History influences and shapes the identities of people living in a diaspora. I will use the article “Diasporas” by James Clifford to set the stage for my two texts. Clifford's perspective on diaspora "involves living, maintaining communities, having collective homes far from home (and in this it is different from exile, with its often individualistic focus)" (308). Unlike exile, people living in a diaspora view their country of origin not as a place they can never return to, but rather as a place where they can maintain a connection to their new home. History and culture then become a source of connection within the diaspora. I will show how vital this bond is and how it becomes truly important when away from their homeland for many characters. Junot Diaz and Zadie Smith both use texts, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and White Teeth, respectively, which are respectively injected with history. I will show how history is like a shadow that always accompanies someone despite the times when people try to erase or ignore it. The article will study how people living in a diaspora transmit their history to the host country and how this history is unavoidable because it makes them who they are. The article will examine how history influences the lives of people living far from their country of origin and how their roots/routes are part of their fragmented identity – a fusion between the native home and the new home. I will show how the texts embody the message that history is not limited to the past, but rather propels the future. In White Teeth Smith writes in the epigraph: "Past is Prologue", meaning that what happened in the past foreshadows the future. . I intend to use the text to prove how the past is truly prologue in lives...... middle of paper ...... Caciora Abrudan and Veronica Simona. “The image of London as a cultural mosaic in the novels written by Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali and Zadie Smith.” Annals of the University of Oradea, series: International Relations and European Studies 3 (2011): 48-65. Academic research completed. Web. Clifford, James. “Diaspora”. Cultural Anthropology 9.3 (1994): 302-38. Print.Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. New York: Riverhead, 2007. Epub. Lanzendörfer, Tim. “The wonderful history of the Dominican Republic in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 38.2 (2013): 127-142. MUSE project. Web.Smith, Zadie. White teeth: a novel. New York: Random House, 2000. Epub.Thomas, Matt. “Reading White Teeth to Improve Intercultural Communication.” Journal of Caribbean Literatures 6.1 (2009): 15-30. JSTOR. Internet.