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Rachel Murphy Professor Deane Intro to Research 25 November 2012 Chapter First Draft

It is common belief and practice that we are each born a specific gender, either one of two options, male or female, and that is the gender we are left to live as for the rest of our lives. This gender is determined by an intricate process of development in which chromosomes determine the gender of a person, among other things. The gender of a person is determined by the presence of X and Y chromosomes. The female egg produces the X chromosome and the male sperm will either contribute an X or Y chromosome, thus determining the gender of the person. A female is born with XX chromosomes and a male is born with XY. However, from an early period in time, people have explored the possibilities of being able to live life as the opposite gender, and have contemplated what it would be like to undergo a transformation from one gender to the other. In Tanith Lee’s novel Don’t Bite the Sun, the characters explore this very concept of body changing. The characters are entitled to life as a male or female along with any appearance they so choose. They are also able to switch their appearance quite often, and can change from being male to female countless times throughout their lifetime. The fact that this concept is present in the book is one of the aspects that make it stand out from other pieces of literature. This concept is only featured in a select amounts of literature, and is not commonplace in the writing world, seeing as it is an abstract idea. Although it is uncommon to come across a book that features body changing, authors have been writing about and exploring this topic for many years before Lee’s Don’t Bite the Sun was published. The advantage to this is that Lee had somewhere to get background information and inspiration from when writing her novel. Upon further research of body changing, it is evident that there are similarities between its presence in Don’t Bite the Sun and in literature before its time. Transformation between sexes has a long literary tradition. In a popular Greek legend a man named Tiresias goes through the transformation process. The story of Tiresias is as follows: Tiresias was a blind prophet living in ancient Greece. While walking through the woods one day he came upon two serpents making love and hit them with his staff, and was instantly turned into a female. After seven years had passed, the now female Tiresias passed through the same area and witness the same two serpents making love again. Tiresias again struck them with her staff and was changed back into a male. Time progressed and Greek gods Zeus and Hera were arguing over who derives more pleasure from sex, the male or the female. Because Tiresias had been both genders, the gods decided to go to him to settle their dispute. Hera stated that men gained more pleasure, while Zeus fought the opposite side, saying that females felt more pleasure. When asked Tiresias agreed with Zeus, thus infuriating Hera. In her rage Hera made Tiresias blind, and feeling guilty Zeus then granted Tiresias with the power of prophecy. This legend explains how Tiresias became a blind prophet as a result of his gender changing.