Middlesex > Jeffrey Eugenides
An attempt at one shlub's rhetorical analysis
• THEME: two opposite or conflicting things combined in one (substance); quite literally in the case of our narrator
Elements that support this theme:
• passages highlighting the "hybrid" in humanity (as opposed to the traditional themes of homogenization)
• the direct comparison of multicultural ethics as brought on by the American "melting pot"
• how Eugenides uses historical realism to emphasize a new culture of shared values
• family epic: references to the mythological, Greek myths and famililial myths "melted" together
• Eugenides's study of the origin of values from shared values > from multiple to universal
• look for institutions, what stands out as Americanly different for Desdemona and Lefty?
• the individual and the more encompassing country (macrocosm)
the microcosm is represented in the world of dna and how our genes mingle at conception
• denouncing of the values now held by right-wing politics
• ethnic and cultural diversity, minority rights, moral conflict, ethical pluralism, pluralism and the limits of the liberal state, moral compromise
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