It may take a long time for oppression to be resisted, but the seeds of rebellion are sowed early in life. Do you agree that injustice in any form cannot escape being noticed even by children?
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.
The two accounts that you read above are based in two distant cultures. What is the commonality of theme found in both of them?
Bama’s experience is that of a victim of the caste system. What kind of discrimination does Zitkala-Sa’s experience depict? What are their responses to their respective situations?
Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name?
Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?
Who is Jo? How does she respond to her father’s story-telling?
What does the third level refers to?
‘The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica.’ How is the study of this region useful to us?
What kind of a person was Evans?
What are Geoff Green’s reasons for including high school students in the Students on Ice expedition?
What were the precautions taken for the smooth conduct of the examination?
‘Take care of the small things and the big things will take care of themselves.’ What is the relevance of this statement in the context of the Antarcticenvironment?
Will the exam now go as scheduled?
What is the moral issue that the story raises?
Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
Do you agree that between crime and punishment it is mainly a battle of wits?
Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Cronin that you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
While we condemn the crime, we are sympathetic to the criminal. Is this the reason why prison staff often develop a soft corner for those in custody?
Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?
What could the Governor have done to securely bring back Evans to prison when he caught him at the Golden Lion? Does that final act of foolishness really prove that “he was just another good-for-a-giggle, gullible governor, that was all”?
While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during wartime, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
When Stephens comes back to the cell he jumps to a conclusion and the whole machinery blindly goes by his assumption without even checking the identity of the injured ‘McLeery’. Does this show how hasty conjectures can prevent one from seeing the obvious? How is the criminal able to predict such negligence?
What is your stance regarding the two endings to the Roger Skunk story?