Memories of Childhood Class 12 English Summary of the Story
SUMMARY OF THE STORY
The “Memories of Childhood”, written by Zitkala-Sa and Bama has extracts from the writings of two different female writers from the marginalized communities.
The Cutting of My Long Hair—Zitkala-Sa
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. Zitkala-Sa’s first day at school is unpleasant. The noise made by the breakfast bell, the clatter of the shoes and the constant murmuring voices of foreign tongue annoyed her. She was forced to wear clothes that were considered undignified in her culture. At the breakfast table, she does not understand the rules and makes several mistakes.
More atrocities were to follow for the new girl. Zitkala-Sa’s friend overhears a talk about cutting the long hair of the new girls. For Ziatkala-Sa this was absolutely atrocious. Zitkala-Sa learned from her mother that hair would be shingled only for the unskilled warrior, cowards and mourners. She decided to fight back and got herself hidden in a dim room under the bed.
Everybody looked for her and called her name but eventually she was caught. Her voluble protests bear no fruit and her hair is also shingled forcibly on the very first day. This extract describes the narrator’s agony. She lost her beautiful long hair. Nobody provided comfort to her. So she felt herself as one of the many animals by a herder.
We too are Human Beings—Bama
The second part is an excerpt from the autobiography ‘Karukku’ by Bama – a Tamil Dalit.
Bama was an innocent child living in a village. She had never heard of the word untouchability during her childhood. Certain small incidents of her life made her feel that she was born in the marginalized caste. She was a peppy girl. She used to walk back home from school and covered ten minutes of walk in half an hour to one hour as she watched all the fun games such as street play, puppet show, snake charmer, performing monkey, the Maariyaata temple and the pongal offerings being cooked in front of the temple. The plethora of beauty that she experienced on the way back from school made her very happy.
Once when she was in the class 3, while going home, she saw her people working hard work, the landlords humiliated them. Bama further narrates how an elder of their street was humiliated just because he belonged to the Dalit community. The village landlord sent the elderly man to get some vadai for him. The man held the packet by its string. He was not supposed to touch the packet as his touch would pollute the vadai. That is why; he had to carry the packet by its string. At first, she was amused but her brother told her that they belonged to a low caste. So people from upper caste believed that the food packet would be polluted, if it was touched by them. When Bama’s elder brother told her all the reasons behind this, her mind filled with revolt. Not only this, her brother was once asked about the street he lived in to determine the caste he belonged to. She was enraged thinking why her elders worked so hard for those people who despised them so much. She wanted her people to stop paying undue respectand reverence to the upper caste people. Her brother told her that if they studied hard and made progress in their lives, it would help them in throwing away the indignities. Education, he said was their weapon with which they could fight back the society. Bama did the same and got many friends in her life. Education gave her double-sided sword to fight very sharply against the unjustified caste system.
Memories of Childhood Class 12 English Character Sketch
CHARACTER SKETCH: Zitkala-Sa
Zitkala-Sa’s real name was Gertrude Simmons. She was a native American who was sent to the Carlisle Indian school at a young age. On the first day, she felt like she had lost her freedom. She faced indignity, indiscrimination and exploitation. She was forced to get her hair shingled against which she protested to the best of her capability. She ran away, hid under her bed but finally had to surrender. She was treated like a wooden toy. She represents all the native American women who were exploited at the hands of their masters. She suffered extreme humiliation and was treated like an animal. She had to speak a new language, wear short skirts and shoes. But despite all of this barbarism, Zitkala-Sa showed her resistance. She didn’t give up meekly and protested till the end, though she didn’t succeed.
CHARACTER SKETCH: Bama
Bama was a small innocent school girl from a Dalit community in south India. She was unaware of the discrimination on the basis of caste. She was upset to experience the distinction based on class and caste. They could not touch food and other items of the upper caste people. They had to work for them and bow their heads before them. When she was told by her brother, about the reality, she was angry. Her spirit revolted against this injustice. She felt terribly sad and agitated. She could not understand this inhuman treatment since all are human beings. She wanted honour for all. Her brother Annan told her that she could do away with these indignities if she worked hard. When she realized that only education could bring the change, she resolved to choose a constructive path and studied hard and topped in the class. In this way, she won everyone’s respect and became a role model for all the Dalit women.
