A Study Of The Cultural Conflicts And Cultural Congruence In Everything I Never Told You

Under the theoretical guidance of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Orbe’s co-cultural theory and via the research methods of documentation and hermeneutics,this thesis explores the cultural conflicts and cultural congruence in the novel of Everything I Never Told You.The research findings are:Firstly,the conflicts of the husband and wife,James and Marilyn,mainly reflect in such cultural dimensions as masculinity versus femininity,collectivism versus individualism,and power distance.In terms of masculinity versus femininity,Marilyn tended to be feminine,and James was in the conditions of masculinity in mind and femininity in action.As for collectivism versus individualism,James was a collectivist who supported the family and valued family’s interests,while Marilyn was an individualist who pursued her own interests more than those of the family.In the aspect of power distance,James showed the personality of high power distance,while Marilyn was in a state of inter-conflicts.Secondly,against such family cultural atmosphere,their son,Nath has experienced the communication orientations of nonassertive separation and nonassertive accommodation.Their elder daughter,Lydia has adopted the communication strategy of nonassertive separation while their youngest daughter,Hannah has taken the communication orientation of nonassertive assimilation.Thirdly,the three children adopted different communication orientations due to different reasons.As for Nath,he found his interests and goals in his studies,and he gained confidence.With regards to Lydia,her parents’ expectations of her were too high,but she did not feel sufficient true love from them.Therefore,she turned to rely too much on her elder brother.In terms of Hannah,the preferred outcomes and the environments of family helped her make a choice of her ownThe theoretical implication lies in that the adoption of the two theories has greatly facilitated the full and profound understanding of the literary work under discussion.This is especially true of comprehending and interpreting the minute changes in the relationships between the husband and wife,and the growing intercultural conflicts in-between them as well as the communication strategies among their children in terms of the educational problems and intercultural congruence both at home and at school.The practical implications are threefold:First,the research findings provide an intercultural eye-opener,especially with regards to the understanding of the conflicts among the family members.Second,the research findings also shed light on the understanding and appreciation of the very novel in particular and literary works in general,especially regarding the cross-cultural aspects of issues.Finally,the research findings concerning the minute and sensitive changes in the intimate relationships and the subsequent communication orientations among the family members also have their classroom enlightenment.Specifically,they provide an intercultural communication case for translation teaching to genuinely understand the source text and render it appropriately into the target text by appreciating the cultural differences.