Conflicts of culture, class and gender in selected Caribbean-American and Caribbean women's literature

Conflicts of the theme of culture, class and gender recur in the works of many writers. However, seldom does this theme occur as frequently as it does in the works of Caribbean-American and Caribbean women writers. It is with the works of these women writers that this study concerns itself. Among the women who fit in this category are Rosa Guy and Paule Marshall. These women have created fiction all informed by the same concerns: those of culture, color and class, as well as gender.;This dissertation is divided into five units: an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion. The introduction defines Caribbean-American women and explains the intention of this study. The first chapter examines, through the novels of Guy and Marshall, the problems the West Indian-American is confronted with when he leaves his homeland and tries to blend into the larger American or European culture. Chapter two analyzes the them of problems of class conflicts within the society as portrayed in the works of Guy, Marshall, Zee Edgell and Merle Hodge. The overall concern in this chapter is that many Blacks are neglecting their heritage, their identity and their uniqueness as Black people in order to become members of the incipient middle class. The third chapter of this study concerns itself with the problems of conflicts between the genders (male-female relationship). This chapter examines and critically analyzes the roles Black men and women play in the works of Guy and Marshall, roles that are diametrically opposed to those found in a patriarchal society. The conclusion summarizes the previously mentioned chapters and presents the work studied as fictional embodiments of a common political orientation towards these three types of conflicts.