Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 11, 2023 June 4, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Cal Stephanides, our narrator, introduces himself as having been born a girl in Detroit in 1960, and then later reborn as a teenage boy in 1974. Specialists have studied him extensively on account of his genetic condition. Now, at the age of forty-one, Cal has decided to explore the family history that brought his recessive gene to him in order to rediscover himself. He evokes a muse to tell the tale, as did the Greek epic poet Homer.
Three months before Cal’s birth, Cal’s grandmother, Desdemona, orders Cal’s brother, Chapter Eleven, to get her silkworm box. The box contains a silver spoon that Desdemona has used for years to divine the sex of unborn babies of friends and family members. The spoon predicts Cal will be a boy. Milton, Cal’s father, argues that according to science, Cal will be a girl
Cal narrates how his conception occurred. Milton and his wife, Tessie, both want a girl. According to Cal’s Uncle Pete, having sex twenty-four hours before ovulation will scientifically assure a girl. The family considers Uncle Pete a scientific authority because he’s a chiropractor and because he subscribes to Scientific American. Tessie, however, believes an embryo can sense the love involved in its conception and therefore doesn’t want a clinical approach to having a child. Milton buys Tessie a special thermometer that can measure temperature sensitively enough to predict when she ovulates, which infuriates Tessie. Their argument causes them not to have sex.
The next Sunday, Tessie goes to church thinking about how Desdemona had advised her not to have more children and how her doctor had told her that the sperm theory was nonsense. At the coffee session after services, Chapter Eleven spills coffee on a young girl. Tessie brings the girl into the bathroom to help clean her up. The girl charms Tessie, making her long for a daughter.
On Greek Orthodox Easter, Tessie tells Milton her temperature has gone up. They conceive Cal.
Despite Desdemona’s spoon, Milton refuses to imagine that Cal could be anything other than a girl. Tessie promises she’ll love “it”—the baby—either way, but Milton insists “it” is a “she.” When Cal is later born a girl, Milton gloats. Desdemona laments this failure of Greek tradition and removes the spoon from her silkworm box.
Please wait while we process your payment