Breakdown of Family and Kinship ties in Three Contemporary Bildungsromans

Abstract

Families are undergoing disintegration. It has been found that the family regulations, family environment and influences of the family members cause fragmentation. Utilizing the lens of "Family System Theory", the study aims to determine the central characters' withdrawal from their families as a consequence of the split in an affectionate bond, strict moderation and subjugation, and female domestication. Specifically, it examines the nature of the families in three contemporary bildungsroman novels, Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, where the female protagonists had to abandon their families due to the constraints they find around them. They had to move away for their individual fulfillment. The theory on family points out the family as the "emotional unit" where all the complex interactions generate. The family itself is the cause of its fall, and to understand this juncture, I have looked onto differentiation of self, mother-daughter relationships, patriarchal domination, female imprisonment and self-empowerment. This information has significantly contributed to track the trajectory of the central characters' mind-frame upon the influences of the nearby people. With the development of the distinct self, the protagonists realized the frictions in the family, and they thought of their independence.