Analysis of Hermaphroditism in Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1204.22Keywords:
Hermaphroditism, gender crisis, gender studies, psychosocial analysis and psychological analysisAbstract
Middlesex, written by Jeffrey Eugenides, gives a memorable voice to one of those "coherent" gender beings. As Judith Butler mentions in one of her works, "If sex and gender are radically distinct, then it does not follow that to be a given sex is to become a given gender; in other words, "woman" need not be the cultural construction of the female body, and "man" need not interpret male bodies" (Butler 1999, 142). In short, this paper brings the chronological and biological defects that haunted Cal/Lie’s growth as a whole person as opposed to the person she/he wanted to be. Adding to that, the novel deals with wide themes and narrative structures. Much research has focused on ethnography, cultural identity, and immigrant life in search of a home and all. This paper focused on the hermaphroditism of the main protagonist from the novel, who narrates the entire generational epic concluding with hers.
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