Chapter 8 Memories of Childhood

Both the accounts are shown by two women from socially marginalized sections in two distant cultures of the world. In first part author shows the racism faced by her as a Native American in her school. And in the other part it shows the untouchability faced by the author in India.

They both were following the different cultures. They both showed all the sufferings that they had faced due to their community. Zitkala’s hair was shingled at the behest of Europeans who consider themselves superior to the Native American. But in the other context Bama suffered from untouchability as she was belonged from lower caste. She had seen that lower caste people were not even allowed to touch people who belonged from upper castes.

Even in today’s era in some parts of the country many people faces discrimination related to racism and their caste. Adults also have grown up seeing these types of things, the innocence of childhood doesn’t understand hatred and prejudice but when they see these type of things it affects the mind of small children. But it can be resist in their own simple ways.

In the chapter we read about the story of Zitkala-sa and Bama. In their childhood they had faced many sufferings related to discrimination of racism and untochability. Zitkala-sa told that about her first day which was “bitter cold”. It tells us about the weather but also about what she had suffered in boarding school. The European staff was unfriendly towards her and she had struggled against her hair being shingled was a “bitter” experience for her. On the other hand Bama faced untouchability. Bama walked on her brother’s footsteps to protest against the practice of untouchability through education. Therefore she studied hard to reach at the destination from where her caste wouldn’t matter and she will feel proud.

Zitkala-sa was the victim of racial prejudice. Zitkala-sa was the student of European boarding school where all the staff was unfriendly and bitter towards her. She was a local tribe. She had long hair on which she had proud but her was shingled. She struggled to resist this but she failed and forcefully they cut her hairs. On the contrary, Bama faced discrimination with caste and also untochability so she decided to kill germs of this discrimination with the light of education. She thought lower caste can come up from this thinking and discrimination only by study and progress. Therefore both of them tried in their ways to protest against the injustice.