Class 10_1

When reading the final book in Middlesex, I was brought back to our conversation held in class on Monday. The last part of this book features Callie’s decision to change her physical appearance into that of a male’s. At the very beginning of the book she reads Dr. Luce’s evaluation of herself, and discovers that she is in fact a boy, not a girl. This discovery prompts her to look up the definition of “hypospadiac” in the dictionary, which ends up leading to the word, “Monster”. I found this very alarming how words like hypospadiac and hermaphrodite lead to the word monster. This truly shows how much of a closed culture we are, and how reluctant we are to accept others that are different from us.

As a result, Cal then proceeds to cut her hair, buy a suit, and head to California. This transformation is similar to the one Myhre went through in her article “One Bad Hair Day”. In order to be more like a feminist, she cut her hair, stopped shaving her legs and armpits, and dressed in more gender neutral clothing. This is similar to Cal’s reaction of Dr. Luce’s discoveries. However, it is in California that Cal begins to get comfortable with his body, working at Bob Presto’s strip club, displaying his body to strangers. Here he takes a liking to Zora, and learns more about hermaphrodites, finally not feeling so isolated in the world.

Farther on in the book we learn about the betrayal of Father Mike to Milton. I was absolutely shocked when the “kidnapper” turned out to be Mike, and how he coaxed Milton to give him $25,000. This related back to what we discussed in class about relationships and sympathy for the characters. I think that throughout the entire book we have sympathized with Father Mike because of how his life played out. However after reading the book, I am found with no sympathy for Father Mike, and instead feel incredibly sad that Milton died. I found myself wishing that Father Mike would have received a harder sentence than two years in jail.

Along these same lines, I remember discussing the traditional Greek storyline in the book about testing the Gods and trying to alter ones fate. I linked this back to the actions of Milton. As he says himself, he constantly doubts his decision to give into this “kidnapper” and hand him $25,000. As Cal describes the situation, “Milton, quite simply, had ceased to think things through. What was he doing out there on the dark train platform? Why did he go out there alone?” (pg. 503). I think this is another example of the Stephanides family attempting to change fate instead of letting the Gods take over. This extends the theme of Greek into the story line farther, finally ending with a traditional Greek funeral for Milton.