..................................................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 MAKING THE SELF AT HOME, IN A HOME AWAY FROM HOME: CARIBBEANAMERICAN MIGRANT WOMEN’S TRANSNATIONAL BILDUNGSROMAN IN EDWIDGE DANTICAT’S BREATH, EYES, MEMORY AND JULIA ALVAREZ’S HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS .............................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 FROM THIRDSPACE THEORY TO THIRDING AS OTHERING ......................................... 10 1.2 TRANSNATIONAL AGENCY THROUGH LIBERAL FEMINISM AND GENDER THEORY ................................................................................................................. 19 1.3 DEPARTING FIRST SPACE: LEAVING THE HOMELAND ............................................... 26 1.4 ARRIVAL TO THE HOME AWAY FROM HOME .............................................................. 34 1.5 SCHOOLING IN THE RECEIVING CULTURE ................................................................... 39 1.6 TEENAGE AND EARLY ADULTHOOD: MAKING OF THE SELF, GIRLS INTO WOMEN ............................................................................................................................ 50 1.7 CONCLUSION: ANTI-BILDUNGSROMAN ......................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 2 TRANSNATIONAL MIGRANT WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES ON HISTORY: GENDER AND ETHNICITY AS A CRITIQUE OF CARIBBEAN NATION FORMATIONS IN EDWIDGE DANTICAT’S THE FARMING OF BONES AND JULIA ALVAREZ’S IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES ................................................................................................................................ 71 2.1 AMABELLE AND MINERVA: PROTAGONISTS’ REALIZATIONS OF FIGHT AND FLIGHT ............................................................................................................................ 78