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Abstract
The Bildungsroman, a term that derived from German literary criticism, is a genre of literature that highlights popular conceptions of manhood and depicts the growth of the male protagonist. Many female authors use the Bildungsroman as a form of cultural expression not only to transform patriarchal views, but also to redefine femininity, articulate cultural conflict, and describe what it means to be a woman in a colonized culture. I will revisit this topic in Michelle Cliffs Abeng (1984) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Purple Hibiscus (2003), and examine family dynamics in order to show how each female protagonist negotiates the complexities of a hybrid identity and attempts to harmonize two opposite cultures.