Bound by Tradition: Women's Identity and Cultural Expectations in Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupé, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club"

Cultural expectations exert a profound and often inescapable influence on the formation of women’s identities, shaping their roles, duties, and aspirations from birth. These expectations are not merely societal suggestions; they are deeply embedded frameworks passed down through generations, rooted in tradition, religious belief, social norms, and family customs. They dictate how women should behave, what they should value, and who they should become. These prescribed roles often revolve around ideas of obedience, modesty, self-sacrifice, and familial duty. Across many cultures, a woman’s worth is frequently measured by her willingness and ability to nurture others—whether as a daughter, wife, mother, or caregiver—rather than her individual ambitions, intellect, or desires.