Cross-cultural dynamics and self-fashioning of female identity in elif shafak's three daughters of eve (2016)

Abstract

The present research offers a profound investigation of Elif Shafak’s novel Three Daughters of Eve (2016). It centers its attention on how the author attempts to bring together eastern and western values through her three major characters, Peri, Shirin, and Mona. This research starts by highlighting the historical and socio-political conditions that played a crucial role in the novelist’s career as it is seen in her works, mainly the novel under study. Through the lenses of Stephen Greenblatt’s New Historicism and George Jacob Holyoake’s concept of Secularism, the study explores how Shafak’s Three Daughters of Eve challenges the cross-cultural (eastern and western) dynamics and attempts to break the barriers built upon stereotypes and gender inequalities. It also demonstrates how this fluster can impact and reshape the individual’s identity as well, particularly women’s. The present work at last reflects on how the protagonists’ identity has been refashioned by the constant shifts to which they have been exposed through their lives.