Middlesex

by

Jeffrey Eugenides

Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides Character Analysis

Lefty is Cal and Chapter Eleven’s grandfather, Milton and Zoë’s father, and Desdemona’s husband and brother. Also born in Bithynios, as a man Lefty has more freedom than Desdemona, and he is also less mature and responsible than her. He has a weakness for gambling, which causes him problems throughout his life. Desdemona attempts to set Lefty up with girls from their village, but because he is in love with Desdemona herself, Lefty rejects them. He and Desdemona end up immigrating to the U.S. and getting married on the boat ride over. In their new country, the newlyweds meet up with their cousin Sourmelina (who promises to keep the fact that they’re siblings a secret) and Lina’s husband, Jimmy Zizmo. Lefty takes a job at the Ford Motor Company and learns English, although he is then fired by Ford for living in the house of someone (Jimmy) who has a criminal record. Lefty briefly gets involved in Jimmy’s bootlegging business, then opens a speakeasy called the Zebra Room in his basement after Jimmy is seemingly killed in a car accident. Once Prohibition ends, Lefty reopens the Zebra Room as a proper diner, which Milton eventually inherits. Lefty is intelligent, resourceful, and charming. He enjoys spending time making translations of works of Ancient Greek literature, although this always remains a hobby, never something he does professionally. In his old age, Lefty has multiple strokes, the first of which leaves him unable to speak. Despite his failing health, he remains physically fit and helpful around the house. He has a special connection with Callie, and there is a sense that when he dies, he passes on some of himself to her.

Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides Quotes in Middlesex

The Middlesex quotes below are all either spoken by Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides or refer to Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Rebirth vs. Continuity Theme Icon
).
Book 1: The Silk Road Quotes

Traveling made it easier. Sailing across the ocean among half a thousand perfect strangers conveyed an anonymity in which my grandparents could re-create themselves. The driving spirit on the Giulia was self-transformation. Staring out to sea, tobacco farmers imagined themselves as race car drivers, silk dyers as Wall Street tycoons, millinery girls as fan dancers in the Ziegfeld Follies. Gray ocean stretched in all directions. Europe and Asia Minor were dead behind them. Ahead lay America and new horizons.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2: Henry Ford’s English-Language Melting Pot Quotes

My grandparents had every reason to believe that Sourmelina would keep their secret. She’d come to America with a secret of her own, a secret that would be guarded by our family until Sourmelina died in 1979, whereupon, like everyone’s secrets, it was posthumously declassified, so that people began to speak of “Sourmelina’s girlfriends.” A secret kept, in other words, only by the loosest definition, so that now—as I get ready to leak the information myself—I feel only a sight twinge of filial guilt.

Sourmelina’s secret (as Aunt Zo put it): “Lina was one of those women they named the island after.”

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Zoë Antoniou (“Aunt Zo”) (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, Sourmelina Zizmo
Page Number: 85-86
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2: Minotaurs Quotes

This once-divided city reminds me of myself My struggle for unification, for Einheit. Coming from a city still cut in half by racial hatred, I feel hopeful here in Berlin.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, Sourmelina Zizmo
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:

Parents are supposed to pass down physical traits to their children, but it’s my belief that all sorts of other things get passed down, too: motifs, scenarios, even fates.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, Sourmelina Zizmo, Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: Middlesex Quotes

[…] right about this time Lefty’s English began to deteriorate. He made spelling and grammatical mistakes he’d long mastered and soon he began writing broken English and then no English at all. He made written allusions to Bursa, and now Desdemona began to worry. She knew that the backward progression of her husband’s mind could lead to only one place, back to the days when he wasn’t her husband but her brother, and she lay in bed at night awaiting the moment with trepidation.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis:
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Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides Quotes in Middlesex

The Middlesex quotes below are all either spoken by Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides or refer to Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Rebirth vs. Continuity Theme Icon
).
Book 1: The Silk Road Quotes

Traveling made it easier. Sailing across the ocean among half a thousand perfect strangers conveyed an anonymity in which my grandparents could re-create themselves. The driving spirit on the Giulia was self-transformation. Staring out to sea, tobacco farmers imagined themselves as race car drivers, silk dyers as Wall Street tycoons, millinery girls as fan dancers in the Ziegfeld Follies. Gray ocean stretched in all directions. Europe and Asia Minor were dead behind them. Ahead lay America and new horizons.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2: Henry Ford’s English-Language Melting Pot Quotes

My grandparents had every reason to believe that Sourmelina would keep their secret. She’d come to America with a secret of her own, a secret that would be guarded by our family until Sourmelina died in 1979, whereupon, like everyone’s secrets, it was posthumously declassified, so that people began to speak of “Sourmelina’s girlfriends.” A secret kept, in other words, only by the loosest definition, so that now—as I get ready to leak the information myself—I feel only a sight twinge of filial guilt.

Sourmelina’s secret (as Aunt Zo put it): “Lina was one of those women they named the island after.”

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Zoë Antoniou (“Aunt Zo”) (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, Sourmelina Zizmo
Page Number: 85-86
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2: Minotaurs Quotes

This once-divided city reminds me of myself My struggle for unification, for Einheit. Coming from a city still cut in half by racial hatred, I feel hopeful here in Berlin.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, Sourmelina Zizmo
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:

Parents are supposed to pass down physical traits to their children, but it’s my belief that all sorts of other things get passed down, too: motifs, scenarios, even fates.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, Sourmelina Zizmo, Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: Middlesex Quotes

[…] right about this time Lefty’s English began to deteriorate. He made spelling and grammatical mistakes he’d long mastered and soon he began writing broken English and then no English at all. He made written allusions to Bursa, and now Desdemona began to worry. She knew that the backward progression of her husband’s mind could lead to only one place, back to the days when he wasn’t her husband but her brother, and she lay in bed at night awaiting the moment with trepidation.

Related Characters: Cal/lie Stephanides (speaker), Desdemona Stephanides, Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis: