Middlesex: Book 2: Henry Ford’s English-Language Melting Pot Summary & Analysis

The narrative jumps to when Callie is nine years old and going for her “annual lunch date” with Milton at the Pontchartrain Hotel. They are high up, and Milton is sweating because he is afraid of heights. As they look out over downtown Detroit, Milton points out the remnants of the Woodward Plan, an 1807 plan to structure the city in “interlocking hexagons.” When Lefty and Desdemona arrive in Detroit in 1922, it is famous for producing “spinning things,” including cigars, bicycles, and cars. On Ellis Island, the doctor who examines Dr. Philobosian declares him unfit for immigration, and Lefty and Desdemona are separated from him. Upon Lefty’s encouragement, Desdemona is given a “makeover” inside the YWCA tent. She is furious and embarrassed when they cut off her braids.

Desdemona is even more devastated by being forced to dump out her silkworm cocoons. When they arrive at Grand Trunk Station in Detroit, Lefty is stunned by the marble Corinthian pillars, and feels he has arrived in “the future.” He searches for Sourmelina, whose maiden name is Papadiamandopoulos, but whose surname is now Zizmo. She is 28, and when she greets Lefty he initially doesn’t recognize her, as she has “managed to erase just about everything identifiably Greek about her” during the five years she has lived in America. Her style, accent, and tastes are all completely different.

Sourmelina asks about Lefty’s wife; he says she’s still in the bathroom. Sourmelina laments how hard it must have been for Lefty to get married and leave Desdemona in New York. After discussing the Turkish reinvasion and the destruction of Smyrna, Lefty admits that Desdemona is his wife. At this moment Desdemona emerges and greets her cousin. The newlyweds expect that their cousin will keep their secret because Sourmelina herself is secretly a lesbian. Much later on in her life, Sourmelina will tell Cal that she only had a few affairs with women because she was “picky.” Back in Bithynios, people found out about some of these affairs and Sourmelina was declared “unmarriageable,” which is what led her father to send her to America.  

Sourmelina’s husband, Jimmy Zizmo, came to America when he was 30, in 1907, changing his name from Zisimopoulos when he immigrated. He insisted on a large dowry for Sourmelina and when they met for the first time he didn’t look anything like the picture he’d sent of himself. Sourmelina is surprised to hear about Lefty and Desdemona’s marriage but immediately agrees to keep it a secret. She notes that they don’t have to worry about Jimmy because he “doesn’t listen” to her anyway. Sourmelina drives them from the station, which is still considered taboo for women in 1922. As they drive past the overwhelming sights of Downtown Detroit, Desdemona feels anxious while Lefty is euphoric.

Neither Lefty nor Desdemona notice the signs of economic deprivation and anti-black racism that hint at what’s in store for Detroit in the future. Sourmelina drives them to her quiet neighborhood on the East Side. Jimmy is a macho former prisoner and “drug pusher” who doesn’t drink. At 45, he still looks like a “bachelor.” Desdemona is shocked that he looks like an “Arab” and asks Sourmelina if he has any Turkish heritage. Lina replies that she doesn’t know or care. Jimmy says that as long as Lefty and Desdemona are staying at his house, they must cook meat in separate pots as he is a vegetarian, and they cannot drink. When Lefty asks about Jimmy’s job, he replies vaguely that he is an “importer.”    

That night, Jimmy asks Sourmelina if they can have sex because they’ve been married for five years and still don’t have children. However, Sourmelina refuses. Over the next week, Lefty and Desdemona learn that Jimmy treats Sourmelina like a daughter more than a wife. He is obsessed with herbal remedies, and Sourmelina invents various “ailments” in order to get out of sex, which Jimmy treats using his herbal methods. Lefty needs a job, and Jimmy has “connections” at Ford due to the fact that he’s a supplier of “assorted fuels.” The two men are driving through the city together, and Lefty is horrified by a rotten, chemical smell. Jimmy tells him he will get used to it.  

Jimmy takes Lefty to the Personnel Department at the Ford Factory. The manager they speak to says Lefty will have to pass an English language test. Jimmy then mentions a home delivery, and the manager requests that they speak by the back door. On the morning of Lefty’s first day of work, he dances in the kitchen, making Desdemona laugh. As he and the other workers walk into the factory, they stop speaking, because languages other than English are not allowed inside. It takes 17 minutes for Lefty to be trained to do his job; mechanization means that it doesn’t require any particular skill on his part. Lefty works in a small team with two other men.

The work is fast-moving, repetitive, physically difficult, and dangerous. Lefty doesn’t speak during the day, but as soon as his shift is over he walks over to the Ford English School for his evening lessons. While Lefty is at the factory, Desdemona stays home, spending the whole day cooking. She serves food to Jimmy and his “business associates” and cleans up after they leave. She and Lefty manage to survive their first Michigan winter. Lefty excels at learning English, and in the spring of 1923 is asked to take part in a pageant to celebrate his class’s graduation.

Around this time, two men in suits show up unannounced at Jimmy’s door, saying they are from the Ford Sociological Department and asking to see Lefty. They explain that they are checking in on workers because Mr. Ford has ordered that no one should receive their $5 a week pay until it is confirmed that they can spend the money “advisedly and conservatively.” The men ask if Lefty drinks, and Jimmy says he doesn’t. They then express disapproval of the fact that Lefty and Desdemona are boarders in Jimmy’s house, saying that Ford workers are encouraged to get their own mortgages. They look around the house and ask Lefty about how often he washes and brushes his teeth, before handing him a new toothbrush.

Desdemona sews Lefty a traditional Greek vest for the pageant. Lefty and Jimmy go to a suit store to buy Lefty a suit, and the owners seems to “owe Zizmo a favor” and gives a 20 percent discount. Father Stylianopoulos from Assumption Greek Orthodox Church comes by to bless the house; Lefty and Desdemona pretend that they had a proper Orthodox wedding in order to be accepted as members of the church. When the priest leaves, Sourmelina and Desdemona confess to each other that they are both struck by an intense smell. That night, at the pageant, they sit in the audience holding hands. 

Onstage, there is a large cauldron covered with the phrase: “FORD ENGLISH SCHOOL MELTING POT.” Lefty and the other students, dressed in traditional clothing, mime the experience of immigrating to America. Henry Ford is in the audience, watching approvingly. The performance culminates with each graduate emerging from the melting pot wearing a suit and waving an American flag, while the audience cheers. Immediately after the pageant ends, the men from the Sociological Department approach Lefty with a pink slip indicating that he is being fired. They explain that Jimmy has a criminal record. Sourmelina and Desdemona then approach Lefty, and Sourmelina tells him in English that she and Desdemona are both pregnant.