BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: FAMILIAL EXPECTATIONS IN THREE MULTICULTURAL NOVELS

Abstract

By using the commonality of family, this cross-cultural investigation hopes to highlight some of the similarities and differences among three vastly different cultures with the hope that readers discover the ways in which their cultures are alike and different from those represented in this paper. The paper begins with an overview of how academics have defined family as well as how family is defined within more general populations. Working under the assumption that literature is an artistic representation of life and it can provide insight into cultures that are different from our own, this investigation into the inner workings of family is anchored in one novel per culture including Elif Shafak's Honour, Louise Erdrich's The Round House, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. Because not all people within the cultures these three novels represent are the same, this paper serves as point of origin for readers interested in multicultural literature or cross-cultural studies rather than a definitive representation of familial expectations within these cultures.