In the book Middlesex, author Jeffrey Eugenides writes about a Greek family that moves to America, and how the results of inter-family marriage affects their lives and future generations.Throughout the book, the author reflects today’s society by showing that people are forced to conform to certain roles, but can reinvent themselves if they feel that they no longer fit their assigned role. This is similar to society today because our culture is shifting to become more accepting of different genders and how people desire to live their lives. Middlesex reveals a pattern seen in society today of creating concrete templates for how people are expected to behave, even though it might not truly reflect who the person is, and their desires. An example
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These ideas are becoming more prevalent today in general, as people are more open to allowing one to change who they are. One instance where the reader can see this is how Chapter Eleven recreates himself after leaving for college. Milton and Tessie intend him to major in engineering, but when he returns, he reveals that he has dropped engineering and instead wants to live a minimalistic, free lifestyle. Soon after returning, Chapter Eleven says that “he didn’t share Milton and Tessie’s values”(Loc 5905). This goes against the norm that children generally follow their parent’s beliefs. Instead, Chapter Eleven completely transforms himself and goes against it. In today’s society it is perfectly acceptable to go against your parent’s beliefs. Another example of a character reinventing themselves is Lefty. When Desdemona and him are forced to leave Greece during the war, Lefty takes the opportunity on the ship to change his image. Eugenides writes that Lefty “seized the opportunity of transatlantic travel to reinvent himself” and he was aware that “whatever happened now would become the truth”(Loc 1284). This shows that Lefty felt the need to change what his identity was, because he wanted to marry Desdemona. He was able to do this because the group of people on the boat were unaware of his past, and is able to convince everyone that he is someone different. Similar changes can be made in society today because it is easy to move to a new place and reinvent yourself. Throughout the story, characters such as Desdemona, Lefty and Cal reflect the similar idea of reinvention as society does
These ideas are becoming more prevalent today in general, as people are more open to allowing one to change who they are. One instance where the reader can see this is how Chapter Eleven recreates himself after leaving for college. Milton and Tessie intend him to major in engineering, but when he returns, he reveals that he has dropped engineering and instead wants to live a minimalistic, free lifestyle. Soon after returning, Chapter Eleven says that “he didn’t share Milton and Tessie’s values”(Loc 5905). This goes against the norm that children generally follow their parent’s beliefs. Instead, Chapter Eleven completely transforms himself and goes against it. In today’s society it is perfectly acceptable to go against your parent’s beliefs. Another example of a character reinventing themselves is Lefty. When Desdemona and him are forced to leave Greece during the war, Lefty takes the opportunity on the ship to change his image. Eugenides writes that Lefty “seized the opportunity of transatlantic travel to reinvent himself” and he was aware that “whatever happened now would become the truth”(Loc 1284). This shows that Lefty felt the need to change what his identity was, because he wanted to marry Desdemona. He was able to do this because the group of people on the boat were unaware of his past, and is able to convince everyone that he is someone different. Similar changes can be made in society today because it is easy to move to a new place and reinvent yourself. Throughout the story, characters such as Desdemona, Lefty and Cal reflect the similar idea of reinvention as society does