IJFANS International Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences

ISSN PRINT 2319 1775 Online 2320-7876

GENERATIONAL CHASM: EXPLORING THE CONFLICTS IN GISH JEN’S MONA IN THE PROMISED LAND

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Jeniffer Shaheena Singh G.1, Dr. Stephen Foster Davis2

Abstract

Conflict is a major issue that exists throughout the world. Conflict is considered a behavioral change due to a difference of opinion among two groups, two people, or within oneself. When conflict is mismanaged, it can cause great harm to relationships. Conflict can be compared to a double-edged sword that can weaken or strengthen a relationship. Intergenerational conflict plays a major role in the life of an immigrant. An Immigrant who migrate from one place to another place, undergo intergenerational conflicts because of generational gap, misunderstandings, disobedience, language barrier, tradition, customs, and beliefs. Intergenerational conflict always emerges because of the contradictory and ambivalent outlook of an individual. Gish Jen, a famous Chinese-American novelist depicts the life of the Chinese immigrants and their woeful experience in the new host land America through her novel Mona in the Promise Land. This paper explores the intergenerational conflicts between first-generation Chinese immigrant parents and their second-generation daughters. Further, this paper highlights the cause of intergenerational conflicts through the lens of the central character, Mona, who is inclined towards the American hegemonic culture of individualism and switches her root of identity from Chinese-American to Jewish-American.

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