The first-person narrative allows us to understand Cal's definition of normality: “I was starting to understand something about normality. Normality wasn't normal. It couldn't be. If normality were normal, everyone could leave it alone” (Eugenides 446). Cal has never identified with the term "normal" and struggles to find an identity. The narrative shows that there are many elements that can contribute to one's identity and that it is not based on one thing but on a group of experiences and life choices that affect the person as a whole. Not only was it difficult for Cal to adapt to his vision of what was normal, but he could never find ways to describe his life in society so that it was something ordinary: "I never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I have entered into my story, I need it more than ever” (Eugenides 217 includes society as he states that “it is better not to risk generalizations (Said 41)” due to acts of objectification, as reported. in Middlesex regarding the limitations of a person (Cal in this case). In Said's essay, he suggests that generalizations in society are made depending on the norms they fall into in correlation to Middlesex,