Middlesex
From Creolista!
Perhaps perverse, but it seems like Middlesex would be an excellent novel in which to study the [i]middle voice[i].
On a first reading, I intend to pull all the instances of "get" that I don't miss. Afterwards, though, it's clear that Book I has a very interesting number of "pathetic fallacies" or "paysage d'état d'âme", doors, eyes, fires, all with a sense of sentient purpose !
Contents
Occurences of get
Agentive subject
Narrative
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 11 | We may get another boy
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 11 | Now my mother gets up from the so-called love seat.
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 11 | Now my father gets up to make his rounds, turning out light, locking doors.
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 13 | Now, in the church basement, she told Chapter Eleven to run off and play with the other children while she got a cup of coffee to restore herself.
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 14 | He was trying to fill a coffee cup, but once he got the tap open he couldn't get it closed.
Conversation
Non-agentive subject / Passive Voice
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 6 | In the spring of 1959 when discussions of my fertilization got under way, my mother couldn't foresee that women would soon be burning their brassieres by the thousand.
- Book I § The Silver Spoon § 15 | Standing at the window, my brother wanted more than anything to believe in an American god who got resurrected on the right day