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Hybridity and Identity in Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex

Andrea Oh AP British and World Literature Ms. Nichole Wilson 30 January 2014

Topic: The authors treatment of the development of human identity, including gender, race, ethnic background, social class, cultural background, nationality, and historical context

I have read and understand the sections in the Student Handbook regarding Mason High School's Honesty/Cheating Policy. By affixing this statement to the title page of my paper, I am certifying that I have not cheated or plagiarized in the process of completing this assignment. If it is found that cheating and/or plagiarism did take place in the writing of this paper, I understand the possible consequences of the act, which could include a "0" on the paper, as well as an "F" as a final grade in the course. X Andrea Oh (student signature)

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Research Paper Outline Introduction: Hybridity a. Distinction separates the individual from society, from the mass of similar ideas, thoughts and experiences that another may possess. As individualism and uniqueness are qualities that are sought after, there is still a lingering fear that these differences will not be accepted by society. So where does that leave us? We, as people, cocoon ourselves in the belief that we are able to escape the labels and stereotypes that society places on usthat we may be the exception, that we may be uniqueand still be praised for these differences. This defines our appreciation for hybridity: the desire to gain recognition from society while maintaining singularity. However, hybridity is not a possible feat. Hybridity, within society, is an optimistic hope that leads to the submission of socially accepted behaviors. Shown within Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex, hybridity induces rebirth in order to produce a more acceptable identity. b. Transition: However, hybridity is not a possible feat. c. Thesis: Within Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex, hybridity induces rebirth in order to produce identity. i. Progression: integration from Greek to American culture (i.e. changing cultures shows the need to assimilate further within each generation and pursue rebirth); hermaphrodites and confusion within sexual orientation; nature v nurture; mythology of Tiresias/omniscience and minotaur; segmentation of writing into four books as epic and bildungsroman ii. Main point: Middlesex fails to show true hybridity, as social influences cause Calliopes rebirth into Cal 1. Show how hybridity relates to identity through rebirth d. demonstrates the virtual impossibility of such a third space except as a utopian fantasy (Shostak 387-388) e. demands the opening of a borderland or third space where mixed races and intersex identities can coexist (Rodriguez 73) Immigration and Cultural Diversity a. Immigration from Greece to America, between different generations of interbred family, illustrates the need to assimilate into society and pursue inner desires through rebirth. b. Sailing across the ocean among half a thousand perfect strangers conveyed an anonymity in which my granparents could re-create themselves (Eugenides 68) c. Desdemona and Lefty identify themselves as a married couple in America, after previously being siblings in Greece; Desdemonas silkworms i. It thus stands as a figure for inheritance: for the gifts from the past, for its pressures on the present, and for the scraps of cultural identity we carry with us into alien territories (Shostak 392) ii. The incestuous union that inscribed doubleness within singularity that was meant both to preserve the Stephanides' familial and cultural identity and to mark the origin of the new narratives they invent for themselvesinstead drives them apart. There is no inhabitable middle between their divided loyalties, Desdemona to the Greek past. Lefty to the American future (Shostak 395) d. Tessie allowed Milton to press his clarinet to her skin and fill her body with music (Eugenides 176) e. Milton and Tessie are first cousins, but pursue a sexual relationship; they chase the American Dream in order to gain the economic gain that was not given to them in their childhood i. Even after the family has become part of the American middle class, they have not moved past the issue of being assigned Greek ethnicity by others. This is particularly apparent in the reaction Milton is faced with when trying to buy a house in Grosse Pointe, the ritzy suburb Southeast of Detroit (Nernburg 39) f. As a baby, even as a little girl, I possessed an awkward, extravagant beauty (Eugenides 218) g. Callie looks up from her ink-stained paper one afternoon and seesat recess girls and boys hold hands, kissing sometimes behind trees, and Calliope feels gypped, cheated (Eugenides 586)

I.

II.

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h. Calliope, after growing, assumes Greek features upon her face (e.g. nose) that she is disgusted by, illustrating her desire to become beautiful within societal standards and escape the differences that are not tolerated; she chooses to become Cal i. the report prescribes steps to ensure that Callies pubescent body will conform to her sex of rearing (Hsu 90)

III.

Intersexuality (i.e. hermaphrodites and biology); Gender Roles a. Calliopes rebirth into Cal was caused from the need to assimilate into a new identity, different from the previous life shunned by society. b. I began to exude some kind of masculinitywhen I was a changeling, before I changed, I was quite popular at my new school (Eugenides 304) c. The synonym was official, authoritative; it was the verdict that the culture gave on a person like her. Monster. That was what she was. That was what Dr. Luce and his colleagues had been saying (Eugenides 431) d. Calliope beautiful when little, but grew less attractive when Greek features and testosterone showed masculinity, causing bullying and lack of self-confidence; ashamed of attraction to the Obscure Object and lack of period/breasts; changed to Cal when learned of her birth as man i. The fact that this hope for self-integration is explicitly related to the reprieve from an American experience of racial anxiety, however, suggests that his efforts to find a common ground between masculinity and femininity are not coextensive (Hsu 101) e. Not the shy girl with the tangled black hair in her face, but instead her fraternal twin brotherI was a new creation. The other peopletook me for a student at a nearby boarding school (Eugenides 445) f. Cal rebirth to male when learned from reading papers, despite previous decisions to have surgery to maintain female anatomy; went to California and became a bum/worked in burlesque show before going home to see father s death; assumed Greek role of protecting house as the man in family, but cannot maintain relationships in fear of others opinions (i.e. does not love Julie Kikuchi from what Ive read, but is good friends with her) i. Cals role as narrator becomes specifically one of convincing readers that there is nothing wrong with her/his apparently freaky condition: it is only the result of a chromosome deficiency syndrome motivated by family inbreeding (Rodriguez 81) ii. From the outset of this process, he identifies with and does not feel any different from other male adolescents (Nernburg 51) g. Meanwhile faces filled the portholes, gazing with amazement, curiosity, disgust, desire (Eugenides 491) h. Genetics and societal response to hermaphrodites many references to chromosome 5 and gene that immigrated with sperm/egg to produce a hermaphrodite (i.e. involved with Cals omniscience of past events in books 1 and 2); hermaphrodites cause mixture of interest and disgust (seen within burlesque show) and show societally non-acceptable features of both woman and man due to testosterone and estrogen levels; voice shows acceptance of life, but unwillingness to be happy as seen within sarcastic or dry quips and shyness into adulthood i. Eugenides has in fact refused to refer to Cal as intersexed both in and outside of his fiction, favoring instead the older term hermaphrodite (Hsu 94) Biological and Environmental Influences a. The debate of nature and nurture is introduced to promote that despite ancestry and child-rearing, rebirth is utilized in order to fit with the current society. b. Middlesex! Did anybody ever live in a house as strangeas futuristic and outdated at the same time (Eugenides 258) c. Home (Detroit) grew mostly in Middlesex (i.e. house) where testosterone levels increased to show masculine features; first kiss caused by girl; first attraction from girl causing want to become boy, so more socially accepted; bullied for looks i. From Miltons point of view, the familys residence at Middlesex argues for the Stephanides' reinvented cultural position (Shostak 397)

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ii. Firstly, by embedding the familys story into the history of one of the most representative American cities, the novel claims universality despite Cals very particular quest (Nernburg 55) The gray door was unmarked except for an extremely small, unobtrusive sign halfway down that read: Sexual Disorders and Gender Identity Clinic (Eugenides 406) New York visiting to see researcher about status as hermaphrodite; point in which Calliope runs away to become Cal i. Calliopes full realization of her/his hermaphrodite status, a condition that she/he still tries to fix with the help of the Websters Dictionary, the ideological book that classifies her/him as monster (43032). However, the established notion of monstrosity has also been ironically undermined by the narrator in her/his continuous play with the binary Same/Other and their reference to humanity (Rodriguez 82) Presto was an exploiterbut I could have done worse. Without him I might never have found myself (Eugenides 483) California work in burlesque show and homelessness, until call about father s death; shows selfishness of desire to remain with people who cannot judge him, despite knowledge of parents efforts to find Cal; becomes man of the house in Greek respect of fathers death; still unsure of self, but looks prove less outwardly hectoring i. After his experiences in Dr. Luces office, Cal is again forced to experience his body as deviant from the norm and is objectified by other peoples stares (Nernburg 62)

d. e.

f. g.

Mythological Allusion a. Mythological allusions parallel to depict the hybridity of reality with Greek myths; this provides indications of how characters felt within their conditions or their subsequent actions in order to fulfill desire. b. Like Tiresias, I was first one thing and then the other (Eugenides 3) c. Tiresias depicted the allusion as part of a play that Calliope had to act out; reference to how Calliope is an omniscient narrator in the play i. Myth: Tiresias is a blind seer; Tiresias is a man who changed to a woman back into a man; reference to The Waste Land ii. Cal frequently refers to her/his omniscience, which she/he boastfully equates with supernatural knowledge in comments (Rodriguez 75) d. Against her will, the play had aroused her, too. The Minotaurs savage, muscular thighs. The suggestive sprawl of his victims (Eugenides 108) e. Minotaur depicted the allusion as a reference to a play in which sexual arousal was eminent despite the disgust i. Myth: a woman copulated with a bull and birthed a half-bull, half-man creature due to the revenge of not sacrificing a white bull to Poseidon ii. Can include Chimera; however, not a big detail within novel iii. The Minotaur, for instance, serves in Cals narrative to suture incest and the concept of genetic abnormality onto Greekness (Hsu 96) f. Their bodies fused, male into female, female into male (Eugenides 491) g. Hermaphroditus depicted the allusion as Calliope was in California as a bum and sexual performer in a club i. Myth: a beautiful man was formed with a lustful naiad and they formed a half-man, halfwoman creature ii. represents the exposure of the hybridized body during Cal's tenure at the Sixty-Niners peep show in San Francisco. In order to support himself. Cal exploits his anomalous, divided (491) anatomy by performing in the narrative of Hermaphroditus (Shostak 406) **NOTE: Include allusions of Desdemona (i.e. Othello) and Calliope (i.e. muse of epic poetry) if more information needed or if relevance found that relates back to topic/thesis; fires of Smyrna paralleled to fires in Detroit

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Fragmented Narrative Structure a. The fragmented structure of the novel displays different styles of writing and different perspectives; however, this only supports the lack of hybridity as the disarray of the content is magnified. b. Contemporary Epic in Books 1 + 2 describes a modern day version of a journey (i.e. Desdemona and Lefty) from Greece into America, and their conclusion with Milton and Tessie c. Bildungsroman in Books 3 + 4 describes the birth of Calliope into her self-discovery journey as Cal d. Historiographic metafiction this narrative structure shows constant self-evaluation of the reliability and format of its content while providing historic background; **NOTE: May or may not include depending on length of essay; not enough sufficient support to ensure as part of the essay; most support is recognized with Rodriguez s literary criticism only VII. Conclusion: ultimately summarize thesis with new, relevant details a. Intriguing concept: Despite choosing to outwardly appear male, Cal remains a hermaphrodite internally despite the anatomical dangers of maintaining both levels of hormones and a prospect that further dangers future relationships; why extend this suffering? Is it to maintain separation from society, to provoke societys definitions and labels, or another reason? i. Cal is no rebel but rather an undemonstrative, modestly socialized person who desires to live according to the norm (Shostak 410) VI.

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Bibliography Collado-Rodrguez, Francisco. "Of Self and Country: U.S. Politics, Cultural Hybridity, and Ambivalent Identity in Jeffrey Eugenidess Middlesex." Thesis. Universidad De Zaragoza, 2006. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. <http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/IFR/article/viewFile/707/1040>. Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. New York, NY: Picador, 2003. Print. "Hermaphroditus." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. <http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Hermaphroditus.html>. Hutcheon, Linda. Historiographic Metafiction. N.p.: n.p., n.d. PDF. Hsu, Stephanie. Ethnicity and the Biopolitics of Intersex in Jeffrey Eugenidess Middlesex. Thesis. Pace University, 2011. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Ebsco Host. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=75758467- d8ad-48d6-a09b7a60583b4864%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4112>. Lakmper, Judith. "Identity and Ethics in Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex." Thesis. 2009. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. <https://www.academia.edu/5173692/_I_was_born_twice__Identity_and_Ethics_in_Jeffrey_Eugenides_Middlesex_Magisterarbeit>. Shostak, Debra. Theory Uncompromised by Practicality: Hybridity in Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex. Thesis. University of Wisconsin, 2008. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Ebsco Host. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2f4509ec-78f2497abf8cedfd5d83477a%40sessionmgr4002&vid=2&hid=4112>. "The Minotaur in Classical Mythology." The Minotaur in Classical Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rukeyser/minotaur.htm>. "Tiresias." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. <http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Tiresias.html>.