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In Oedipus the King, we see before us a wise, intelligent and brave leader of Thebes who is willing to help his people at any moment to ensure their safety under his leadership. His strong persistence to solve the plague has resulted him to find the truth of his birth that lead to his own demise. His desire to prove his innocence has lead him to reveal his own sin and eventually isolate from Thebes. Similarly in Middlesex, Callie’s desire of wanting the Obscure Object will only end up in misery because the society rejects homosexual and is against the idea of a woman liking another woman. Both Oedipus and Callie will not get want they want because both of them end up in misery. As for Oedipus, he blind himself after find out he is the “scourge” of his people. He choose to exile from Thebes because he commit incest and patricide. On the other hand, Callie desires the Object and entered to Rex’s mind to have sex with the Object. She feels that “I didn’t have to feel guilty, didn’t have to ask myself if I was having unnatural desires” (375). This shows that she blame on Rex for her unnatural desire toward the Object instead of herself. Her desire of wanting the Object grow when she start having secret love affairs with the Object at night. Her unnatural desire will not only lead her to isolate from the society but as well as to figure out that she is not “normal” girl but something in between. At the end of chapter, The Gun on the Wall, we see that the Object looked “cold, skinny, out of place, lost. It was almost as if she knew we would never see each other again” (394). This reveals that since the society is in Callie’s way to having the Object, her relationship with the Object has come to the end. Callie lose what she desire because it is unnatural for a woman to like another woman. On the other hand, Oedipus lose his role as King because the society reject incest and people believe incest is unbelievable crime. What both character desire is against the society and is a violation of human moral. 

Current Event

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/30/endometriosis-is-often-ignored-in-teenage-girls/?_r=0

Abby Ellin’s “Endometriosis Is Often Ignored in Teenage Girls” tells us about a teenager girl Senie Byrne who begin menstruating at age 15.  Every month, she suffer from her cramp as if “1,000 darts had plunged into her abdomen.” Not only so, she also passed out from the cramps. During that time, she had diarrhea and she saw 22 doctors over the years and none of took her seriously. When Byrne was 21, a doctor performed a laparoscopy and find out that she has severe endometriosis, “a hormone and immune system disease in which uterine tissue is found outside the uterus, causing lesions in the ovaries, fallopian tubes, abdominal lining, bowel or bladder” and will result in “painful bowel movements with menstruation, inflammation, internal bleeding, scar tissue and infertility.” No one understand Byrne’s pain and frustration because she knew something was wrong with her when she was 15, however no one pay attention to her. More over, many physicians do not believe such disease will have affect teenagers, so they rarely give a diagnosis of endometriosis. Similar to Byrne situation, Jill Fuersich, 31, first had her period when she was 12. She often skipped school and social event because she was in agony and the doctor just told her that it is normal to have a period that painful. For Callie in Middlesex, she will never understand the real pain of having a period and will never get a chance to experience the pain of endometriosis since she is a male. Callie never thought about how painful a woman have to go through when having cramp since she is faking her period. She simply think about it is like “somebody’s twisting something inside me” (358) and “there was the twinge, the dull ache, the sucker punch that made ma curl up on my bed” (361). She is doing this in order to calm her mother’s anxieties and to fit into the society in order not be an outsider. On the other hand, Byrne and Fuersich suffer so much pain from their cramps  that lead them to missed school day or important social event. Women with endometriosis are infertile and suffer from ovulation and menstruation. This is something that Callie will never experience or understand how disappointed of a woman will be of not having a chance to bear a child.

Key Passage Response

Key Passage Response

Quote:

“I started shaving me legs and underarms. I plucked my eyebrows. The dress code at my school forbade cosmetics. But on weekends I got to experiment, within limits, Retina and I painted our faces in her bedroom, passing a hand mirror back and forth. I was particularly given to dramatic eyeliner. My model here was Maria Callas, or possibly Barbra Streisand In Funny Girl. The triumphant, long-nosed girl”(311).

At this point, Callie has gone to Sophie Sassoon’s Salon to get her facial hair done. Now, she started to shave her legs, underarms and putting up make-up. The images of Callie putting up cosmetics makeup and doing experiment with Retina shows that she start to care about her looks and is in transition to womanhood. Callie “was particularly given to dramatic eyeliner” because trying on beauty products are the only way to make her feel like she is female. By painting her face and “passing a hand mirror back and forth” makes her feel like she is going to puberty. The word “triumphant” represent that Callie is happy about her change because she is starting to look like a model. She says that, “my model here was Maria Callas…Barbra Streisand” shows that she want to be as beautiful as a model because it is every girl’s dream to become a model and be pretty. She is self-satisfy about her changes because this is only way that she can be in control of her puberty by trying beauty products. She is also hopeful because she can finally look like a female and be treat like an adult by shaving her legs and underarms. She feel like an adult because only adult goes to the salon and wax their hair. Callie is happy about her changes because she is doing for herself and she don’t want to be an outsider. She want to fit into the society’s expectation of what a female should look like. The passage develop the themes of transition into womanhood and adulthood because Callie has transform from a short, undeveloped beautiful girl into a adult who are shaving her unwanted hair and putting on cosmetics make-ups.