CBSE Class 12 English Memories of Childhood Zitkal Assignment

NOTES ON THE LESSON

1. The cutting of long hair by : Zitkala-Sa

A. Her arrival to Carlisle Indian school

(a) Land of Apples- covered with snow

(b) Her confusion over bell ringing

(c) Dress of Indian girls- not liked by her

(d) Embarrassment felt in dining hall

B. Information of her long hair to be cut

(a) Her friend Judewin's warning

(b) Short hair in her community- a disgrace

(c) Judewin persuaded her to surrender but she decided otherwise

C. Zitkala's struggle to retain her hair

(a) Hid herself in a large dark room

(b) Search for her

(c) Women and girls discouraged/dragged her

(d) Her struggle against the cutting of her hair

(e) Her cries for help- to Mother, but futile

2. We too are human beings by Bama

A. Bama returning from school.

(a) Her sensitivity towards untouchability in early age

(b) Her slow walk to home

(c) Her interest in watching the things on the way

B. The landlord and people of her community

(a) People working to tread out the grain

(b) The elder carrying a packet

(c) Her discussion with her brother - Humour Vs reality

(d) His visit to library and the enquiry about his caste

C. Advice of her brother

(a) Study and come ahead of inequality

(b) Impression of this advice on her

EXERCISE

Rearrange the following points in sequence of their narration in the lesson 

A.

1. Cutting the long hair

2. Customs in the tribe

3. In the break-fast hall

4. Sense of discomfort

5. Struggles to save her hair

B.

1. Scene at the threshing platform

2. Her brothers advice

3. Feeling the untouchability

4. Her realization

MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD

❑ Zitkala SA
– bitter cold first day in the land of apples
– discriminated against native American
– her appearance, moccasined feet and blanket
– Jude told her about the cutting of hair
– tried to hide, dragged, tied to a chair and long hair was cut off
– suffer tremendous trauma and losing her spirit
– unskilled captured warriors, mourners and cowards had short hair in her culture
– the cruelty makes her feel like a beast
– craves for comfort but nobody offered
2. We Too Are Human Beings
❑ Bama
– innocent childhood, used to walk back home from school, covered 10 min. of walk to ½ or 1 hour
– watched all the fun games such as street play, puppet show, a snake charmer, performing monkey
– experienced untouchability very early in life
– one day saw an elder by person carrying food packet with the help of strings
– her brother told the low caste of that man and that they belonged to a low caste
– got inspiration to fight back through hard work and studies
❑ Zitkala SA
– bitter cold first day in the land of apples
– discriminated against native American
– her appearance, moccasined feet and blanket
– Jude told her about the cutting of hair
– tried to hide, dragged, tied to a chair and long hair was cut off
– suffer tremendous trauma and losing her spirit
– unskilled captured warriors, mourners and cowards had short hair in
her culture
– the cruelty makes her feel like a beast
– craves for comfort but nobody offered
2. We Too Are Human Beings
❑ Bama
– innocent childhood, used to walk back home from school, covered 10 min. of walk to ½ or 1 hour
– watched all the fun games such as street play, puppet show, a snake charmer, performing monkey
– experienced untouchability very early in life
– one day saw an elder by person carrying food packet with the help of strings
– her brother told the low caste of that man and that they belonged to a low caste
– got inspiration to fight back through hard work and studies
– auto biographical accounts deal with women of marginalized communities
– Both narrate prejudices and humiliation faced from mainstream culture
– Both are brave who use their talent, education to stand up for this own and community rights
– Both use the power of pen to fight oppression

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Question. How did Zitkala-Sa find the 'Eating by formula' a hard trial?
Answer: She did not know what to do when the various bells were tapped and behaved unlike others.
When the first bell rang, she pulles out her chair and sat in it. As she saw others standing, she began to rise. She looked shyly around to see how chairs were used. When the second bell was sounded, she had to crawl back into her chair. She looked around when a man was speaking at the end of the hall. She she dropped her eyes when she found the paleface women looking at her. After the third bell, others started eating, but she began to cry.

Question. Why do you think, was Zitkala-Sa so opposed to cutting of her hair?
Answer: heard her mother - Short hair to mourn the death
Hair shingled of enemy
She was neither a mourner nor a coward

Question. What did Zitkala-Sa feel when her long hair was cut.
Answer: lost her spirit
People stared at her
She moaned for her mother

Question. Name some of the novelties and oddities in the street that attracted Bama?
Answer: the performing monkey
The cyclist
The Maariyaata temple
Pongal offerings

Question. What do you think, made Bama want to double up and shriek with laughter?
Answer: A big man
Carrying small packet by string
Manner of walking

Question. How did Bama react on learning about untouchability?
Answer: behaviour of upper caste to low caste
Felt provoked and angry
Wanted to touch those vadais

Question. What advice did Annan offer Bama? What was the result?
Answer: study and learn with care
Followed advice
Studied hard
Stood first in class

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Question. Why did Zitkala-Sa feel oppressed in new establishment?
Answer: Since the day, the author was taken away from her mother, she had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at her. She had been tossed about in the air like wooden puppet. Her blanket had been removed from her shoulders. She felt that she was immodestly dressed. She was so shocked and oppressed that she felt like sinking to the floor. Later, her soft moccasins were taken away. These were traditional footwear of local Indian American. They were replaced by squeaking shoes. She saw other Indian girls in stiff shoes and tightly sticking dresses. The small girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair. The worst dignity she suffered was the cutting of her long hair. The coward's shingled hair made her moan with anguish. She felt she was not a human being but one of the little animals driven by a herder. The systematic erosion of their culture and disrespect to women was quite oppressive.

Question. "I will not submit! I will struggle!" Says Zitkala-Sa. What was she going to resist and why?
What efforts did she make and what was the outcome?
Answer: short hair worn by mourners, shingled by cowards
Cutting hair against their tradition
Hid herself in dark room
Resisted cutting her hair
Cried aloud

Question. How did Bama react to the threshing proceedings in a corner of their street and the spectacle of a big man carrying a packet by its string?
Answer: people working with cattle
Saw a big man
Manner of walking
Carrying small packet with string
Extended the packet to landlord
Whole scene funny

Question. How did Bama's brother explain the elder's behavior to her? What was her immediate reaction?
Answer: lower caste must not touch upper caste people
Felt terribly sad
She felt provoked and angry
They were too human beings
Must not do petty jobs for miserly rich upper caste

Important Questions NCERT Class 12 English Vistas "Memories of Childhood"

Question. Why was Zitkala-Sa in tears on the first day in the land of apples?
Answer: The narrator felt quite uncomfortable at the dining table. She was not used to eating by formula i.e., wait for the sound of the bell to commence eating. Moreover, the noise and the bedlam of languages and the Matron continuously staring at her, all of it disturbed her. Zitkala-Sa felt embarrassed and out of place. This is why she began to cry at the dining table when others started eating.

Question. Why did Zitkala-Sa feel oppressed in new establishment?
Answer: Since the day, the author was taken away from her mother, she had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at her. She had been tossed about in the air like wooden puppet. Her blanket had been removed from her shoulders. She felt that she was immodestly dressed. She was so shocked and oppressed that she felt like sinking to the floor. Later, her soft moccasins were taken away. These were traditional footwear of local Indian American. They were replaced by squeaking shoes. She saw other Indian girls in stiff shoes and tightly sticking dresses. The small girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair. The worst dignity she suffered was the cutting of her long hair. The coward's shingled hair made her moan with anguish. She felt she was not a human being but one of the little animals driven by a herder. The systematic erosion of their culture and disrespect to women was quite oppressive.

Question. How did Zitkala-Sa find the 'Eating by formula' a hard trial?
Answer: She did not know what to do when the various bells were tapped and behaved unlike others. When the first bell rang, she pulles out her chair and sat in it. As she saw others standing, she began to rise. She looked shyly around to see how chairs were used. When the second bell was sounded, she had to crawl back into her chair. She looked around when a man was speaking at the end of the hall. She she dropped her eyes when she found the paleface women looking at her. After the third bell, others started eating, but she began to cry.

Question. What did Zitkala-Sa feel when her long hair was cut?
Answer: When Zitkala-Sa’s long hair was cut, she felt indignant and helpless like a puppet. She felt as if she was an animal driven by a herder and looked for comforting.

Question. What did Judewin tell Zitkala-Sa? How did she react to it?
Answer: Judewin was a friend of Zitkala-Sa. She understood some words of English. She had overheard the white woman telling that they would cut her long and heavy hair. She said that Zitkala- Sa would have to agree to it.

Question. How did Zitkala-Sa try to prevent the shingling of her hair?
Answer: Zitkala went upstairs in a large room, crawled under a bed to hide herself. But she was caught and dragged downstairs and tied to a chair. She resisted with all her might but it was all in vain. She cried and shook her head all the while, but could not avoid her hair from getting shingled.

Question. According to Zitkala-Sa what does ‘eating by formula’ mean?
Answer: On the very first day, in the city of apples, Zitkala-Sa came across ‘eating by formula’, which was the fixed procedure for breakfast. Once everyone was in the dining room, the sound of the first bell indicated all pupils to pull out their chairs. At the second bell, all had to sit down. At the far end of the dining hall, a man said the prayer and the pupils bowed their heads finally, at sound of the third bell, everyone started eating with forks and knives. This made her feel out of place and overwhelmed her.

Question. How did the scene she saw in the market place change Bama’s life?
Answer: Bama was in school when she first came to know of the social discrimination faced by the people of her community. On her way back home from school she saw an elderly man carrying a small packet containing some eatables; he was holding it by its strings and not at all touching it. She found it funny at first but, soon, was shocked to know from her brother that it was a form of discrimination the people of their community had to face because they were Dalits.

Question. Why did Bama reach home late after school?
Answer: Bama spent time watching games and other entertaining sights, which came along the way. She enjoyed herself looking at the shops and bazaar, at the novelties and oddities. All this made Bama reach home late after school.

Question. Untouchability is not only a crime, it is inhuman too. Why and how did Bama decide to fight against it?
Answer: Bama saw one of the elders from her village coming down the street holding a small packet of vadai meant to be given to the landlord. The aged man was being careful not to touch it; he held the packet by its string. An amused Bama, narrated the incident to her older brother. He told her that the old man, being a dalit, was not allowed to touch the vadai brought for the landlord. Bama learnt from her brother that day, about the atrocities and discrimination meted out to the members of her community in the name of caste. He told her to study hard and learn as much as possible; people would come to her on their own. Bama did exactly what her Annan had urged her to do. She studied well and became a famous contemporary writer who raised her voice against the caste inequalities.

Question. What are the similarities in the lives of Bama and Zitkala though they belong to different cultures?
Answer: Zitkala-Sa’s experience in ‘Memories of Childhood’ is that of a victim of the racial discrimination. Bama, on the other hand, experienced discrimination on the basis of her caste. Zitkala-Sa is a native American girl sent to a convent school, where she is treated badly at the hands of white people who consider themselves a superior race. Zitkala-Sa has to abide by many rules and regulations, which overwhelm her on the very first day of her school. She, along with others, is made to ‘eat by formula’ and it distresses her. It is the cutting of her long hair, which makes her hysterical. In her community, only mourners and cowards wear their hair short. So, when it is her turn to get her hair shingled, she decides, she is not going to submit without a struggle. When she is dragged out from under the bed and carried downstairs, she resists by kicking and scratching wildly. She fights getting hair cut by shaking her head. A slightly different, but equally disturbing struggle, Bama has had already seen, felt, experienced and been humiliated by what untouchability is/was. The discrimination, in the beginning, is not quite evident to Bama until she sees an elder member of her community carry a packet of eatables by a string for a man of upper caste. It is from her older brother that she comes to know about the ill-treatment meted out to the Dalits by the members of the upper castes. This information terribly saddened and infuriates Bama as she feels that such discrimination is unfair and unjustified. Even after facing discrimination in their respective lives, Bama and Zitkala-Sa both became powerful writers and used this power to voice their opinion and fight oppression by the so called superior caste or race.

Question. Why was Zitakala-Sa terrified when Judewin told her that her hair would be cut short?
Answer: When Judewin told her that her hair would be cut short, Zitkala-Sa was terrified because cutting hair short was against her custom. Short hair was a sign of mourning, cowardice and defeat. Long hair, on the other and was a symbol of bravery.

GIST OF THE LESSON PART 'I

• The first part deals with the account of Simmons, An American Indian, who fought against the prejudices of the society against American Indians.
• She describes her experiences on her first day at the Carlisle Indian School.
• The customs and rules of the place were strange and new to her.
• She was forced to wear clothes that were considered undignified in her culture - At breakfast, she was embarrassed as she did not know the routine of the place.
• When she comes to know that they were planning to cut her hair, she protests by hiding under the bed, even though she knew it was futile. In her culture, it was the cowards whose hair was shingled.
• She felt like an animal driven by a herder.
PART ' II
• The second part is an excerpt from the autobiography 'Karukku' by Bama - a Tamil Dalit.
• She was in her third grade when she becomes aware of the indignities that the lower caste people face.
• She happens to see an elderly person from her community abase himself in front of a higher caste person as he was not supposed to touch the food that he was ordered to fetch
for the landlord.
• Later, her brother explains to her that the incident was not at all funny as she initially thought, but very pathetic. The people from the lower caste were treated as untouchables.
• She was deeply saddened and decided to study hard to overcome discrimination.

Short Answer Questions with Sample Answers

Question. What were the indignities that the new girls were subjected to at Carlisle Indian School?
Answer: The girls were scrutinized thoroughly and supervised by a grey-haired woman. They were made to wear tight fitting immodest clothes and stiff shoes. During breakfast a systematic and regimental discipline was observed. The girls with long hair had to get them shingled and they had to submit to the authorities who were strong, unfeeling and cruel.

Question. On learning that her long hair would be cut the author decided to struggle first. What does this tell us about the author?
Answer: The author knows that she could never prevail against the authorities, yet she struggles against the injustice. Her mother had told her that only cowards had their hair shingled and she firmly believed that she was not one. To prove her point as well as raise her voice against the indignity, she struggles.

Question. Why did Bama take half hour to an hour to cover the distance to her home that would normally take only ten minutes?
Answer: Bama would dawdle along, watching all the entertaining novelties and oddities in the streets. She would gaze at the shops and the bazaar enjoying the street scenes and so she would take at least an hour to reach home.

Question. What was the incident that made Bama laugh as well as feel so provoked and angry?
Answer: Bama saw an elderly man of her street carrying a packet of 'Vadais' by the strings and walking gingerly, holding the parcel away from his body. Bama found his manner of carrying the parcel very funny. But her brother explains to her the higher caste people believed that if the lower caste people touched the parcel it would be polluted. That's why the elder was carrying it in that manner. This provokes and angers Bama.

Long Answer Questions:

Question. Had Bama not been guided properly by her elder brother regarding untouchability, she would have grown up into a complex-torn woman. Do you agree? Justify.
Answer:
Annan an understanding and considerate elder brother - guides her properly - explains the social stigma of untouchability - Elder carrying Vadai not comical but pathetic - victim of social prejudice - Bama angry and provoked - Frustration might have lead to open and futile revolt - Timely advice of Annan guides her in right direction - He believe that people of their community should study and outshine others to earn respect of society. Bama follows his timely advice and grows up to be a balanced and well respected individual of the society.