Middlesex paper topics

This paper should be 5-6 pages long.
Due date: May 1, 4 p.m. in my office.

Analyze the role of religion in Middlesex. The novel is filled with different expressions of religion: Orthodox Christianity, Islam, the Nation of Islam, Greek mythology, ghosts and spirits. How do ideas of God or the gods impact the novel’s notions of fate, responsibility, or agency? You might also consider religion as ceremony: religious dress, costumes, props, and “pageantry.” (This is a broad topic, so be sure to choose a particular angle to narrow the topic; you might want to choose just one aspect or type of religion to discuss.)

Discuss film imagery in the novel. At several points, Cal compares his narrative to a film running or unspooling. He uses “Hollywood” references (for instance, he does the “Clint Eastwood squint” as he tries to figure out how to act like a man [p. 449]). Tessie escapes to the movies during the war, and imagines that she sees Milton in a newsreel. How is a film different from a novel, and why does Cal find film imagery useful and evocative? Where do you see the influence of film on Eugenides’ style and narrative technique?

The Stephanides are a Greek family from Turkey; they move to a city, Detroit, which is divided along black and white racial lines. Examine the role that race and ethnicity plays in Middlesex. You may wish to focus on Jimmy Zizmo as your primary example. Race/ethnicity can be imagined as something that is both “in the blood” and culturally determined. How is To what extent are characters’ identities shaped by their racial and ethnic background? How does race and ethnicity function as a symbol in the novel?

Analyze images of thread and string in Middlesex. From Desdemona’s spinning silkworms to Tessie’s imagined umbilical cord, the novel is filled with images of threads connecting one person to another or spinning out a tale. These threads/strings/cords are often metaphors of storytelling; what kind of story does this metaphor imply? At other times they reflect relationships and connections between people, between nations, between eras. Find a selection of these images and craft an argument about how Cal and Eugenides use them.