AHSEC| CLASS 12| ENGLISH| CHAPTER - 10| MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD| SOLVED QUESTIONS FOR 7 MARK EACH| H.S. 2ND YEAR

MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD

Solved questions for 7 mark each:

(A) LONG ANSWER:

(1) Compare and contrast the stories narrated by Zitkala-Sa and Bama.

Ans: "Memories of Childhood" presents two autobiographical episodes from the lives of two women from marginalized communities who look back on their childhoods, and reflect on their relationship with mainstream culture. The first account is of a Red Indian woman and the second is of a contemporary Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu.

Both the stories of Zitkala-Sa and Bama are based on his childhood experience, otherwise they are not very similar. While Bama's experience is that of a victim of a horrific caste system, that Zitkala-Sa is more likely the result of a difference in racial attitudes. She resists and fights cutting off her long, thick hair because her mother has told her that only mourners wear short hair and cowards flaunt their hair. Nowhere in his description of the episode is there any indication of a racial angle or prejudice behind his chopping off his long hair.

But Bama's story records his sense of rebellion and anger against the age-old caste system and untouchability prevalent in India. He has seen how even the elders of his community are humiliated by the upper caste landlord. They are not allowed to touch upper caste people or the food they eat, as everything they touch becomes impure.

(2) Discuss the form of discriminations projected in the narrations of Zitkala-Sa and Bama. Exam paper - 2017, 18

Ans: In his story "The Cutting of My Long Hair", Zitkala-Sa tries to project the racial discrimination that American Indians have suffered at the hands of white men over the past century. In his community, short hair is worn only by mourners and cowards have short hair. So, naturally she finds it an insult to cut her long hair against her will. But he doesn't have a choice. In vain she has tried to fight and struggle to save her hair. But Bama's story captures his spirit of rebellion against the dreadful caste system and the abominable untouchability prevalent in India till the last century. She narrates how even lower caste elders have been subjected to extreme humiliation. People from lower castes are not allowed to touch upper caste people or the food they eat. He has seen an old man of his caste being taken to a vadai for a high-caste landlord by holding him by the wire of a packet without touching it. He has learned from his brother that education is the only way to fight this social evil. This advice motivated him to study hard and continue his fight against this dreadful caste system.

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