Rebirth vs. Continuity Theme Analysis

Middlesex can be read as a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel)—but rather than depicting the process of growing up as a gradual progression toward one’s final, true self, it instead portrays growing up as a series of rebirths and reinventions. This is mainly shown through the main character, Cal, who is assigned a female gender identity at birth but transitions to a male gender identity after discovering that he is intersex. While this is the central rebirth that occurs in the novel, it is far from the only one—indeed, the novel suggests that human life itself is defined by a continual series of rebirths and reinventions. At the same time, the novel also explores the concept of continuity, not only in the sense of an individual’s continuous identity, but continuity over multiple generations of the same family, community, or culture. As a result, the book ultimately shows that life is defined by both rebirth and continuity, and that rebirth itself might actually facilitate a certain kind of continuity. 

Due to being intersex and undergoing gender transition, the novel’s protagonist, Cal, frames his journey through life not as a linear process, but rather as involving (at least) two distinct rebirths. Through this narrative, the book explores the idea that sex and gender are so fundamental to who a person is that learning one is intersex and transitioning from one gender to another involves a total reinvention of someone’s identity, such that they can actually be considered a different person. Moreover, Cal exacerbates this process of reinvention by actions such as changing his name, running away from home, and (eventually) emigrating from the U.S. to Germany, intensifying the notion that he has been reborn into a whole other person. The idea that Cal’s life has been a series of rebirths is introduced in the very first paragraph of the novel: “I was born twice: first, as a baby girl […] in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.” Shortly after, Cal elaborates on what he means and how his identity has changed during these births: “My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license (from the Federal Republic of Germany) records my name simply as Cal […] But now, at the age of forty-one, I feel another birth coming on.” By mentioning these different forms of identification, Cal shows how the official recognition of a person’s identity can make it seem as if someone who undergoes a gender transition is indeed two different people. Moreover, this quotation links gender transition to migration (from the U.S. to Germany) as two forms of rebirth, a very important idea in the novel.

Yet while Cal himself describes his life as being a series of rebirths, the novel also shows the continuity between the version of Cal who identified as a girl and grew up in Detroit, and the version who identifies as a man and runs away from home, eventually landing in Berlin. The novel calls into question the extent to which a person can reinvent themselves when so much is shaped by their cultural and biological heritage. One way in which the novel explores the limits of rebirth is, again, through Cal’s narrative voice. Although once Cal transitions to male gender identity he refers to his past self in the third person, he still refers to his current self in the first person, just as he did when originally narrating his life as a child who had been assigned female identity. This creates a sense of continuity that persists through Cal’s rebirths. He might be different versions of the same person—but he is ultimately still the same person. This point is also demonstrated through Cal’s name, which is Calliope when he is born and Cal after he transitions. Cal’s decision to change to a different version of his previous name highlights continuity amidst change. Another way in which the novel explores this sense of continuity is through its depiction of Cal’s family. Because the novel is an epic family saga depicting multiple generations of the Stephanides clan, the reader witnesses how the birth of each child is also a rebirth of the family as a whole. Indeed, the birth of a child can significantly change a family’s dynamic, as when the birth of Cal’s father Milton causes a shift in the relationship between Cal’s grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona. While previously their relationship was very egalitarian for the time, Lefty feels bitter and jealous of the baby, which makes him more conservative: “As Lefty began to feel left out, he retaliated with tradition.” Nonetheless, there is also strong sense in which the birth of each child reinforces the existing traits of the family, replicating these traits on and on into the future.

While Cal’s discovery that he is intersex and his subsequent gender transition is certainly the most central and important rebirth in the book, it is not the only one. Indeed, just as Cal’s own moves to San Francisco and Berlin are part of his process of reinventing himself as he grows up, other characters also treat moving and migration as grounds for reinvention. This includes Cal’s grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona, who are “reborn” as an engaged couple (rather than brother and sister, which they actually are) during their migration from Bithynios to the U.S. The novel also shows reinvention and rebirth working in more mundane, small-scale ways, such as in the description of Lefty and Desdemona’s sex life, which is repetitive yet always thrilling thanks to a particular corset Desdemona wears. Cal comments that “The corset made Desdemona new again,” showing how rebirth is a pervasive, continuous part of human existence. Yet while in one sense the corset produces a kind of reinvention of Desdemona, this reinvention is itself a repeated ritual that is part of Lefty’s faithful, predictable love for his wife. In this life, rebirth is shown to facilitate continuity, rather than negating it.