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Valmiki's Daughter is a novel by Shani Mootoo published in 2008. Nominated for the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize.〔http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/about/past-winners/〕 and set in the modern-day Caribbean, the book features vivid depictions of culture drawn from Mootoo’s own background as a Trinidadian author. The book’s unique perspective on storytelling alternates between Valmiki, a renowned doctor, and his daughter, Viveka. Both are closeted homosexuals, struggling to cope with the pressure of growing up in a homophobic environment. The book sits among several of Mootoo's novels that address the tensions dealing with sexuality in the Caribbean, a topic relevant to Shani Mootoo’s own background growing up a lesbian in a family intolerant of homosexuality. ==Plot summary== Set in modern Trinidad, ''Valmiki's Daughter'' is centered around the Krishnu family, which consists of Valmiki, Viveka, Vashti, and Devika. The husband, Valmiki, is a closeted gay doctor in a homophobic environment. He learns about this part of his identity when, while attending school in England, he becomes involved in a relationship with an upper classmate named Tony. However, his guilt about his own sexuality persuades him to pursue a life of marrying Devika rather than staying with Tony whom he truly loves. However, despite his discomfort with his homosexuality, he still goes on hunting trips to liaise with his lover, Saul. After each trip , he brings birds back to his family as a gift. Throughout the book, Mootoo illustrates that Valmiki's relationship with his wife is much more platonic than his sexual relations with Saul. Valmiki is not willing to come out because he is a well-respected doctor amongst his peers, and it would be a humiliating experience that would cost him his reputation. Valmiki's elder daughter, Viveka, is a closeted lesbian. She undergoes a similar high school experience as her dad, struggling with her own sexual orientation and identity. After seeing a fellow student named Merle Bedi was outcast from her family because of her sexuality, Viveka realizes how unaccepting the people around her are of her sexuality. In order to avoid ending up in a similar situation, Viveka deliberately makes decisions that will steer her in a different direction . This constant pressure prevents Viveka from ever becoming completely comfortable with her lesbian identity. Despite being homosexual himself, Valmiki is outwardly opposed to the idea of his daughters being lesbian. He feels very firmly that she should not have to go through the same struggle that he underwent as a child. This extreme caution leads him to deny her any participation in a women-only sports club for fear that she will develop lesbian tendencies. Both Valmiki and his wife Devika are more comfortable with the identity of their younger daughter Vashti. Unlike her older sister, Vashti conforms to most of the female gender stereotypes. Viveka sees her sister as an ongoing pressure to conform to cultural ideals. In what seems to be a separate plot at the start, a French woman named Anick Prakash moves away from her parents in France to marry a Trinidadian man named Nayan. Her parents are quite unhappy with this decision due to their bias against Trinidadian culture and people. The disagreement causes tension in the family. After growing up in France, Anick has great difficulty adapting to the extreme cultural differences. The two plots then intertwine when Anick, while living in Trinidad, meets and quickly befriends Viveka. They bond over common experiences such tension with parents, and soon fall in love. Despite her affair with Viveka, Anick is still married to Nayan and becomes pregnant as a result. Anick. Feeling alienated and unable to adapt to Trinidadian culture, Anick proposes to Viveka that they run away together. To Anick's dismay, Viveka refuses because she cannot fully accept her identity as a lesbian. Falling into the same pattern as her father, Viveka succumbs to the social pressure and ends up marrying a man named Trevor. Much like Valmiki, she would rather lie about her sexual identity and marry a man, than have to come out as gay in front of a whole community simply to live with the woman she truly loves. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Valmiki's Daughter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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