Middlesex Characters

Jerome is the Obscure Object’s older brother. He is obnoxious and annoying, and has a crush on Callie. The two briefly have sex, after which Callie rejects him. When he catches Callie and the Object having sex and tells Callie to leave his sister alone, Callie attacks him.

Mr. Object is the Obscure Object’s wealthy father. He served in World War II, and can be inferred to have issues with alcohol (due to the fact that he drinks and drives with Callie in the car on the way to Petoskey).

Mrs. Object is the Obscure Object’s mother.

Beulah is the Obscure Object’s family’s maid.

Clementine is Callie’s neighbor on Middlesex Boulevard in Grosse Pointe when she is a young girl. The two girls become friends and sexually experiment with each other. However, Clementine’s father then dies and she and her mother move away.

Carmen is a trans woman who works with Zora and Cal as a performer at Sixty-Niners. She is saving up for gender confirmation surgery.

Bob Presto is the owner of Sixty-Niners club. A slightly sketchy man, he nonetheless takes care of Cal after picking him up as a hitchhiker on the way to San Francisco.

Wilhelmina is Bob’s girlfriend.

Mr. da Silva is the teacher of Callie’s Advanced English class. Originally from Brazil, he has visited Greece and encourages Callie to embrace her Greek identity.

Maxine Grossinger is Callie’s neighbor and another girl in Mr. da Silva’s advanced English class. She is the only Jewish student at Baker & Inglis. She dies of a brain aneurism onstage in the class’ production of Antigone.

Hettie is Maxine’s mother.

Sam is Maxine’s father.

Sophie is a member of the Detroit Greek community and owns a salon where Callie gets her mustache waxed.

Meg is Chapter Eleven’s Marxist girlfriend, whom he meets at college.

Morrison is a black man who lives across the street from the Zebra Room. He is killed by the military during the 1967 race riots.

Sister Wanda is a member of the Nation of Islam who hires Desdemona.

Matt is a young homeless man and Deadhead (follower of the Grateful Dead) whom Cal meets in San Francisco. They become friends and live in the park together.

Ben Scheer is a sophisticated, bohemian gay man who picks Cal up as a hitchhiker and attempts to have sex with him.

Ed is a barber in Scranton, Pennsylvania who cuts off Cal’s long hair.

Dr. Bauer is a gynecologist who Tessie tries to take Callie to see. The Obscure Object describes him as a “pervert.”

Mr. Go is a patron of Sixty-Niners.

Uncle Pete is a friend of the Stephanides family in Detroit. He is a chiropractor.

Soctrates is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children, and is thus Cal’s cousin.

Plato is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children.

Aristotle is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children.

Cleopatra is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children.

Euphrosyne was Lefty and Desdemona’s mother, and thus Cal’s great-grandmother. She lived and died in Bithynios.

Lucille is an unattractive young woman who is one of the only two marriageable women in Bithynios. Desdemona attempts to set her up with Lefty.

Victoria is the other eligible woman in Bithynios. She is also unattractive.

General Hajienestis is the leader of the Greek army in Smyrna. He ends up choosing to abandon the city.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha is the Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish Army during the invasion of Smyrna. He later becomes the first president of Turkey, changing his last name to Atatürk.

Henry Ford is the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and is one of the most famous businessmen in history.

Father Stylianopoulos is a priest at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Detroit.

Gaia is a young woman whom Desdemona unsuccessfully tries to set up with Milton.

Mrs. Evelyn Watson is Sourmelina’s girlfriend. They live together in New Mexico until Evelyn’s death.

Marius is a patron of the Zebra Room and a member of the Black Power Movement. He is fond of Callie, but Milton thinks of him as a “troublemaker” and bans Callie from talking to him.