Middlesex: Book 3: The Wolverette Summary & Analysis

During a game of field hockey, Callie is whacked in the face with the ball, and her life flashes before her eyes. By now, she is attending Baker & Inglis, a private girls’ school. She carpools to school, driven by a lady named Mrs. Drexel. Baker & Inglis was founded in 1911 and is very traditional. In field hockey, Callie plays goalie due to her lack of athletic talent. This is partly due to her physical condition; the testicles that remain inside her abdomen give her terrible cramps, which are dismissed by adults as mere period pains. She also now has braces and at night must sleep wearing “medieval headgear.” Now, in seventh grade, Callie still doesn’t have any breasts or a period. At school, she is terrified of the locker room.

The “rulers” of Baker & Inglis are a group of girls named the Charm Bracelets. They have been at the school since pre-kindergarten, and strongly identify as “Easterners” rather than Midwesterners. They are the descendants of industrialists, including auto magnates. The girls themselves, however, are neither talented nor hardworking. The majority of the girls at school belong to a different group, the Kilt Pins, named after the pins that hold the girls’ uniform skirts together. Callie is not in this group either, but rather the group of “ethnic” girls who are treated as outsiders despite the fact that, as Callie points out, everyone is “ethnic.” For the first time, Callie realizes that there are people who don’t consider who fully American.

The other misfits and newcomers adopt Callie as one of their own. However, she still waits until they have all left the locker room before undressing. She now wears a bra, which is padded and size 30AA. She is alone in the locker room; her only company is a poster displaying the school mascot, the Wolverette. The year that Callie starts at Baker & Inglis is the same year that Chapter Eleven begins college. The previous spring, Chapter Eleven gained admission to the University of Michigan and learned that he was eligible to be drafted. He became fixated on watching the news, and planned to escape to Canada if he was called to serve.

This whole episode makes Callie reflect on gender discrimination. Although she is highly aware of the sexist treatment that women receive, she also thinks its unjust that men are sent to war. In the end, Chapter Eleven’s draft number is not called, and he moves to Ann Arbor in the fall. Milton is horrified by the antiwar movement, and takes to reading the Great Books series on the recommendation of Uncle Pete. Chapter Eleven majors in engineering, and at Baker & Inglis, Callie is taking classes in Latin. Every evening, Milton reads to Tessie from the Great Books series. However, many of the texts in the series bore them, and they eventually abandon the endeavor. 

Between January of seventh grade and the August before eighth, Callie experiences a tremendous growth spurt. Hair appears in the “required places,” and her voice starts to change. Callie is tall and skinny with a deep voice, but not in a way that is perceived as unusual; unlike some intersex boys who are raised as girls, Callie continues to pass as a girl. At the same time, her androgyny has a powerful effect on some of the girls around her, who develop obvious crushes on her. However, this changes as well, and by the time she is 13 Callie looks more obviously unusual, and this makes her stoop out of self-consciousness.

Tessie and Milton have a profound, unconditional love for Callie, but worry that she will turn into a “wallflower” like Aunt Zo. Callie insists on growing her hair out long even after this ceases to be fashionable. Unlike Desdemona’s smooth and sleek hair, Callie’s hair is incredibly thick and brittle, and shows up all over the house. Tessie still brushes Callie’s hair, and complains that she won’t cut it. Yet Callie refuses, because she wants something to hide behind.