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Sourmelina Zizmo
Jimmy Zizmo is Sourmelina’s husband and Tessie’s father. He changed his name from Zisimopoulos while immigrating to the U.S. A mysterious man, he has a criminal record and is involved in various criminal operations, particularly bootlegging. He is a teetotaler and vegetarian, and is obsessed with herbal medicine. During Prohibition, Jimmy gets into the alcohol-smuggling business with Lefty, but Jimmy’s behavior grows increasingly erratic and he eventually accuses Lefty of getting Sourmelina pregnant. During a bootlegging trip gone wrong, Zizmo appears to die by driving his car into a frozen lake. However, later Desdemona learns that he actually faked his own death, and reappeared with a new identity: Minister Fard, the Founder of the Nation of Islam (who was a real person, although in reality this person was, of course, not Jimmy Zizmo). While working at the NOI temple, Desdemona listens to Fard’s lectures about the white race, which he claims are the invention of an evil scientist named Yacub. After getting in trouble for his association with a human sacrifice performed by a cult, Fard briefly reveals his identity to Desdemona, then disappears.
Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard Quotes in Middlesex
The Middlesex quotes below are all either spoken by Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard or refer to Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2: Minotaurs Quotes
Parents are supposed to pass down physical traits to their children, but it’s my belief that all sorts of other things get passed down, too: motifs, scenarios, even fates.
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Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard Character Timeline in Middlesex
The timeline below shows where the character Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard appears in Middlesex. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2: Henry Ford’s English-Language Melting Pot
Sourmelina’s husband, Jimmy Zizmo, came to America when he was 30, in 1907, changing his name from Zisimopoulos...
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...Detroit in the future. Sourmelina drives them to her quiet neighborhood on the East Side. Jimmy is a macho former prisoner and “drug pusher” who doesn’t drink. At 45, he still...
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That night, Jimmy asks Sourmelina if they can have sex because they’ve been married for five years and...
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Jimmy takes Lefty to the Personnel Department at the Ford Factory. The manager they speak to...
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...at the factory, Desdemona stays home, spending the whole day cooking. She serves food to Jimmy and his “business associates” and cleans up after they leave. She and Lefty manage to...
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Around this time, two men in suits show up unannounced at Jimmy’s door, saying they are from the Ford Sociological Department and asking to see Lefty. They...
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Desdemona sews Lefty a traditional Greek vest for the pageant. Lefty and Jimmy go to a suit store to buy Lefty a suit, and the owners seems to...
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...approach Lefty with a pink slip indicating that he is being fired. They explain that Jimmy has a criminal record. Sourmelina and Desdemona then approach Lefty, and Sourmelina tells him in...
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Book 2: Minotaurs
...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,...
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One night, Zizmo takes Lefty for a drive, explaining that he is going to get him a better...
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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...
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...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...
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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...
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When night comes, Zizmo drives them to the affluent neighborhood of Grosse Pointe. They approach the lake, and Lefty...
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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...
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Zizmo continues to accuse Lefty of being the father of Sourmelina’s child, but by this point...
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Book 2: Marriage on Ice
Thirteen days after his death, Jimmy Zizmo’s funeral takes place. The police were never able to find his body, but chose...
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...house while the church part of the service takes place, guarding the door so that Zizmo’s spirit cannot reenter the house. After the church service, the casket is put to one...
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After the funeral rites for Zizmo are completed, both Milton and Theodora are baptized. Desdemona asks Sourmelina how it is possible...
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...called the Zebra Room in the basement of his house, named after a zebra skin Zizmo claimed to have brought over from Africa. He gets the alcohol from the same connections...
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...that Desdemona immigrated from Turkey, as it’s a Muslim country. Sister Wanda explains that Minister Fard has taught them about the importance of self-reliance, and cautioned against depending on white people....
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...The peddler went by various names, from Mr. Farrad Mohammad to Wallace Ford to Wardell Fard. There was uncertainty over his racial identity and where he came from. Sister Wanda explains...
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Book 2: Tricknology
...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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Fard leaves Detroit, and in May 1933, Desdemona bids a tearful goodbye to the young women...
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