M-Sex Two Cal .. what?
Do you think that knowing from the beginning of the book that Callie would eventually be Cal influenced your view of Callie? How would the story have been different if the reader assumed, as Callie did, that she was really a girl? Why do you think Eugenides chose to tell the story in Cal's voice at the beginning?
(Thanks to MamaC for this line of questioning!)
(Thanks to MamaC for this line of questioning!)
posted by JenniNapa at
6:31 PM
6 Comments:
Yes, it definitely influenced my view of Callie. Even though Callie had obvious interest in girls rather then boys, I probably would have expected she/he to stay a girl since he'd been raised that way for so long. It certainly would have been the easy way out, for lack of a better way to put it. And if Callie/Cal hadn't seen the doctor's report, it seemed that's what would have happened.
By
PCOSMama, at 8:19 PM
I loved how Cal came in and out and told us of his life and dating adventures. The book may have been more shocking if the reader were kept in the dark about Callie's XY genotype. By not keeping secrets from the reader, Eugenides develops more sympathy for Callie because we know what she'll have to endure to become Cal.
By
Pegs, at 1:12 PM
Pegs - I really liked that, too! I really liked knowing that, for the most part, Cal ended up as a relatively happy adult from the beginning. It certainly would have been a shock to find out at the end of the novel that Callie was becoming Cal! It would have required quite a bit more explanation after the revelation to give the novel enough closure.
I kind of thought of it this way: It's like knowing from the start that the movie you are watching is going to end happily.
Plus, would we really have stuck through the sordid relationship of Lefty and Desdemona if we didn't know that there was a hermaphrodite that eventually resulted from the union? Perhaps we are not much better than the patrons of Octopussy's Garden.
By
MamaChristy, at 7:25 PM
Pinklady - Respectfully, I disagree that Cal would have been just as happy as Callie. I am certain that had he remained Callie he would have lived a lesbian lifestyle, but I think there would have been problems down the road. He would have always felt that something was "off." Perhaps if the change had taken place before his sexual awakening with The Object, it might have been more successful. But no matter what, it seems like it would have been a very difficult choice.
By
MamaChristy, at 6:55 PM
I really liked the fact that Cal was straight with the reader from the beginning. This way it felt more like a documentary, family saga, here's how we got to where you see us now kind of a story, instead of a Jerry Springer, Crying Game, never saw it coming kind of story.
By
mamashine, at 11:47 AM
I really appreciated knowing that Cal was Callie grown up and pretty happy and content with himself. It made the story that much more interesting. I also thought it made me more interested in the history that made him the way he was. I also thought that it was interesting that Callie was happy and content as a girl until puberty when she failed to develop into a woman. I think that if she hadn't seen the report, she would have been unhappy and confused much longer. But eventually, Callie would have become Cal. Maybe later, like in college. Eventually, someone with a little bit of knowledge about sexuality and anatomy would have crossed his path.
By
Kate, at 8:38 PM
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