Migration, Ethnicity, and the American Dream Theme Analysis

Middlesex depicts multiple generations of a Greek immigrant family drawn to the U.S. by the American Dream, yet ultimately shows that this dream—like the idea of America itself—is not what it advertises itself to be. It is true that for the generation of the Stephanides family who travel over, the U.S. represents a profound opportunity for self-reinvention, success, and happiness. However, the way this works out in reality—particularly for subsequent generations—is much more complicated. In particular, the novel highlights the issues of xenophobia, racism, classism, and economic depression to illustrate that life in the U.S. does not live up to the myth promised by the American Dream. In the end, the main character, Cal, reverses the American Dream narrative by migrating out of the U.S. and hoping to eventually end up in Turkey, the part of the world his grandparents originally left.

In many ways, the novel contains the cliched tropes of immigrants who come to the U.S. seeking a better life and who develop a strong sense of patriotism about their new homeland as a result. In particular, it emphasizes that immigrating to America can be a chance for self-reinvention. This is true of Sourmelina, who enthusiastically assimilates into American culture, embracing the comparatively liberal attitudes around gender that exist there. As Cal describes: “Somehow in the course of her life Sourmelina had become an American. Almost nothing of the village remained in her.” Meanwhile, Lefty and Desdemona also seize the chance for self-reinvention, using their distance from their homeland to keep hidden the fact that they are brother and sister and thus avoid scandal when they get married. Immigrants’ enthusiastic embrace of American identity continues in subsequent generations, although it takes a different form—indeed, the novel suggests that intergenerational clashes over American identity are one of the key parts of the immigrant experience. Cal’s father, Milton, is a patriot who embraces particularly conservative American political views and is obsessed with the history of the nation. Cal’s parents’ bedroom is “furnished entirely in Early American reproductions, it offers them connection (at discount prices) with the country’s founding myths.” Yet as a young Callie identifies, Milton’s understanding of American history is actually rather erroneous. While Milton is furious about the 1967 Detroit Race Riot that forces his family to move home, Callie points out that the Boston Tea Party was also a riot. Yet Milton refutes this, angrily asking, “What the hell are they teaching you in that school of yours?” Callie herself, meanwhile, clashes with her mother, Tessie, when Callie expresses distaste for Greek food. She requests “normal food” instead, and when Tessie asks what she means, Callie replies, “American food.” While each generation of the Stephanides family embraces the U.S. to some degree, this takes very different forms and leads them to clash with one another.

The book also highlights important ways in which the American Dream is actually more like a nightmare. It primarily does so through depicting the prominence of anti-immigrant sentiment, anti-black racism, and the economic decline of Detroit. Importantly, it shows how Greek Americans like the Stephanides family suffered from some of these issues while being complicit in perpetrating others. Among the hardships the Stephanides family face in America are xenophobia, ethnic prejudice, and economic struggles. As a young child, Callie feels at home in the U.S. and has every reason to believe that her family fits in there. However, this changes when she starts attending the private Baker & Inglis School for Girls. She observes: “Until we came to Baker & Inglis my friends and I had always felt completely American. But now the Bracelets’ upturned noses suggested that there was another America to which we could never gain admittance. All of a sudden American wasn’t about hamburgers and hot rods anymore. It was about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.” Suddenly, Callie realizes that there are people who believe that recent immigrants—particularly those who are not of Western European descent—will never be “truly” American. Her self-consciousness about her own status is exacerbated by her crush on her best friend, the Obscure Object, whom Callie describes as having colors that “agree with the American landscape, her pumpkin hair, her apple cider skin.” Callie feels that she will never be able to live up to the American ideal that the Obscure Object represents and to which Callie compares herself. Similarly, although the Stephanides family initially achieves a moderate level of financial prosperity in the U.S., this does not last. Like many residents of Detroit, they are hit hard by the economic downturn of the 1970s and particularly the collapse of the automobile industry. Following Milton’s death, the family’s restaurant business goes bankrupt within four years (in part due to mismanagement by Cal’s brother, Chapter Eleven). At the end of the novel, Cal explains that he is glad that his father, Milton, died before he witnessed the devastated fortunes both of Detroit in general and the Stephanides family in particular.

At the same time, the novel also shows that the Stephanides family are not just victims of the negative sides of life in the U.S.—they are also perpetrators. This is particularly true regarding racial tensions between black Americans and white groups in Detroit. Like other Greek American characters in the novel, Milton is a perpetrator of anti-black racism, and also holds prejudiced views about other oppressed groups. These are encapsulated by his catchphrase, “The matter is with you,” which Cal explains in the following way: “It grew into a kind of mantra, the explanation for why the world was going to hell, applicable not only to African Americans but to feminists and homosexuals.” Although the Stephanides family themselves face prejudice and oppression, this does not necessarily lead them toward fair, just, and empathetic behavior. Often, it instead leads them to perpetuate oppression themselves. While the novel does show positive sides to life in the U.S., it also severely undercuts the myth of the American Dream.