Fate vs. Science

Thus far in Middlesex, Cal uses both fate and science to explain why he is the way he is. He juxtaposes scientific diction, seen in his disclaimer, “That’s genetic, too,” (4) with adjectives such as “miraculous” (9) which have a divine connotation. In this way, he reveals that he is trying to grasp how he came to exist and find reasons behind why he is intersex. We observed that, in a sense, he is placing blame on both fate and science by noting that the divinely ordained “timing of the thing had to be just so” (11) while still acknowledging that the scientific “gene selection” (11) nonetheless could have been altered by changing this fatalistic “timing” (11).