TRAVERSING THE TRIANGULAR ROAD

Abstract

The third chapter reads transnational identity as based on cultural heritage rather than physical location. In Praisesong for the Widow and Small Island, Paule Marshall and Andrea Levy utilize the historical novel to reify the importance of cultural connection. As the works reveal, the new homeland can occasion a series of negotiations for immigrant families. As second-generation immigrants born of Caribbean parents, Marshall and Levy explore the relationship between migration and belonging. Through fiction, they highlight the trauma of the immigrant experience and position exile as a painful consequence of leaving one’s homeland. The works suggest that the condition of estrangement can both propel and function as a result of migration.