Middlesex+Book+4+journal+13

__**Middlesex: Hermaphroditus, Air Ride, and The Last Stop**__

The ending of Middlesex is amazing. it ties together so many threads that it is nearly impossible to wiki all of them, i marked them in my text but i look forward to discussing their significance, many of which i jotted my theories in the margins. i am not sure how i feel about father mike, at first i thought it was a bad plot line, but by the end i was reconsidering my negative impression. i liked that things worked out with Julie, but is that too easy? how does the romantic ending fit with a novel of this caliber...too cliche? I did have some questions about the ending that i felt were not clarified, such as Dr. Luce...what is Cal's final perspective on him and did anything come of him/his using Callie in his research?

What range of emotions did this book make you experience? What have you gained from reading it? Why did Eugenides include the details that he did? Did it surprise you that a novel could make you feel so uncomfortable? I felt pity, compassion, understanding, horror, and confusion, but not disgust. I gained a new perspective. Eugenides wrote that Dr. Luce was searching for a face for his research, but truly i feel that i would not have gotten as much out of the novel without the personable narrative, even if it is fictional. i think that Eugenides used the details that he did to have this effect as well as to create an extremely intellectual read, especially at the end, everything tied together to provide a greater impact than i would have thought possible. i was not surprised that a novel could make me so uncomfortable because i think that art, novels included, are extremely personal and that discomfort comes from such private information. i was surprised at how much i have grown reading this novel, so that i am not nearly as uncomfortable as i was when i first started.

__2. One Sentence__
 * I find this the hardest to do because i love to be wordy, however i found that there is one that is imperative to the novel.
 * 520 "Don't you think it would have been easier just to stay the way you were?" I lifted my face and looked into my mother's eyes. And I told her: "This is the way I was."
 * this highlights the growth Cal has undergone, and the courage and confidence he now has.
 * this also emphasizes that Cal was never truly a girl, whether or not he is completely a man is also ambiguous. Cal embraces who he has become and recognizes that it is who he always was.

__Hermaphroditus__ this is a real myth, and further connects Greek and America and Past and Present. he is affiliated with bisexuals and hermaphrodites. in the story, he asks that any who come to the pool where he was changed is also turned into a Hermaphrodite, this gave him a sense of community. this also highlighted how in some cultures, hermaphrodites are not considered bottom class. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphroditus

__Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome 487__ this genetic disorder is when a person is genetically a male, XY, but appears like a woman because he/she is resistant to male hormones. there are many websites for these women on the internet, so they are not excommunicated. from what i saw most of them want to be female, and act as such in society, but it could just be that those are more outspoken. Zora was different, like Cal was different from other Hermaphrodites in Dr. Luce's study. comparing the two is interesting, because they are so similar but then different, but i think that Zora is who really influenced Cal. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002163/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome#Popular_culture