Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Middlesex, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Rebirth vs. Continuity
Ancestry, Inheritance, and Fate
False Binaries
Migration, Ethnicity, and the American Dream
Secrets
Summary
Analysis
Desdemona soon gets used to working for the Nation of Islam; in a way, working there reminds her of her home country. For the black people of Detroit, the mosque is a site of empowerment. One day, Desdemona brings her silkworm box to show her students, explaining that her grandfather carved it himself. The women at the temple are all kind to her, although Desdemona maintains some racist suspicions about black people in general, even as she comes to respect those at the temple. She tells Sourmelina that American women could use the kind of conservative influence propagated by the Nation of Islam.
Desdemona’s mixed feelings about the women at the Nation of Islam reflect her internal conflict about the U.S. in general, and also highlight the illogical way in which prejudice works. Due to racist ideas she has absorbed, Desdemona holds all kinds of negative beliefs about black people, even though the only black people she actually knows behave in the exact way she believes that people should.
Themes
Under Desdemona’s supervision, young men construct a cocoonery in the temple. One day, Desdemona is in the Silk Room when she hears a voice, and is unsure of where it’s coming from. The voice explains that he was born in Mecca in 1877 to a black man from the “tribe of Shabazz” and a white woman, “a devil.” The voice explains that his father converted his mother to Islam. Desdemona is captivated by the voice, which is the voice of Minister Fard. He explains how he was destined to bring Islam to African Americans. From this day on, Desdemona hears Fard speak regularly, and is thus exposed to all the major ideas of the Nation of Islam.
The novel’s presentation of the Nation of Islam may be one of its most controversial elements. While there are certainly things about the NOI that might seem strange or outlandish, by presenting the religion entirely through Desdemona’s perspective, the reader does not get access to important context about the longstanding existence of black Muslims in America or the reason why African Americans were drawn to Islam over, for example, Christianity.
Themes
Eventually, Desdemona hears about how white people were created by an evil scientist named Yacub through a eugenics programs. The young women installing the silkworm trays are lost in various daydreams, but Desdemona is stunned. Insulted at the idea that all white people are devils, she resolves to stop listening to Fard, but by the next day, she once again finds herself riveted by his words. Cal speculates that the guilt Desdemona felt about marrying Lefty may have been part of what made her receptive to Fard’s teachings. On one occasion around this time, Desdemona becomes upset, telling Lefty that they are “not good people” and declaring that she wishes she’d died in Smyrna.
While Desdemona’s time working for the Nation of Islam evidently doesn’t erase her prejudice entirely, it does make her critically reflect on her own privilege and complicity in oppression. Unfortunately, rather than inspiring Desdemona to do good in the world, it instead stimulates her survivor’s guilt, which manifests as a form of self-pity. This emerges most clearly when she melodramatically declares she wishes she’d died in Smyrna.
Themes
Desdemona watches her children closely for signs that something is wrong with them. She refuses to have sex with Lefty, and eventually he gives up trying. Lefty focuses on work instead. The slump in customers driven by the Depression leads him to take on a new business endeavor. His new associate is a photographer named Maurice Plantagenet. Lefty, Maurice, and a model named Mabel drive into a dead-end, where they park the car and Mabel takes off her coat to reveal lingerie. She poses against the car, and Plantagenet takes pictures. This is Lefty’s new job: finding models for Plantagenet’s racy photographs of women and cars. The whole thing was Lefty’s idea.
Although the official reason Lefty launches this side business is to make extra cash in the midst of the pressures of the Depression, it is perhaps also the case that he does so due to sexual frustration. Now that Desdemona will no longer have sex with him, Lefty is driven to seek erotic pleasure elsewhere.
Themes
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Despite the Depression, people still buy the photographs, and Lefty’s income becomes stable again. Meanwhile, Desdemona is still captivated by Fard’s speeches. She begins to understand that the deprivation she witnesses in Black Bottom is not due to the deficient characteristics of its residents, but rather structural racism. She is horrified when she witnesses other white people behaving in a racist manner. She begins to accept Fard’s teachings about white people. In November 1932, a black cult leader is accused of murdering a boarder in his house as part of a “human sacrifice.” Members of his cult are called in for questioning, and suspicions arise from the fact that he used to spend time at the temple. Shortly after, Fard is arrested.
This passage indicates that after a while, listening to Fard’s teachings actually does begin to have a positive effect on Desdemona, encouraging her to adopt anti-racist beliefs (if not quite actions). At the same time, learning about racism from the Nation of Islam is perhaps not the best route, given that the movement comes to be associated with sinister fringe activities such as human sacrifice.
Themes
Fard leaves Detroit, and in May 1933, Desdemona bids a tearful goodbye to the young women of the temple. A new leader has taken over the Nation of Islam: his name is Elijah Muhammad, and he is not interested in continuing the silk production program. On her way out, Desdemona sneaks into the main temple. Fard is there, and greets her by name, asking after Lefty. Desdemona is shocked; Fard explains that he “know[s] everything.” He asks about Milton and the speakeasy, and then turns to reveal his face—it is Jimmy Zizmo. He claims that “Jimmy” died so that he could dedicate himself to liberating his “people.” He indicates that he knows about Sourmelina’s lesbianism and Lefty and Desdemona’s incest. After this, Fard disappears from Detroit and meets a mysterious end. Desdemona, meanwhile, undergoes a new medical procedure to prevent herself from having any more children.
Since the real-life Fard was likely of Arab origin (some believe him to have originated from Turkey, others from Afghanistan), the decision to reveal that Fard is actually Jimmy Zizmo could be judged to be in bad taste. Whatever one thinks, the twist takes away from the randomness of Desdemona working for the Nation of Islam, establishing an air of fate and re-centering the Stephanides family within this seeming digression from the main narrative.
Themes
