Must We Mean What We See

Abstract

My paper focuses on one novel, Middlesex and two novellas: Quicksand and Passing, which deal with the issues of ambiguity in a society obsessed with discrete categorical thinking. The theory research I chose will  highlight the common ground these novels share concerning issues of race, gender, sex, class, and the empowerment of resisting societal norms. In this paper, I will analyze the forms of resistance, as carried out by the voice of the narrator/character, in each novel, and how they each serve to negotiate the promise of social mobility in the context of a world holding tight to traditional boundaries of segregation.