Middlesex Book (Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002) Summary

(Contains spoilers)

Middlesex is a novel that spans over three generations and two continents. The author describes the story of a family and a secret carried from Greece to America. The main character, Calliope Stephanides, narrates the history of her family and the origin of a gene mutation that would eventually wind up in her DNA, giving her a unique genetic make-up and long troubled identity. Calliope introduces herself as having the body and genes of a boy, but was raised as a girl.

Calliope starts her story in the small village of Bithynios, Greece during the 1920s. The country had been ruined by war with the Turks and by the time Calliope's grandfather, Lefty Stephanides, was of age to marry, there were only two bachelorettes to choose from. Her grandparents were very close after having lost their parents to war. Lefty falls in love with his sister Desdemona. The two are forced to flee their country after invasion by the Turks.

The couple gets married during the ship ride to America. After arriving at Ellis Island in New York, they take a train to Detroit, Michigan where they move in with their cousin Sourmelina and her husband. Sourmelina's husband, Jimmy Zizmo, helped Lefty get a job at Ford Automotive Factory. Lefty worked there for a short period before joining Zizmo's illegal rum-running operation.

In Detroit  the couple gives birth to a son, Milton, and a daughter, Zoe. Sourmelina and her husband have one daughter named Tessie. After Zoe was born, Sourmelina, whose husband had died while rum-running, moved out with Tessie to the home directly behind the Stephanides'.

As Milton grows into a young man, he and Tessie start to fall in love. Desdemona noticed that love is growing between two second cousins, so she tried to break off the affair between Milton and Tessie. After joining the Navy during World War II, Milton won the heart of Tessie after she broke off an engagement to Michael Antoniou, their future pastor. Milton's sister, Zoe, ends up marrying Father Mike later in the novel.

Milton and Tessie get married and give birth to their son, Chapter 11. However the couple desperately wanted a girl. After receiving advice from Uncle Pete, a chiropractor, Milton found that he could impregnate his wife with "female" sperm when her temperature was higher than normal so that she can conceive a girl. After this procedure, they gave birth to their daughter, Calliope Stephanides in 1960.

Calliope was born into a normal, functional, middle class family. After Lefty gambles all his savings away, he and Desdemona move in with Milton and Tessie in their new home on Middlesex Boulevard. It is not till she reaches puberty that Calliope's body begins to change. Calliope fails to being menstruation long after her peers begin their periods.

As a teenager, she begins a love affair with a girl in school she addresses as the Obscure Object. During a summer spent with the Obscure Object, she drinks alcohol and smokes marijuana with her and two other boys. They engage in sex, Calliope with the Object's brother and the Object with a friend of hers.

Later that summer, Calliope and the Obscure Object being having nightly affairs. The Object's brother notices this and mocks their relationship. This leads to Calliope's accident with a tractor. Calliope is rushed to the hospital where doctors tend to her wounds and discover that her genitalia is improperly constructed.

Calliope's parents take her to a specialist in New York City. Dr. Luce, a sexual disorders and gender identity specialist, studied Calliope's history and anatomy for two weeks. After conducting his study, he came to the conclusion that sex of rearing, rather than genetic determinants, plays a greater role in the establishment of gender identity. Dr. Luce wanted to perform a feminizing surgery and give Calliope hormone treatment so she could pass in society as a female.

When Calliope read Dr. Luce's report she decided to run away to California. Calliope changed her name to Cal and hitched hiked his way to San Francisco where he found himself living among other homeless adolescent males in Golden Gate Park. After a frightening rape attempt by older homeless men, Cal called a man he had met while hitch hiking.

This man, named Bob Presto, offered Cal a job at his strip club. Presto worked Cal with other hermaphrodites in a peep show. Cal lived with his coworker for a few months before Presto's club was raided by police officers searching for underage workers. The police officers brought Cal to the station where he was forced to call home.

Cal called home and Chapter Eleven informed him that his father died in a car accident while trying to pay ransom for their child's safe return. Chapter Eleven flew to San Francisco to pick up Cal in jail. He and Cal returned home in time to attend their father's funeral. After deciding to stay home and care for his dying grandmother Desdemona, Cal learned that the cause of his gene disorder is because his grandparents were siblings. Understandingly, Cal promised his grandmother not to tell her secret until after her death.

Robert Kenner’s educational documentary, Food Inc., exposes facts about the nation’s food industry that has been concealed from American consumers. This concept of corporate farm in the United States interestingly shows that our nation’s food supply is currently controlled only by a few corporations, such as Tyson Foods, Monsanto Company, Smithfield Foods, Perdue Farms, and others that often put profit before consumer health, the safety of workers, and our environment.

From the film, I learned about the abuse of animals such as chickens and cows that take place in industrial food production. I also gained knowledge that cows are given hormones to make them fat, and other drugs to keep them alive until they are slaughtered. At certain meat packing industries, hundreds cows stand ankle deep in their own manure as they grow and mature. Once the cows are slaughtered, the meat is treated with ammonia to kill all the infected bacteria cow meat gains from this method of production. This process allows fast food restaurants to buy and sell their products at very low prices.

Other important aspects I learned from the film include facts such as the combination of lobbyist-driven government funding for corn and sugar make them the cheapest possible ingredients and feeds of choice, for a factory food systems. Because corn is very cheap, it has been scientifically modified to make high fructose corn syrup. This product serves as a sweetener and preservative and, according to Food Inc., is in almost every product in the supermarket. After a semester of Nutrition, this was not new news to me, but the movie powerfully reiterated the fact. I believe the main point of the movie is to raise awareness concerning the effects the current food industry has on humans.

It was interesting to learn that the Monsanto Company, as well as others, refused to allow any type of press or media into their farms. This tells me as a consumer, that the top companies that control our food supply are hiding something from the public. It is now important to me that I become aware of what is in my food, and how it arrived on my dinner table. I appreciated the fact that the film featured a small town farmer that grows organic crops and livestock, and sells to neighboring residents. This goes to show how powerful American consumers are. For example, every time we run and item past the scanner at the grocery store, we are voting for local, or organic, or neither, and other aspects. American consumers need to be the change they want to see in the food supply. Personally I would prefer buying from small town farmers like mentioned, because organic, nutritionally dense food that will promote a healthier lifestyle.

Prior to watching this film, my family and I had healthy diets. However, Food Inc. has made me think twice about the food I put into my mouth. The fact that some of the meat I may be eating was treated with high levels of ammonia is sickening to think about. The movie has certainly changed my grocery shopping habits, as I try to look for the organic products, and purchase other goods at the local farmers market. Hopefully I will continue to stay healthy, and not resort to cheap fast foods like the family featured in the film. I am grateful this movie was assigned as extra credit; otherwise I may have never seen it.

The Stationers Company published the romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare. The play opens with Theseus, the Duke of Athens planning festivities for his upcoming wedding with Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons. The main plot involves two sets of couples (Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius) whose love for each other is unbalanced. Their troubles become complicated after entering the fairyland forest where the king and queen of the fairies (Oberon and Titania) inhabit. Robin Goodfellow, a puck in Oberon’s service, performs the majority of his mischief on Nick Bottom and his gang of workmen, and between the four lovers. Shakespeare uses Oberon and Robin to develop the theme of magic which symbolizes the mystical powers of love and a fantasy world.

Robin causes a small uproar among the workmen after magically bestowing a donkey’s head upon Nick Bottom. In Act 3, Bottom and the other men meet in the forest to rehearse a play they are preparing for Theseus on his wedding day. While strolling through the forest, Robin overhears the group rehearsing, and thought that Bottom was “a stranger Pyramus than e’er played here” (III.i.87). Moments later he transformes Bottom’s head into a donkey’s, causing the group of workmen to believe they “are haunted” (III.i.105). For entertainment, Bottom chases the men around the forest, chanting “I’ll follow you…[t]hrough bog, through bush, through break, through brier” (III.i.107-9). In this scene, Shakespeare demonstrates Bottom using magic to ridicule the unintelligent workmen, an event only plausible in a fantasy world.

Robin also uses magic to create a romance conflict between the four lovers. In Act 2, Oberon informs his servant about a “sweet Athenian lady (Helena) in love with a disdainful youth (Demetrius),” who does not reciprocate her feelings (II.i.268-9). In an attempt to solve their predicament, he requests for Robin to “[a]noint [Demetrius’] eyes” with the nectar of a magical flower, so that he may love Helena in return (II.i.269). However, when Robin identifies Demetrius by the “[w]eeds of Athens he doth wear,” he doesn’t realize that it is the wrong man, and unwittingly uses the magic on Lysander. To make matters worse, Oberon treats Demetrius with the nectar of the same flower. This mistake creates a major misunderstanding between Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius. Due to the mystical powers of the nectar, Lysander and Demetrius awake, see Helena and immediately fall in love with her. Both Helena and Hermia are left dumbfounded as both men plea their love to Helena. Shakespeare uses the flower’s nectar as a symbol of the supernatural power of love.

Robin’s use of magic keeps peace between Demetrius and Lysander. As a result of Robin’s error, Demetrius and Lysander prepare themselves to sword fight to the death for Helena’s love. The two men venture into the forest to find a proper location for a battle. Robin foils their attempt to slay the other when he uses his magic to mimic the voices of Demetrius and Lysander. When one of the men calls out for the other, Robin would respond, “Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?” Robin continues this routine until both men become exhausted and fall to the ground to rest. In this scene, Shakespeare creates an audience-pleasing moment when he uses the magic of Robin to create a humorous yet life saving deed.

Oberon and his servant use magic efficiently to resolve the tension they create. In Act 3, Oberon and Robin discover they had “laid the love juice on some true-love’s sight,” and decide to correct their mistakes (III.ii.91). At nightfall, Robin found Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius sleeping peacefully on the forest floor. There, he sang, “On the ground sleep sound. I’ll apply to your eye gentle lover remedy,” and applies nectar from a remedial flower to Lysander’s eyes (III.ii.477-81). Robin declares “all shall be well” after his application of the remedy (III.ii.492-3). When the four lovers awake the next morning, Theseus and Hippolyta are there to greet them. The men claim their true love (Demetrius for Helena and Lysander for Hermia), and Theseus announces “these couples shall be eternally knit,” alongside he and his wife later that evening. Shakespeare ends the conflict with the healing magic of Robin to put his audience at ease.

Oberon and Robin develop Shakespeare’s theme of magic that symbolizes the supernatural powers of love and a fantasy world. There is a fantasy world aspect in the theme of magic, and is exemplified by Robin’s actions in the forest. His mischief among the workmen, and his trickery to recreate the voices of Lysander and Demetrius provided humor for the audience. The supernatural power of love is represented by the flower and its magical love nectar. Oberon and Robin’s misuse of magic causes chaos when Robin mistakenly applies the love nectar to Lysander’s eyes, but is ultimately used in a productive manner to resolve the tension among the four lovers. A Midsummer Night’s Dream combines true love and comedy to form a very enjoyable play to read and view.

There are several examples in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress that suggest that this is a coming-of-age novel. The narrator and Lou’s work at Phoenix Mountain, relationship with the Little Seamstress, and reading of the various writings changed their character, and possibly deteriorated their innocence.
In the beginning, the boys work as bucket carriers, where they transported the village’s manure and waste up the steep mountain side to dispose of it. The narrator explains “with each step we could hear the liquid sewage sloshing in the bucket just behind our ears” (15). After a few months at Phoenix Mountain, their job changed to coal miners. At “the little coal mine,” the narrator and his friend spent hours “naked except for a harness...in a passage so low they had to get down on all fours and crawl” (28).
Lou and the narrator also saw first love in the Little Seamstress. During their first visit to her house, the narrator “noticed an untamed quality about her eyes…her eyes had the gleam of uncut gems, of unpolished metal, which was heighted by the long lashes and the delicate slant of the lids” (24).
Lastly, the books they read caused the change of the two boy’s character. After stealing books from their former friend, Four-Eyes, Lou and the narrator spent a whole month “overwhelmed, spellbound by the mystery of the outside world, especially the world of women, love and sec as revealed to us by these Western writers day after day, page after page, book after book” (109).
The work done at Phoenix Mountain, the love found in the Little Seamstress, and the books they stole clearly altered the development of Lou and the narrator. Despite their mature age of 18 and 19, life outside the city had been unknown to them. I believe the two characters did lose the majority of their innocence, even by the moment they arrived at the mountain. They took advantage of Lou’s storytelling, their knowledge of keeping time, and learned the art of winning a young girl’s heart.