Middlesex: Book 2: Minotaurs Summary & Analysis

Like many intersex people, Cal cannot have children. Part of the reason why he joined the Foreign Service is because of this fact, as it him not want to stay in one place for a long time. He is sad to leave Berlin, though, because once-divided city reminds him of himself and his own “struggle for unification.” In principle, Cal is against feeling ashamed of his condition, but he is also not a very political person and believes each person should figure out their own way of dealing with it. Cal tends to keep it secret, although sometimes he tells strangers. When he meets women he’s attracted to, he usually disappears before they have sex, never calling them again. 

Cal has seen the bicyclist again, and spoken to her this time. Her name is Julie Kikuchi, she’s from California and studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and they are going on a date on Friday. Jumping back to 1923, Cal explains that the “Simultaneous Fertilization” happens after the two couples go to the theater to see a production of The Minotaur. Desdemona thought she knew what to expect, but is horrified by the modern twist of the production and the presence of chorus girls, and leaves in the intermission. Back at home, all four residents of the house pretend “that the play had no effect on them.” However, this is not actually the case, and both couples end up having sex.

Cal notes the significance of the fact that the couples conceived after seeing a play about “a hybrid monster.” He considers how parents do not just pass on physical characteristics to their children, but also “motifs, scenarios, even fates.” Desdemona and Sourmelina’s menstrual cycles were synced, and once they both get pregnant they start throwing up in unison. Lefty and Zizmo soon realize that they do not have an important role to play during the pregnancies, and spend time with other men at the coffee house in Greektown, discussing politics over games of backgammon. At one point, Jimmy claims that the Turks were not to blame for starting the war, and Lefty has to intervene in order to stop the other men beating him up.

One night, Zizmo takes Lefty for a drive, explaining that he is going to get him a better job than what he had at Ford, one that is much higher-paying. It is three a.m., and they drive to Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River right next to the Canadian border. On Zizmo’s signal, they get out of the car. Zizmo explains that he used to work for the railroad, but then “got smart.” A boat pulls in with two men on board. Zizmo passes them an envelope, and they reveal 12 wooden crates which Zizmo tells Lefty to help him unload. At this moment Lefty realizes that despite not drinking himself, Zizmo makes a living by importing whisky, beer, and rum from Canada.

Lefty panics, claiming this means he’s going to get deported. However, Zizmo replies that they have no choice. They both need money, as they are about to become fathers. Thus Lefty joins the business, becoming familiar with the workings of the criminal underworld. Bootlegging is mainly run by the Purple Gan and the mafia; yet while they turn a blind eye to low-level “amateur smuggling,” Zizmo is not dealing with amateur amounts. Meanwhile, in pregnancy, Desdemona is looking more and more like Euphrosyne. She feels intimately connected to all her female ancestors. Sourmelina, meanwhile, worries about the way she herself is physically changing, concerned that her “breasts will never be the same.” She feels embarrassed by her pregnant body.

One fall morning during the Desdemona and Sourmelina’s third trimester, Dr. Philobosian appears at their house. Inside, he tells them that he contracted an eye disease on the ship, yet ultimately wasn’t turned away at Ellis Island due to the fact that the government wanted doctors to immigrate. He received treatment and has been living in the Lower East Side in Manhattan, but has decided to move to Detroit because there are already too many medical practices in New York. Later, over dinner, Dr. Philobosian remarks on the extraordinary odds of both women getting pregnant on the same night. He mentions that people used to think that if a baby was born with deformities, it was caused by the mother thinking the wrong thing during the moment the child was conceived.

Desdemona looks worried, and Dr. Philobosian assures her that no one thinks this anymore; now, doctors understand that deformities tend to be caused by intermarrying. Desdemona is horrified. Later, she shares her concerns with Sourmelina, who insists that the danger isn’t really that great, and that “if families marrying each other was so bad, we’d all have six arms and no legs.” However, this does not reassure Desdemona, as many of the children in Bithynios did have deformities. She would hear stories about how these individuals had horrible fates; they would end up homeless in Bursa or dead by suicide. Zizmo, meanwhile, has grown suspicious after the dinner with Philobosian, and wonders if he has been “tricked.”

In the eighth month of the women’s pregnancies, snow is falling, Zizmo is behaving erratically, and the Purple Gang is gaining tighter and tighter control over the bootlegging business in Detroit. Desdemona performs her spoon-swinging test over Sourmelina’s belly to tell the baby’s gender; Sourmelina is delighted to hear that it’s a girl. Desdemona, meanwhile, prays to God that her baby doesn’t have any deformities, and promises that this will be the only child she and Lefty have. On December 17, Sourmelina goes into labor, giving birth to a baby girl. Zizmo devises his “final scheme” and tells Lefty to prepare for “business” that night.

When night comes, Zizmo drives them to the affluent neighborhood of Grosse Pointe. They approach the lake, and Lefty realizes that Zizmo is planning to drive to Canada over the ice. They aren’t sure if the ice is sturdy enough, and thus open both car doors to leap out if need be. Lefty prays both for the ice not to break and to stay safe from the Purple Gang, as the lake is their territory. Meanwhile, back at home, Desdemona has a nightmare about being raped by the captain of the ship that took her and Lefty to America. She wakes up and realizes her water has broken. 

Back on the lake, Lefty smells something metallic from the car, while Zizmo asks why Lefty never mentions to other people that Sourmelina is his cousin. He then asks why Lina left Bithynios, and Lefty explains that there was no one in the village for her to marry. Increasingly angry and accelerating the car, Zizmo asks “Is it you! […] Who is it!” At this moment, Cal interrupts the scene to share memories of watching “dubbed Italian versions of the ancient Greek myths” with his father, Milton, as a child. He recalls watching a film about Theseus and the Minotaur. Meanwhile, Sourmelina and Desdemona are in a taxi on the way to the hospital. Sourmelina says she was going to go that morning anyway to collect her baby.

Zizmo continues to accuse Lefty of being the father of Sourmelina’s child, but by this point the car is so unsafe that Lefty just leaps straight out of the vehicle. He crashes onto the ice, skidding, and watches as the car keeps moving. With no idea what Zizmo is doing, Lefty watches car until it plunges into the ice and goes dark. Meanwhile, Dr. Philobosian delivers Desdemona’s baby, a son. She is thrilled that the child does not have any obvious physical defects. Lefty arrives at the hospital, having walked all the way from the lake. Sourmelina’s baby, taken from the incubator, is named Theodora, while Lefty and Desdemona’s son is named Militadies, although he will go by the English name Milton. Although no one knows this, each baby carries a genetic mutation.