Blog Post #2

While reading about how Calliope feels when she is supposed to be going through puberty- while everyone already is, it puts me back in time to when I was in middle school. I don’t consider myself a late or an early bloomer because I have friends who got breasts and got their periods when they were in 5th grade and others who got it months after I did. I got my period a week after my birthday in 7th grade and it didn’t really shock me or anything because it was expected, I just wasn’t sure what to do and puberty wasn’t always something that was occupying my mind. While most of my friends had gotten their periods already and had had them for a while, I was just thinking about when I would get mine although I knew no matter when I got it that I would get it. Calliope observes, “Boys are getting peach fuzz on upper lips. Foreheads and noses are breaking out. Most spectacularly of all, girls are becoming women. Not mentally or emotionally even, but physically. Nature is making its preparations. Deadlines encoded in the species are met” (286). Cal believes that there is a specific time for everyone to go through puberty, together and so she’s concerned because she seems to be the only one not meeting this “deadline”. Unlike Cal, I grew up understanding that puberty is different for everyone and when it happens, it happens and it doesn’t need to happen at the same time as everyone else. This calmed me and made me realize that theres no rush to going through puberty. Everyone’s body works differently and it’s a natural thing we all go through. It only started to bother me when I noticed that my friends who had gotten their periods after me were really starting to develop breasts and I wasn’t. Of course, again, I understood that not everyone is going to grow massive boobs but it was still something I wanted that everyone else seemed to be getting. I realized shortly after that everyone is different and there was really no reason for me to get bothered by it. I’m happy with my body and the way that I am and I think considering the age that we are at now, most people are and puberty for everyone seems like almost a century ago. I can understand Calliope’s frustration especially as it’s clear that everyone is going through puberty and she’s the only one thats been left behind. Neither Tessie or Milton has talked to Calliope about puberty or anything related to it so it makes it a lot more difficult when everything Calliope knows is just from observation and she doesn’t have anyone to really reassure her that everything will be okay.

Blog post #1

When reading Middlesex I see a lot of connections to different texts in different parts of the book but in book 3, specifically in the chapter, “Opa!” I saw many connections to Persepolis, a book I read last year. Persepolis is the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi discussing her childhood to adulthood during and after the Iranian Revolution. The entire novel is a memoir so everything is seen from her point of view, even during times where she wasn’t sure what was going on. After the Iranian Revolution, girls were required to wear a veil and as Marjane comes from a religious yet modern family she struggled with remembering and wanting to wear it, especially compared to other young girls and females in Tehran during this time period. Even that reminds me of Cal in a way where they’re both so young during these times and they’re really thinking about their identity and who they really are and thats why change is so difficult for both of them despite how different their situations truly are. Both Cal and Marjane come from an important background and have grown up with supporting and loving parents. Marjane’s parents follow the revolution and protect Marjane in any way they possibly can. Both Cal and Marjane live in the middle where everything is being burned and destroyed. Marjane’s parents work hard to protect their own house as they’ve seen what has happened to their neighbor’s homes. Cal’s father sits inside the Zebra room, scared and protective over this diner that means so much to the family; he sits and watches as everything in the street burns to ashes, hoping that the diner isn’t the next target. Reading this part of Middlesex immediately made me think of Persepolis because both Marjane and Cal are at such a young age during the Detroit Riots and the Iranian Revolution so it’s very difficult for them to experience it and really understand what’s going on.