Andrea Oh AP British and World Literature Ms.

Nichole Wilson 24 January 2014

AP Prompt (1981): The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the works meaning.

I have read and understand the sections in the Student Handbook regarding Mason High School's Honesty/Cheating Policy. By affixing this statement to the title page of my paper, I am certifying that I have not cheated or plagiarized in the process of completing this assignment. If it is found that cheating and/or plagiarism did take place in the writing of this paper, I understand the possible consequences of the act, which could include a "0" on the paper, as well as an "F" as a final grade in the course. X Andrea Oh (student signature)

Andrea Oh AP British and World Literature Ms. Nichole Wilson 24 January 2014 Middlesex Analysis Mythological allusions, in Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex, negatively defines hybridity in order to deconstruct the idea that authentic hybridity exists in modern-day society. Hybridity is the blending of distinct ideas that allows for a space in which individuals are not labeled or pigeonholed within society. However, hybridity is the fruition, of a nave, utopian idea that society allows for a twining of distinction without judgment or bother. By using mythological allusions, fables that describe forced Greek hybridity, hybridity is depicted as a ridiculous endeavor. The three main allusions illustrated in Middlsex are: Tiresias, the Minotaur, and Hermaphroditus. Tiresias, in Greek mythology, is the blind prophetan omniscient being that was non-consensually transformed into a woman for seven years. He is used to describe Calliope. Calliope, the protagonist of Middlesex, is the slightly unreliable, omniscient narrator where like Tiresias, [she] was first one thing and then the other (3). She describes the past in which the Minotaur seduced Desdemona and Lefty, and the future in which she becomes Hermaphroditus. Utilized in order to describe the various hybridized myths, also only describes myths that cause hardship. Eugenides uses Tiresias in order to associate him with Calliope and with misfortune, from the foretold premonitions. The Minotaur, with its savage, muscular thighs[and] the suggestive sprawl of

his victims (108), was depicted as part of a play that Desdemona and Lefty saw, that ultimately brought them to have sexual intercourse. It was created when Poseidon forced a woman to fall in love with a bull as revenge. However, the play made Desdemona and Lefty ashamed of [their] excitement (108). Eugenides writing made it unnatural for them to become aroused by the unnaturalness of a bull and woman copulating. Eugenides brings negative tones for having intercourse, as well as the tribulation placed when the intercourse led to a intersexual granddaughter. The Minotaur brings Desdemona to her pregnancy in which Milton is born, carrying the mutation that brings Calliope to her hermaphroditic state. Hermaphroditus was depicted as Calliope when participating in a burlesque show. She, choosing to keep her intersexuality, was portrayed as the man who unwillingly combined with a lustful naiad, male into female, female into male (491). She would show her body to the viewers where their faces filled the portholes, gazing with amazement, curiosity, disgust (491). Eugenides writes Calliope as a hybrid revolted at her demeaning job and at the people who came to watch her in her hermaphroditic state. Calliope came to see the reactions towards her as a hybrid, and the society responded back with negativity. Eugenides alludes to multiple myths of Greek hybridity, of mixture between two unnatural things and beings, which causes negative reactions from modern-day society or causes actions that lead to negative emotions. By connecting thesesocietal disgust and Greek mythologyhybridity is inferred as an unrealistic state that is ostracized by society for being the product of two distinctive things.