Before I attempt to answer this question, I would just like to state that I thought this was quite a challenging and provoking novel. To understand it fully, I should probably read the book several more times. This is not a genre I would normally choose on my own, but that is what a book club is about, isn't it? Thanks, Anne, for your choice this time, and for giving us an extra month to be consumed with this plot!
I was surprised, very surprised, when Callie read Dr. Luce's report of his findings and recommendations and he stated he knew the chromosomes XY indicated Callie was a male, yet he recommended the transition surgery to become a female. As Callie had gone along with so many experiences previously (the rape by her brother's friend, her mother's attempts to teach her to be a true girl with dress and role-following), I truly expected Callie to have the suggested surgery. My surprise came when Callie wrote the note to her parents, Tessie and Milton, that she was running away and staying a male. I was glad she was FINALLY being truthful with herself/himself.
Truthfulness was the HUGE issue in this novel: it started out from the very beginning with Desdemona and Lefty's deception of their marriage legality. When Callie was lying about her sexual preferences as a female, it almost got her "cut off" from the gender she was born with. Hence, she was following the family tradition of lying, not only to herself, but to the world at large. And she was only 14 at the time of this Dr. consultation, and one very confused person at that.
Why did Callie decide to become Cal? I think it is that the truth finally sunk in, and it was time to face it. The lies, the deception, the glossing over what is real and true is over. She/he needed to be true to herself/himself even though it would have lifetime ramifications and difficulties, especially when wanting a relationship with a life partner. I think the right decision was made.
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I agree. I think that overall, Cal really had many feelings that she had lied to herself and to others about.
It is as if she adapted the phrase, if I don't talk about "it" or my differences, nothing about me is different at all.
I think that Cal was especially lying to the doctor when he was doing his tests to find her true identity. It has been a while since I have read this part, but I remember her answers about the pictures he was showing her and her responses to which sex she was attracted to being different from what was going on in her head.
Maybe she chose to become a man because if she was forced to make the surgical transition to being a woman, she would never again be allowed the pleasures that come with being naturally intimate with someone. Maybe she realized after her experience with "the object" and her "crocus" that an intimate experience is something that she wanted overall and didn't really want to give it up even though she had been thinking of herself as a girl.
Either
...whoops...that point was when she made the decision and it had to either be to stay a girl (enhanced by surgery) or live as a boy. She could not go on any longer as she was.
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