Middlesex

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Cal’s journey involves reconciling his cultural heritage with his personal identity. In what ways have you navigated gaps between familial or cultural expectations and your own sense of self?

2. Throughout the novel, Cal grapples with the question of what makes us who we are: genetics, upbringing, personal choice, or historical circumstance. Which of these factors do you believe has most shaped your own identity? Did asserting your agency necessarily mean reconciling all these factors? Why or why not?

3. Desdemona clings to traditions and superstitions from the “old country,” while Lefty embraces American customs and opportunities. How has your family handled cultural transitions, whether between countries, regions, or generations?

4. Cal describes Detroit as a city constantly reinventing itself. In what ways have you seen the place where you grew up or currently live change? How did this impact you?

5. Food plays an important role in the Stephanides family, both as a connection to their Greek heritage and as their means of economic advancement through Hercules Hot Dogs. What foods connect you to your family history or cultural identity?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Middlesex spans significant historical events, including the Greco-Turkish War, Prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Detroit race riots. How does Eugenides use these historical contexts to illuminate the immigrant experience in America?

2. The novel portrays Detroit’s transformation from an industrial powerhouse to a city divided by racial tensions. How do these depictions resonate with contemporary conversations about urban America, racial inequality, and economic opportunity?

3. Cal’s medical treatment by Dr. Luce reflects 1970s attitudes toward gender and sexuality. How have societal understandings of gender identity, intersex conditions, and sexual orientation evolved since then? Include terminology in your discussion.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Cal narrates events that occurred long before his birth through the omniscient perspective of an epic storyteller. How does this narrative technique affect the reliability of his account and your understanding of the Stephanides family history?

2. Middlesex Boulevard represents the liminality of Cal’s experience as neither fully male nor fully female—neither fully American nor fully Greek. What other symbols in the novel reinforce this theme of existing between binary states?

3. The silver spoon that Desdemona uses to predict babies’ sexes becomes an important symbol in the novel. What does this object represent within the novel’s larger themes of fate, inheritance, and the collision between old-world beliefs and new-world science?

4. Cal invokes Greek mythology throughout his narrative, particularly the story of Tiresias, who lived as both man and woman. How do these mythological references deepen the novel’s exploration of gender and identity?

5. Middlesex moves between Cal’s present in Berlin and the multigenerational history that led to his birth. How does this narrative structure reflect the relationship between past and present?

6. The Stephanides family’s secret of incest, which results in Cal’s genetic condition, drives the novel’s plot forward. How does Eugenides handle this sensitive subject, and what does it suggest about the burden of family secrets?