Middlesex Book 1, Chapter 1

The Silver Spoon

• So it begins: "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl […] and then again, as a teenage boy" (1.1).
• This chapter serves as a quick bio of Cal. For more dirt on Cal, check out his page in our "Characters" section.
• His grandmother, Desdemona, believes she can predict a child's sex by dangling a spoon over the mother's stomach. There's much debate over whether the child will be a boy or a girl.
• The chapter ends with a celebration and a tragedy: Calliope is born and Cal's grandfather, Lefty, has a stroke.