| abstract |
This dissertation explores the ways minority American women take stories from their cultural pasts and refashion them into uniquely, contemporary American tales.
By examining specific cultural myths and legends throughout multi-ethnic women's literature, which emerged from the Civil Rights and Women's Right Movements, I
show how cultural myths reflect both the writers' own ethnic, cultural and familial backgrounds and their broader social American identities. Moreover,
throughout this research, I examine the cultural myths in literature written by Chinese American authors Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan, Mexican American
authors Sandra Cisneros and Gloria Anzaldua, and African American authors Toni Morrison and Paule Marshall. The cultural myths and legends examined are the
myths of Fa Mu Lan, the Kitchen God, La Llorona, La Malinche, and the Flying Africans. Further, by adapting these tales, this dissertation shows how these
women authors, are seeking voice, recognition, and perhaps, even their own share of power in American society – for both themselves and their sisters. In addition,
they are adding cultural flavor the American literary scene while also healing themselves and the reader. Above all, the work these women have produced has
influenced the generations that have followed them and has allowed them to speak up and assume their rightful places in society.
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