Silkworms
Looks Like, Feels Like, Worms Like Pure Silk Silkworms are a huge factor in Desdemona's life. She raises them in Greece, and then finds herself trying to raise them for the women of the Nation...
Spoons
A Spoony Bard!Desdemona's spoon trick goes something like this: She dangles a spoon over the pregnant mother's belly, and by examining how it sways, knows if the child will have a penis or a vagina...
Milton's Clarinet
This One Time, At Band Camp...Not since American Pie has a band solo felt so erotic. The language used during Milton's clarinet playing is incredibly sexy. Turn on the A/C and read these lines: In...
Hot Dogs
They Plump When You Cook ThemAfter Lefty's death, Milton converts the family diner business into Hercules Hot Dogs. Should we be surprised at another phallocentric (read: it looks like a pee-pee) s...
Eggs
The Incredible, In-edible EggAfter the sausage fest of spoons, worms, wind instruments, and hot dogs (go poke around the rest of this section to see what those are about if you haven't already), it...
The Zebra Room and the Silk Room
Room for TwoWhen Lefty and Desdemona start living their lives more separately than together, they literally start spending their time in different rooms—Desdemona has the Silk Room, and Lefty has...
Mulberry Tree
All Around the Mulberry TreeCal mentions a mulberry tree a little less than twelve times throughout the novel, but why? He eats berries off it, he references its significance in Chinese mythology,...
The Crocus
Cal in BloomThe crocus is what Cal refers to his genitals as. Here's a picture (of a crocus, not Cal's genitals… get your mind out of the gutter). You've probably heard the term "budding sexualit...