CONFLICTING PAST AND PRESENT IN GISH JEN’S WORLD AND TOWN

Abstract

Patterns of buried history occur and re-occur in course of time in human psychology. In their day to day life people meet new people and these new acquaintances and their activities remind them of good old days. These people fill a part of their life. Diasporas in Gish Jen’s novel World and Town, is not simply Chinese, but also Cambodian. With the combination of these two diasporic senses, we can compare and contrast the patterns of diasporic perspective differently. Past and present are constantly compared to prove the past to be better, hence the old days in homeland. Gish Jen’s World and Town” portrays a situation in which the surrounding instigating factors make one remember the roots. Apparatuses of modernity are not always helpful in rooting modern ideas in human minds. Two binary worlds are portrayed, which are constantly in conflict. But the spirit of the past is so strong that finally it overpowers the modern rational self. Understanding the patterns of conflicting past and present is the primary aim of this paper.