For the individual in Canada in the first quarter of this century a personal exploration of values and rules was difficult. Two particular segments of present-day society still encounter great resistence from intrenched authority in their search for self-expression: women and Quebec nationalists. Two progressions of three novels reflect the search by these two groups for self-expression: Group 1 - The Stairway, 1921, Alice Chown, Shackles, 1926, Madge MacBeth, The Diviners, 1974, Margaret Laurence; Group 2 - Marcel Faure, 1922, J.C. Harvey, La Chesnaie, 1942, Rex Desmarchais, Trou de memoire, 1974, Hubert Aquin.
