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"
Ann Mary Joseph
Introduction
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.
In many societies, these cultural norms prioritize communal and familial expectations over personal freedom. Women are often expected to put the needs of others before their own, to conform to rigid gender roles that privilege submission over autonomy, and to aspire toward ideals of femininity that emphasize beauty, chastity, and obedience. Personal ambition, sexual agency, and intellectual independence are, in many contexts, seen as secondary—if not entirely unacceptable—for women. Such social conditioning limits women's agency and enforces conformity, creating internal conflicts for those who dream of more than what tradition allows. These expectations act like invisible shackles, subtly and overtly guiding women into lives that may feel predetermined and inescapable. In such environments, identity formation becomes not only a deeply personal journey but also an act of negotiation, resistance, and, in many cases, rebellion.
For countless women, the process of defining oneself is a continuous and often painful struggle between personal desire and cultural demand. To step beyond the boundaries of socially sanctioned roles is to risk criticism, ostracization, and shame. Women who challenge these roles are frequently labelled as deviant, selfish, or unnatural, while those who adhere to them may experience a quiet but persistent sense of disconnection from their authentic selves. The cost of conformity can be invisibility, while the cost of defiance may be alienation. This dynamic creates a painful paradox for women: remain within the comfort of societal approval but feel confined, or seek personal liberation at the risk of abandonment and judgment.
