Masculinity In Middlesex

The theme of masculinity plays a big role in the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Throughout the novel Cal learns that he is not the same as everyone else and realizes why many times he felt uncomfortable living as a female. Once Cal discovers that he was actually born a male his whole life and identity change. Many times in the novel when Cal starts to gain more of his masculine identity something happens to one of the male characters. The deaths of prominent male family members in the novel foreshadows to Cal’s discovery of his male identity. The pattern of male deaths throughout Middlesex connects to Cal’s transition from living as a female and his ongoing discovery of his masculine identity.

Throughout Cal’s life (and even before

By him connecting with these inner emotions, it makes him realize that he has left Callie missing. “He was crying not because he was about to die but because I Calliope, was still gone, because he has failed to save, because he had done everything he could to get me back and still I was missing” (Eugenides, 511). As Milton is dying he is really crying for the first time, he feels a sense of guilt because he never got to save Calliope. What Milton doesn’t know is that in a weird way he saved Cal from staying as Calliope. Milton may have not saved Calliope the way he thought he made Cal realize that he did not want to be living as Callie anymore; therefore saving him. At the end of the quote Cal says “still I was missing”, in the literal sense Milton still thinks that Callie is missing and may be in danger, but on the other hand it is Callie’s feminine identity that is truly missing. This also shows that Callie’s identity will always be missing as Milton is dying and was never able to find or save Callie. Callie will forever be missing because while Milton was busy looking for Callie he should have been looking for

When Desdemona first put the spoon over Tessie’s pregnant belly she was certain that it was a boy even though the rest of the Stephanides family believed in science and thought that it was a girl. “Desdemona was still looking at me but her eyes had gone dreamy. She was smiling. And then she said, “My spoon was right.” “I guess so.” (Eugenides, 527). My spoon was right, now that Cal has told Desdemona that he truly is male Desdemona knows that she was right all along. At first Desdemona keeps apologizing to Cal for what she did but Cal reassured her that now that he has been “reborn” as a boy his life will be good. Desdemona can finally relax for once in her life. Now that she sees Cal living happily more or less as a man, she realizes that what she did we Lefty years ago happened for a reason and there is nothing they can do to change