The Myth of Eugenides, or Mr. Good Genes
Genes tell the mythology of the contemporary age. Cal Eugenides traces his personal mythology through an unlikely series of events that conspire to create the perfect circumstances to produce Cal exactly as he/she is. This tale is spun like most other myths, with fibers of truth and patterns of exaggeration, but it reflects a very real mythological narrative through genes that is so common today.
Cal’s story clearly blurs the line between folklore and science, but it reflects a trend in science towards storytelling that may make it much more like contemporary science than one might initially realize. Desdomona has her spoons proven by the test of time, and Milton has his pseudoscience proven by the miraculous microscope. Both methods, though conflicting in their predictions, prove to be correct as Cal is born intersex. This is a powerful commentary on contemporary belief systems, the most influential probably being scientific ideology. Science has always been about telling stories, but in recent decades the role of the narrative has become increasingly important.
With the rise of computation, we have begun to make computer models that attempt to mimic reality and recreate natural processes. This is a decisive move away from purely evidence-based science, in which you devise a theory that can be disproven by evidence. In this scenario, a theory is only deemed valid when it is disprovable. When a model is created to mimic natural processes such as the interactions of neurons in the brain, a complex process is mimicked, and the procedure devised by the scientist is judged based on how well it reproduces the results of nature. That is, the mechanics of the underlying process are assessed based on how well their results match reality, despite the fact that there is no hard evidence to support the proposed mechanics of the process.
Through the paradigm of computer modelling, narrative science has achieved a state of respect and credibility that had previously been reserved for folklore. The most relevant manifestation of this is in evolutionary biology, in which behavioural traits are explained through stories about how they fit into an organism’s mythic struggle for survival. There are striking parallels between evolutionary biology and fables about how the skunk got its stripes, the wolf its howl, and the human its bald body. These parallels are brought to light in Middlesex, and though both systems of belief are portrayed as laughably fallible, they reflect the dominant narrative of today.
These narratives come to define Cal’s identity and his role in the world. He often speaks of how not only physical traits are passed down through generations, but patterns and motifs as well. By structuring the novel like this, and preceding the exploration of his own identity with the explication of his mythological genetic past, Middlesex makes a profound statement about the way our identities are constructed through social and cultural motifs. Ex ovo omnia, and the seeds for all future generations exist infinitely within us now. This is the idea of truth explored in Middlesex, and despite its questionability, reflects a prevalent theme within scientific discourse today.
Tags: Eugenides, Genetics, Middlesex, Mythology, Narrative, Science
