Summary of Memories of Childhood - The Cutting of My Long Hair - Zitkala-Sa and We Too are Human Beings - Bama

MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD

This lesson presents the idea of marginalization from the perspective of two women, Zitkala-Sa and Bama, as they walk down the memory lane to the episodes that had significant influence on their lives.

I. The Cutting of My Long Hair (Zitkala-Sa)
The raucous cage
The author narrates the incidents of the agonizing first day of her new boarding school life as a Native American. The day was bitterly cold and she was aghast to find herself amidst the chaos of the annoying loud noises of the ringing bell, clattering shoes and ceaseless murmuring in English, the language which was still “unknown” to her.
In that new place, she fell prey to the European missionaries who were prejudiced and biased against the Native American clan. Caught in this strange new world, she yearned for her “lost freedom”.
Discipline of the dining hall
The ringing bell was an indication for breakfast. As Zitkala-Sa entered the room in a line with her Indian counterparts, who seemed unconcerned about being immodestly dressed in “stiff shoes” and “closely clinging dresses”, she noticed boys entering from the other door. Her eyes searched and “spied” on the three Native American boys who had joined the school with her. They were as uncomfortable as she. She tried hard to adjust to this highly methodical place full of watchful eyes, but it left her in tears.
The hardest trial
As the day preceded, her friend, Judewin, informed her about the decision of the “paleface woman” to shingle their heavy tresses. Zitkala was baffled by this idea because she had grown up with her mother's belief that only mourners and cowards had short hair. Having left with no choice, Judewin resigned to her fate, unlike Zitkala, who intended to rebel till the time she could.
The struggle and the subsequent resignation
The brave girl tried her level best to save her tresses from the insult of being shingled. She hid under a bed in an empty dark room, but she was “dragged out” and “carried” to the chair where she was “tied” until her hair were cut mercilessly. Relentlessly moaning for her mother, she kicked wildly and cried out loud, continuously shaking her head in resistance. However, overpowered by “the enemy”, she soon gave up and begrudgingly accepted her pitiable fate as “one of many little animals” driven by a European herder.

II. We Too Are Human Beings (Bama)
Innocence of a child
Bama, a Tamil Dalit, draws her life sketch where she shows how she swam to the banks of success from the sea of discrimination.
Till the third standard, Bama had never known anything about the evil of untouchability.  She was a happy girl whose innocent inquisitiveness made her wander through the streets witnessing all the antics of the local market on her way back home from school.
Bama’s first bout with untouchability
On one such expedition, she saw labourers on her street threshing grain for a landlord. Again, the manner in which an elderly man held a packet of “vadai” amused her. He had fetched the packet for the landlord and held it “by its string”. When little Bama narrated the whole incident to her elder brother, he made her aware of the evil practice of untouchability. She was shocked to find out that the landlord, like others of the upper castes, considered them inferior and so they were not allowed to touch their superior counterparts. Accordingly, the Dalit had to hold the packet by its string, for fear of ‘polluting’ it.
The furious Bama 
The little girl is perplexed and sad. Her laughter is replaced with rage against this malpractice. She is infuriated by the unreasonable submission to the upper caste landlord by an important elder of her caste. She feels that ‘her people’ should not “run these petty errands” for such boisterous people.
Annan’s perception
Bama’s elder brother, Annan, explained how until the so-called lower caste people make an effort, the Dalit identity will be known by the street they live in. He advised her to surpass this inequality through education. He believed that although people do not get to decide the family they are born into, they can outwit the indignities inflicted upon them by others if they are well read and successful.
Bama’s effort
Annan’s advice left a profound impact on Bama. Following his advice, she studied hard and subsequently stood first in her class. This not only helped her make many friends but made her strong as well, so that no one could dare to suppress her under any circumstance.