Jeffrey Eugenides Grand Trunk Station

Middlesex, the enticing and controversial epic of a young hermaphrodite’s journey toward self-discovery by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jeffrey Eugenides, adopts Grand Trunk Station in Detroit as the metaphorical center of the Stephanides families evolution and demonstrates how modernization and conformity can transform, be it for better or for worse.

Grand Trunk Station serves as the vital first impression made upon Desdemona and Lefty Stephanides of Detroit and signifies how culture and history can be passed down to form something or someone’s identity. During the early twentieth century, Grand Trunk Station was situated in the heart of Detroit, a booming city of manufacture and societal advancements. Following a gruelling journey, Desdemona and Lefty arrive off their train in the Grand Trunk Station, instantaneously enamoured by its beauty. Lefty, “who’d been observing all the ways Greece had been handed down to America, arrived now at where the transmission stopped. In

other words: the future” (Eugenides 83). Lefty marvels at the statues and pillars in the station that remind him of his home in Greece and notes how parts of his culture had been passed onto America. At the same time, he acknowledges that this is his future. Lefty’s future is this new, vastly different, Americanized version of his life in Greek. When the Stephanides arrive to America, Desdemona’s braids are chopped off and Lefty assures her “you look fine… you look like an Amerikanidha” (Eugenides 82). Similarly to how Grand Trunk Station featured parts of Greek culture, the Stephanides begin to conform to American culture as their new home shapes their identities.
Calliope Stephanides experiences a large amount of pressure to shape her identity to be like other girls when she is growing up, and this sense of desire to conform is present in the backdrop of Grand Trunk Station. Calliope feels the need to look like other girls to increase her femininity, so she starts waxing the mustache that appears during puberty, “adding depolation to an ever-growing list of upkeep requirements” (Eugenides 311). Due to her abnormally high levels of testosterone, Callie is incredibly conscious of her masculine appearance and yearns to be like other girls. As a result, she spends a large sum of her time manipulating and experimenting with her body in an attempt to change her appearance. When Grand Trunk Station is introduced by the narrator, it is noted that the station was built as “the city’s attempt to one-up New York” (Eugenides 83). During the time period, New York served as the epitome of American industrialization and advancement. Envious, the city leaders of Detroit built Grand Trunk Station to set themselves as a contender in the race that was the Progressive Era. Conformity and the desire to be equal to those around you is a major contributing factor to how Callie shapes her identity, and this theme is subtly placed in the backdrop of Grand Trunk Station.
Time plays a very large factor in forming one’s identity, as evident in Cal’s development and the disintegration of the once great Grand Trunk Station.

When Cal’s grandparents arrive in Detroit, the station is a brilliant symbol of advancement and modernization. Later in 1975, the station was hardly in use, “the once-opulent terminal was now only a shell” (Eugenides 502). Over time, Grand Trunk Station lost relevance in society, and its identity was no longer a symbol of pride and development. During conversation with Desdemona at the end of the novel, Cal realizes how time has played such an influential part of the formation of his identity. Desdemona questions what had happened to Calliope, whom she remembers being a girl, and Cal simply responds “I grew up” (Eugenides 526). There are many factors into how one builds their own persona, including history and conformity. However, as Cal realizes at the end of the novel, time and simply growing up is what makes someone who they

are.
Adolescence is a difficult and unfortunate time period when it feels impossible for one to find their true identity; but as made evident in Middlesex through the setting of Grand Trunk Station and the character development of the Stephanides family, one can only fulfil self-discovery in time.