50 character’s grandparentsalso do incest which triggered a gen mutation and makes the
main character becomes hermaphrodite.
B. Suggestions
In this section, suggestions are divided into two parts. The first is the suggestion for further researchers. The second is the suggestion for the
implementation of using Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex in teaching Paragraph
Writing.
1. Suggestion for Future Researchers
Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex is a rich novel which does not only talks about a girl who transforms to be a man. The reader can get much knowledge from this
novel. For further researchers, they may explore more about the biographical facts in the novel, the historical event as the background of the story, the political condition
and the significance of Greek culture in the novel. Since this is the first study of Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex, the future researcher still have many topics to be
explored beside my suggestions.
2. Suggestion of the Implementation of Teaching English Using The Novel
There are at least two advantages by reading novels. The readers can get pleasure and knowledge by reading novels. Considering the advantages provided by
reading novel, it is good to use a novel as the material in teaching English. In this
51 study, the writer gives suggestion for the implementation of using an excerpt Jeffrey
Eugenides Middlesex in teaching Paragraph Writing. The writer decides to use Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex as the material for
Paragraph Writing because this novel can be used as a model of descriptive text, especially describing place. Using this model, the students can read and write
describing text to enrich their skills. The reading passage is taken from page 258 of Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex. The procedures of conducting teaching Paragraph
Writing using Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex are as follows: 1.
The teacher asks the students to describe their classroom using one adjective as the introduction to the topic.
2. The teacher together with the students does the booby trap game.
3. The teacher gives explanation on the topic which is about describing place.
4. The teacher asks the students to do the exercise which is to analyze the text
based on the generic structure using the mind mapping. 5.
The teacher asks the students to rearrange the paragraph based on the mind mapping using their own words.
6. At the end of the course, the teacher gives the review on today’s lesson using
questions and answers method.
REFERENCES
“A Conversation With Jeffery Eugenides” , Oprah. 18 November 2009.
http:www.oprah.comarticleoprahsbookclubmiddlesexmiddles ex_author_conversation
Buxton. “Greek Mythology.” Microsoft Encarta 2009. DVD. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
Deardoff, Daniel. “ Performative Mythology: A preliminary Outline toward a Theory and Praxis”. Mythsinger. 2001. Web. 19 November 2009.
http:mythsinger.orgessaysperformythpr.html Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. London: Bloomsbury Publishing,2002
Gadsby, Adam. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Essex: Oxford
University Press, 2001 Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers Sixth Edition.
2003.New York: Modern Language Association of America. “Hermaphroditus - Mythology, In literature, In art”. 29 January 2010.
http:encyclopedia.stateuniversity.compages10005Hermaphroditus.html Hornby, A.S.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.
Johnson. “Myth as Thought: Modern Theory and Myth”. Classics.uc.edu. Web. 18 November 2009. http:classics.uc.edu~johnsonmyththeory.html
Katia. “The Nine Muses of the Greek Myhtology”. 2009. 22 December 2009. http:greekmyths-greekmythgology.comnine-muses-in-greek-mythology
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Sixth Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1995
52
Lahanas, Michael. “CalliopeKalliope”. 2008. 22 December 2009. http:mlhanas.deGreeksMythologyCalliope.html
-- . “Hermaphroditus”. 2008. 29 January 2010.
http:www.mlahanas.deGreeksMythologyHermaphroditus.html
--- .“Minotaur”. 2008. 20 December 2009.
http:www.mlahanas.deGreeksMythologyMinotaur.html
--- .“Tiresias”. 2008. 9 December 2009.
http:www.mlahanas.deGreeksMythologyTiresias.html
--- .“Zeus”. 2008. 9 December 2009.
http:www.mlahanas.deGreeksMythologyZeus.html
Leadbetter, Ron. “Zeus”.2005. 9 December 2009.
http:www.pantheon.orgarticleszzeus.html
Lindemans, Micha. “Calliope”.2009. 22 December 2009. http:www.patheon.orgarticlesccalliope.html
-- . “Minotaur”.2009. 20 December 2009.
http:www.patheon.orgarticlesmminotaur.html Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield: Merriam-Webster.Inc,
1995 Microsoft Encarta 2009 Dictionary. Microsoft Encarta 2009. DVD. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Corporation, 2008 Miller, George. “Figures”, The Trustees of
Princeton University
, Web. 18 November 2009.
http:wordnetweb.princeton.eduperlwebwn?s=figure
53
Parada, Carlos, “Basic aspects of the Greek myths”.
Greek Mythology Link
. 1999. Web. 18 November 2009.
http:homepage.mac.comcparadaGMLBasicAspects.html
-- . “Minotaur”. 1997. 9 December 2009.
http:homepage.mac.comcparadaGMLMinotaur.html --
. “Zeus”. 1997. 9 December 2009.
http:homepage.mac.comcparadaGMLZeus.html
“QA With Jeffery Eugenides” , Oprah. 18 November 2009.
http:www.oprah.comarticleoprahsbookclubmiddlesexmiddles ex_qa_01
Rohrberger, Mary and Samuel H Woods Jr. Reading and Writing About Literature. New York: Random House, Inc., 1971.
Sharwood, Smith. The Bride from the Sea. London: Macmillian Education, 1973. “Tiresias”. 2009. 9 December 2009.
http:encyclopedia.stateuniversity.compages22290Tiresias.html
“Tiresias”. 2009. 9 December 2009.
http:www.statemaster.comencyclopediaTiresias
Tuccinardi, Ryan. “Hermaphroditus”. 1999. 29 January 2010. http:www.pantheon.orgarticleshhermaphroditus.html
“Zeus Consort’s and Offspring’s”. Microsoft Encarta 2009. DVD. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
54
Appendix 1
55
Appendix 2
56
Appendix 3
SUMMARY Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
Gender confusion and Greek tragedy have bred an American epic, reports Julie Wheelwright
Like Tristram Shandy, the narrator of Jeffrey Eugenides epic novel is a witness to his own conception.
Mother Tessie is longing for a daughter, and times her lovemaking with husband Milton to produce the right
result. In January 1960, a daughter is born to this second- generation Greek-American couple. Normality appears to
reign in their Detroit household. But the narrator, who has already provided a panoramic portrait of his grandparents union in Turkey,
deliciously strings out a series of revelations. Unlike Shandy, the narrator Cal is born twice, and views history through the
perspective of both genders. Tessies child is born a hermaphrodite, raised as a daughter named Calliope and then, following an accident at 14, undergoes this second
birth to become Cal. The grandparents own shameful secret compounds the chances that result in Cal inheriting a disorder in which a genetic male is born with what
appear to be female genitals.
57
Cals grandparents, who fled Smyrna during the Turkish invasion of 1922, were also brother and sister. Tessie and Milton are second cousins. Such a crowded
gene pool dramatically increases the possibility of this disorder sailing down generations.
But, of course, a genetic disorder among Greeks can be the seed for unfolding a series of dramas. Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides, brilliantly weaves
together strands of genetic heritage, mistaken identity and transformation, over three generations.
Desdemona and Lefty Stephanides, orphaned after their parents death, hide the truth about their life in Smyrna. In America, they present themselves as husband
and wife. They head for Detroit to live with cousin Sourmelina, who guards the couples secret because she has one of her own. Married to Jimmy Zizmo, a rum
runner, she keeps her lesbian affairs under wraps. The two couples live together in Zizmos house, occupying separate worlds. Two spheres with separate concerns,
duties, Cal comments, even – the evolutionary biologists would say – thought
patterns. There are other transformations. At a YMCA camp for immigrants,
Desdemonas braids are cut off and she is given a cloche cap to get rid of her peasant look. She carries the braids until she dies. Social workers at the Ford plant where
Lefty briefly works inspect Zizmos home to ensure that unhygienic Mediterranean practices such as using garlic are eschewed. Fords inspectors, upholders of a new
morality, have Lefty dismissed when they inform his boss that Zizmo runs a bootleg 58
operation. Lefty takes up where his life in Smyrna ended, running a speakeasy café called the Zebra Room.
Milton is conceived on the same night as Tessie – another allusion to the
incestuous twinning between Lefty and Desdemona. Although the Stephanides son and later a daughter appear unaffected by their parents genetic legacy, Desdemona
does not want to tempt the gods and undergoes a tubal ligation. One night, Lefty lies next to her and wonders that the sleeping form next to him is less and less his sister
... and more and more his wife. The statute of limitations ticks itself out, day by day, all memory of the crime being washed away. But what humans forget, cells
remember. The body, that elephant ... . Biology is an inescapable tragedy waiting to happen. Only in the next
generation, when Callie is born and raised as a girl, does the past catch up with them. Eugenides sets up an intriguing parallel between the relationship of Lefty and
Desdemona, and Callies double identity. The Stephanides are reborn after the fire of Smyrna, the tragedy that wipes away their past and demands they transform
themselves. Their violation of a powerful taboo means that someone must pay the price. Callies genetic disorder represents a very Greek form of hubris.
Eugenides is good on period detail, providing brooding, bold sketches of the family barricaded in their home during the Detroit race riots of 1967, the decline of
Nixon, the reverberations of the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus. All these events have their symbolic meaning in Cals story. Milton, now a restaurateur
himself, heads into the turmoil of the riots to protect the Zebra Room from looters. 59
The following morning as the smoke cleared, the citys flag could once again be seen ... A phoenix rising from its ashes. Milton emerges from this second fire wealthy
enough, from his over-insured building, to open up a hot-dog franchise. Daughter Callie is sent off to a posh girls school. She plays field hockey,
studies Greek, and falls in love. But while the crush might be explained as adolescent exploration, Callie becomes increasingly worried that she shows no signs of starting
her period or growing breasts. When her feelings for her girlfriend confusingly stir the bulb between her legs into something like an erection, she becomes convinced
that she is different. Callies parents are forced to seek the opinion of the famous Dr Luce: a thinly
disguised version of a famous 1970s sexologist. Luce tells Callies frightened parents that gender-identity development is determined by sex assignment and rearing, not by
the gonads. Although Callie is genetically a male, she must grow up into a woman. The price she must pay for this is, effectively, a castration.
The real sexologist, Dr John Money, argued at the time against assigning children with this particular deficiency to the male sex. A new criterion for clinical practice
suggested that, in cases of ambiguous sexual genitalia, the sex of assignment up to the age of two and a half was the best predictor of healthy gender development.
Switching genders after this age was considered an extremely risky proposition. Ironically, the real Dr Money and fictional Dr Luce seem to side with the 1970s
feminist view that gender identity is determined by socialisation, not biology. 60
When Callie appears in Luces office, aged 14, she is beyond saving. A few shots of progesterone, a snip and a tuck, and Callie would be rendered as female as
she possibly could: I was a living experiment dressed in white corduroys and a Fair Isle sweater.
Yet, when Callie realises that Luces treatment will denude her of her bulb and all erotic feeling, she decides to become the midwife of her own second birth. To
become Cal, Callie undertakes a brutal journey across America, in which she is forced to unlearn everything she has learnt in the female sphere.
Eugenides portrays Cal as a deeply sympathetic character: a man of vision and wit, who manages to overcome his own Greek tragedy. Middlesex reminds us that
those who fit awkwardly outside sciences categories of sex, desire and gender have much to teach.
Taken from: http:www.independent.co.ukarts- entertainmentbooksreviewsmiddlesex-by-jeffrey-eugenides-604680.html
61
Appendix 4
Biography of Jefrey Eugenides
Novelist Jefrey Eugenides received critical acclaim for his frst novel, The Virgin Suicides, a tale
of five teenaged sisters who one by one kill themselves. His next novel, Middlesex, published nine
years later, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The Michigan-born writer had worked in various fields before graduating from Brown University, including driving a cab in downtown Detroit and working
alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. He later wrote for the American Academy of Poets in New York, and pushed to complete his opus when he learned
the organization would soon terminate his position. Eugenides also wrote part of his frst novel, The Virgin Suicides, while traveling down the Nile through Egypt. An
excerpt from the book was published in the Paris Review in 1991 and won the literary journal’s Aga Khan Prize for fction that year.
Nine years passed between The Virgin Suicides and the publication of Middlesex. The author returned to Grosse Pointe to tell about a multigenerational
Greek-American family through the eyes of its most unusual member: the
62
hermaphroditic Cal Calliope Stephanides. Using a malefemale narrator posed a challenge: “I wanted the book to be first-person,” Eugenides told Dave Welch of
Powells. “In many ways, the point of the book is that we’re all and I before we’re a he or a she, so I needed that I.” For practical reasons, the author added, “I wanted the
I because I didn’t want that terrible situation where the character is she, then you turn the page and she becomes he--
or even the more dreaded she.”
Personal Information
Family: Born c. 1960, in Grosse Pointe Park, MI; son of Constantine a mortgage banker and Wanda Eugenides; married, wife’s name Karen an artist;
children: a daughter. Education: Brown University, B.A. magna cum laude, 1983; Stanford University, M.A. creative writing, 1986. Religion: Greek Orthodox.
Addresses: Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow Nesbit Associates, 445 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022.
Awards
Aga Khan Prize for fction, Paris Review, 1991, for an excerpt from the The Virgin Suicides; Writers Award, Whiting Foundation, 1993; Henry D. Vursell
Memorial Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters; Pulitzer Prize in fction, 2003, for Middlesex; recipient of fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation,
National Endowment for the Arts, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and 63
Sciences; Berlin Prize fellowship, American Academy in Berlin, 2000-2001; fellow of the Berliner Kuenstlerprogramm of the DAAD.
Career
Writer. Yachtsman magazine, photographer and staf writer; American Academy of Poets, New York, NY; various positions including newsletter editor,
beginning in 1988. Has worked as a cab driver, busboy, and a volunteer with Mother Teresa in India.
Writings by the author:
• The
Virgin Suicides, Farrar, Straus
Giroux New York, NY, 1993.
• Middlesex,
Farrar, Straus Giroux New York, NY, 2002.
Contributor to periodicals, including Paris Review.
Media Adaptations
The Virgin Suicides, a film adaptation written and directed by Sofa Coppola, was released by Paramount Pictures, 2000.
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2006. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006. http:galenet.galegroup.comservletBioRC
64
Appendix 4
LESSON PLAN
University : Sanata Dharma University
Faculty : Teachers Training and Education
Department : Language and Arts Education
Study Program : English Language Education
Subject : Paragraph Writing
Topic : Describing a Place
Semester : II
Time : 2 x 50 minutes
Competence Standard : At the end of the course, the students are able
1. compose a good paragraph,
2. write well using different types of writing genre,
3. deconstruct the generic and schematic structure of each genre,
4. find the social purposes and linguistic features of texts,
5. write texts with the learned genres
Basic Competence :
The students are able to: 1.
compose a good paragraph 2.
deconstruct the generic and schematic structure of the paragraph 3.
find the social purposes and linguistic features of the text
1. Indicators
