depicts the family living in a suburban vista at Grosse Pointe, Michigan. After they immigrate to the United States, Lefty and Desdemona find themselves in a blissful America on the brink of economic collapse. They dream about a flawless America where effort and morals will lead to prosperity. Middlesex portrays the misfortunes of attaining an identity, especially while dealing with the revelation that the American Dream is a misconception that has already disappeared.
Incest and intersex
Incest and intersex is another theme in Middlesex. Eugenides examines the passionate feelings that siblings living in close quarters experience for each other. Milton and Tessie, second cousins, are conceived during the same night, hinting to the incest of Desdemona and Lefty. Desdemona and Lefty's incestuous relationship is a transgression of a powerful taboo, indicating that someone will suffer for their wrongs. In a way, Cal's intersex situation symbolizes this Greek hubris. In another incestuous relationship, Milton makes love to Tessie using a clarinet… Their incestuous connection enables them to contribute mutated genes to their child Cal. Cal's mother impedes with fate by attempting to make her second child a daughter. Cal believes this interference was a factor in his being a hermaphrodite.
Cal's story is one of coming of age, of learning about himself, and going through the stages of life: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Believe it or not, this story is very relatable. Despite being a hermaphrodite, all adolescents feel abnormal and monster-like at some point while growing up. Ultimately, we all have to learn to accept ourselves as we are. Although at the end of the book, it seems that Cal has yet to become totally comfortable with who he is and his physical differences, the reader is left with the feeling that he is on the path to self-acceptance.
Rebirth
Succeeding the Great Fire of Smyrna, Lefty and Desdemona must start life once more. At 14 years old, Callie experiences a second birth to come to be Cal. To become a male, Callie peregrinates across the United States and becomes a midwife of her new life by teaching herself to forget what she has learned as a female. Likewise, Cal's grandparents undergo a transformation, becoming husband and wife instead of brother and sister. Middlesex digs into the concept of identity, including how it is formed and how it is administered. The immigrant dilemma is a metaphor and synecdoche for Calliope's hermaphroditic condition; Callie's paternal grandparents become Americanized through the unification of the elements of heredity, cultural metamorphoses, and probability. Callie's maternal grandfather, Jimmy Zizmo, undergoes a rebirth when he transforms from a bootlegger into Farrad Mohammad, a Muslim minister.
American Dream
As the Stephanides family seeks the American Dream, we discover the hardships faced with time. Beginning with Lefty and Desdemona, Cal's grandparents, fleeing from their homeland to Ellis Island and the United States, the novel later depicts the family living in a suburban vista at Grosse Pointe, Michigan. After they immigrate to the United States, Lefty and Desdemona find themselves in a blissful America on the brink of economic collapse. They dream about a flawless America where effort and morals will lead to prosperity. Middlesex portrays the misfortunes of attaining an identity, especially while dealing with the revelation that the American Dream is a misconception that has already disappeared.
Incest and intersex
Incest and intersex is another theme in Middlesex. Eugenides examines the passionate feelings that siblings living in close quarters experience for each other. Milton and Tessie, second cousins, are conceived during the same night, hinting to the incest of Desdemona and Lefty. Desdemona and Lefty's incestuous relationship is a transgression of a powerful taboo, indicating that someone will suffer for their wrongs. In a way, Cal's intersex situation symbolizes this Greek hubris. In another incestuous relationship, Milton makes love to Tessie using a clarinet… Their incestuous connection enables them to contribute mutated genes to their child Cal. Cal's mother impedes with fate by attempting to make her second child a daughter. Cal believes this interference was a factor in his being a hermaphrodite.
Characters of Middlesex
Calliope "Callie" (later changes name to Cal) Helen Stephanides - Narrator of the novel. She was born with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, a mutation that causes her to physically look like a girl but possesses the hormones of a boy
Chapter Eleven - Calliope's brother. His name plays off how he leads his father's company into bankruptcy. Chapter Eleven refers to the United States bankruptcy law of the same name.
Clementine Stark -The girl in Grosse Pointe, Michigan who taught Calliope how to kiss.
Obscure Object - The girl Calliope falls in love with. The term originated from Eugenides' college days at Brown University with Rick Moody. When the two found the same girl alluring, they would refer to her as the "Obscure Object".
Jerome -The Obscure Object's brother. He’s the first boy Calliope has sex with.
Eleutherios "Lefty" Stephanides - Calliope's grandfather and Desdemona's husband… And also Desdemona's brother. Lefty is a bachelor who is unmoved by the seductive techniques employed by the only two marriageable women in the village.
Desdemona Stephanides - Calliope's grandmother. She is the sister and wife of Lefty. On the eve of their parting for America, she and Lefty declared their love to each other and married on the boat. During her pregnancy with Milton, she learned that children of incest are often born with diseases. She tried to distant herself from Lefty sexually, but after giving birth to Zoe, she completely witheld sex from him.
Sourmelina "Lina" (née Pappasdiamondopoulis) Zizmo - Cousin of Lefty and Desdemona. She is married to Jimmy Zizmo. Sourmalina and her husband sponsor Lefty and Desdemona to reach America. A former inhabitant of Bithynios, she was married off to Zizmo after she was noticed in an inappropriate relationship with a married woman.
Jimmy Zizmo - Lina's husband. He abandons her after she gives birth to their first and only child, Theodora ("Tessie"), Cal's mother, due to his erroneous suspicions that the baby is not his. He dies soon after Tessie is born, and is not mourned by Lina, who never loved him in the first place.
Miltiades "Milton" Stephanides - Calliope's father. He is the son of Lefty and Desdemona. Milton is Tessie's husband and second cousin. Milton courts Tessie with a clarinet and marries her after fighting in World War II.
Theodora "Tessie" Stephanides - Calliope's mother. She’s Milton's wife and second cousin.
Zoë "Aunt Zoe" Stephanides - Calliope's aunt and Father Mike's wife. She is the daughter of Lefty and Desdemona.
Michael "Father Mike" Antoniou - Orthodox priest who is Tessie's former fiancé. He is Aunt Zoe's husband, although he is still in love with Tessie.
Nishan Philobosian - Armenian doctor who is evacuated from Smyrna with Lefty and Desdemona after his family is killed by Turkish soldiers, then becomes the Stephanides family's trusted physician in America.
Marius Wyxzewixard Challouehliczilczese Grimes - an African American who befriends Callie. He is named after an Ethiopian nationalist.
Peter "Uncle Pete" Tatakis - Bachelor who attends the Sunday debating sessions at Milton's house.
Peter Luce - sexologist in New York who is considered a foremost expert on hermaphroditism. Luce planned to castrate Calliope and give her progesterone to let her remain female.
Zora Khyber - Coworker of Cal's at San Francisco's Sixty-Niners, Bob Presto's burlesque club. Appearing fully female despite being genetically male, Zora is affected by complete androgen insensitivity syndrome.
Julie Kikuchi is a Japanese-American photographer with whom Cal has a relationship in his adult life.
Chapter Eleven - Calliope's brother. His name plays off how he leads his father's company into bankruptcy. Chapter Eleven refers to the United States bankruptcy law of the same name.
Clementine Stark -The girl in Grosse Pointe, Michigan who taught Calliope how to kiss.
Obscure Object - The girl Calliope falls in love with. The term originated from Eugenides' college days at Brown University with Rick Moody. When the two found the same girl alluring, they would refer to her as the "Obscure Object".
Jerome -The Obscure Object's brother. He’s the first boy Calliope has sex with.
Eleutherios "Lefty" Stephanides - Calliope's grandfather and Desdemona's husband… And also Desdemona's brother. Lefty is a bachelor who is unmoved by the seductive techniques employed by the only two marriageable women in the village.
Desdemona Stephanides - Calliope's grandmother. She is the sister and wife of Lefty. On the eve of their parting for America, she and Lefty declared their love to each other and married on the boat. During her pregnancy with Milton, she learned that children of incest are often born with diseases. She tried to distant herself from Lefty sexually, but after giving birth to Zoe, she completely witheld sex from him.
Sourmelina "Lina" (née Pappasdiamondopoulis) Zizmo - Cousin of Lefty and Desdemona. She is married to Jimmy Zizmo. Sourmalina and her husband sponsor Lefty and Desdemona to reach America. A former inhabitant of Bithynios, she was married off to Zizmo after she was noticed in an inappropriate relationship with a married woman.
Jimmy Zizmo - Lina's husband. He abandons her after she gives birth to their first and only child, Theodora ("Tessie"), Cal's mother, due to his erroneous suspicions that the baby is not his. He dies soon after Tessie is born, and is not mourned by Lina, who never loved him in the first place.
Miltiades "Milton" Stephanides - Calliope's father. He is the son of Lefty and Desdemona. Milton is Tessie's husband and second cousin. Milton courts Tessie with a clarinet and marries her after fighting in World War II.
Theodora "Tessie" Stephanides - Calliope's mother. She’s Milton's wife and second cousin.
Zoë "Aunt Zoe" Stephanides - Calliope's aunt and Father Mike's wife. She is the daughter of Lefty and Desdemona.
Michael "Father Mike" Antoniou - Orthodox priest who is Tessie's former fiancé. He is Aunt Zoe's husband, although he is still in love with Tessie.
Nishan Philobosian - Armenian doctor who is evacuated from Smyrna with Lefty and Desdemona after his family is killed by Turkish soldiers, then becomes the Stephanides family's trusted physician in America.
Marius Wyxzewixard Challouehliczilczese Grimes - an African American who befriends Callie. He is named after an Ethiopian nationalist.
Peter "Uncle Pete" Tatakis - Bachelor who attends the Sunday debating sessions at Milton's house.
Peter Luce - sexologist in New York who is considered a foremost expert on hermaphroditism. Luce planned to castrate Calliope and give her progesterone to let her remain female.
Zora Khyber - Coworker of Cal's at San Francisco's Sixty-Niners, Bob Presto's burlesque club. Appearing fully female despite being genetically male, Zora is affected by complete androgen insensitivity syndrome.
Julie Kikuchi is a Japanese-American photographer with whom Cal has a relationship in his adult life.
Passage Analysis
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detriot day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974."
This is the first line of the book and it gives the basic foundation of the entire novel. This is basically a coming of age story with a major twist. Instead of trying to hide the big reveal, Jeffrey Eugenides goes straight into it. He doesn't treat the exposure as outrageous or disturbing, but rather with a sense of pride (with some humor) that gives the book a natural feel. From the very first line, we have Cal's (who serves as our narrator, whether narrating his own life or telling the story of his family) voice. This voice is what brings the book together, even when Cal disappears into the third person perspective when discussing his life as Calliope. Though he tries to get away from his childhood as a girl, his own voice remains our guide. As the story progresses, what he wants is to believe in himself. His distance from Calliope is because he can't face who he is and was. Even in adulthood, he's only on the brink of accepting his body, his gender (both his current one and the former one), and his self for what they are. It's a second birth, almost because he has to grow up one more time and learn how to be a man.
This is the first line of the book and it gives the basic foundation of the entire novel. This is basically a coming of age story with a major twist. Instead of trying to hide the big reveal, Jeffrey Eugenides goes straight into it. He doesn't treat the exposure as outrageous or disturbing, but rather with a sense of pride (with some humor) that gives the book a natural feel. From the very first line, we have Cal's (who serves as our narrator, whether narrating his own life or telling the story of his family) voice. This voice is what brings the book together, even when Cal disappears into the third person perspective when discussing his life as Calliope. Though he tries to get away from his childhood as a girl, his own voice remains our guide. As the story progresses, what he wants is to believe in himself. His distance from Calliope is because he can't face who he is and was. Even in adulthood, he's only on the brink of accepting his body, his gender (both his current one and the former one), and his self for what they are. It's a second birth, almost because he has to grow up one more time and learn how to be a man.
Video Book Review on Middlesex
Video Transcript (Somewhat Accurate)
How would I describe Middlesex? Probably like… “Yeah, it’s a story about this hermaphrodite girl/boy and 3 generations of his/her Greek-American family. Yeah, I know it probably doesn’t sound too fascinating but you should read it.” The book has no immediate charm and its plot seems a little non-existent in places. This doesn’t seem to matter, however, as when I reached the end I realized that this was a very enjoyable book and part of its enjoyment is not exactly knowing why it is enjoyable. The characters aren’t lovely people, there is little in the way of wild excitement and the book describes parents having sex as being necessary. I went straight from The Virgin Suicides to Middlesex and there are a lot of elements you can see blossom, plot-wise and prose-wise. It’s an odd read, and one that I did not expect (or want) to enjoy but that Pulitzer was well-deserved on Jeffrey Eugenides end. It was such an interesting, poetic read that shifted easily between eras, history, science and emotion. . I was a little disappointed by the Father Mike plot twist. Not only was it cheap to do that to a hen-pecked, diminutive clergyman, I just didn't buy it. (I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler for those who haven't read it yet.) Also, I thought Cal's transformation from high-school drop-out to state department officer left a lot unexplained. Finally, I felt at times that the narration was drifting a little. It can be decadent. It can be wordy. Sometimes things happen that feel contrived, but it does really come together as an entertaining and worthwhile story. Middlesex might not be one I re-read for a very long time, but I can definitely see picking up this book again and again as the years pass. All I have to say about it is “Don't give up on it, the second half is better than the beginning.”
4/5
4/5