Memories of Childhood Question Answer, Theme, Summary, and Extra Questions with pdf are available in this post, Students who are looking for the all above matters can check the Table of Contents for better navigation.
Table of Contents
Memories of Childhood Theme
Memories of childhood leave a permanent imprint on one’s mind and can shape one’s entire life. Children are specially sensitive to one’s surroundings and they are capable of reacting very strongly. Both the girls protest strongly against the discrimination and indignities meted out to them. Zitkala- Sa, the Native American woman, criticised and condemned dogma1 and evils of oppression. She protests against the cutting of her hair and through her creative efforts criticised the Carlisle School, which treated children like beasts. Bama, on the other hand, finds untouchability inhuman and tries to rise above the barriers by studying hard.
The theme of the lesson is universal. It highlights the reaction to hatred and abhorrence2 against class distinction and exploitation suffered by the ‘underdogs’ of society. The landlord and the authorities of Carlisle School represent the uppermost wing of hierarchy that enjoy the exploitation but is a blot on the name of humanity.
Memories of Childhood Summary
In the introduction to Carlisle Indian School, the narrator describes the first day as cold and unpleasant with lots of snow around…
(Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
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Memories of Childhood Question Answer
READING WITH INSIGHT
Memories of Childhood Question Answer
Q.1. The two accounts that you read above are based on two distant cultures. What is the commonality of the theme found in both of them?
Answer ‘Memories of Childhood’ presents two autobiographical episodes. Both are from the lives of women. The first account is by an American Indian woman. The second episode is narrated by a contemporary Tamil Dalit writer. The women belong to two different cultures.
Both the women are from ‘marginalised3 communities’. Native Indians don’t get respect, dignity and importance in America. They are marginalised. The white people suffer from racial prejudices. They force others (the minorities) to follow their traits, traditions and whims4. The poor Indian girl is dragged out and tied in a chair. Her long and heavy hair is shingled. Similarly, the girl in ‘We Too are Human Beings’ is upset by the curse of untouchability. The old man of a ‘low’ community has to carry the food packet by its string without touching it.
Both women fight and struggle against exploitation and oppression. The girl in “The Cutting of My Hair’ doesn’t submit but struggles. She cries, kicks and fights till she is overpowered. The girl in ‘We Too Are Human Beings’ works hard and stands first in the class. People now come to her of their own accord.
Q.2. 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?
Answer This world is full of inequalities. Inequalities give birth to repression5. We are living among horrors. Oppression6 and exploitation never go unchallenged. The seeds of rebellion7 are always present in the exploited persons. Actually, they are sown early in life. Children may look innocent but they have their own understanding of the world and its people. Injustice in any form can’t escape being noticed by children.
In ‘The Cutting of My Long Hair’ the little Native Indian girl can’t take injustice and oppression meekly. She wants to maintain her own identity. She wants to have long and heavy hair. It is the tradition of her community. Only cowards have shingled hair among them. She doesn’t submit but resists. She fights till she is overpowered. Similarly, the girl in ‘We Too are Human Beings’ has a first-hand experience of untouchability in India. The people of ‘high’ castes don’t consider the ‘low’ castes even as human beings. The girl is inspired by the words of her brother. She works hard and stands first in the class. The people now come to her of their own accord.
Q.3. 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?
Answer Bama and Zitkala-Sa highlight the exploitation and humiliation of the suppressed people. They write about women from ‘marginalised communities’. The first episode describes the humiliations suffered by the Native Indians living in America. The white people impose their own culture and values over other communities. In her community only the cowards wear shingled hair. The poor girl fights and struggles till she is overpowered. Her long and heavy hair is shingled.
Bama’s experience is based on the age-long curse of ‘untouchability’ in India. The people of low castes have to bow low and work for their masters. They have to carry even a food packet by its thread without touching it. The girl fights against the evil of untouchability in her way. She is inspired by the words of her elder brother. She works hard and stands first in the class. She attains equality with others.
Memories of Childhood Extra Questions Answers
Q.1 How was Zitkala-Sa’s first day in school most unpleasant in terms of weather and general behaviour of the authorities? Discuss.
Ans. The school atmosphere was cold like the weather outside. There was snow all around and it was chilly. A rigid and regimental discipline was imposed on the children. The teacher seemed to be strict and emotionless. So Zitkala-Sa’s first day in school was most unpleasant.
Q.2. What were the observations of the narrator regarding the dress-code of the children in Carlisle School? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. The author didn’t like the dress code of the children. The ‘closely clinging dresses’ seemed immodest to her. She was disturbed by the stiff shoes worn by the girls as they produced annoying clatter on bare floors. The small girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair.
Q.3. What was ‘eating by formula”? Why was it funny? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. There were three bells at regular intervals to guide the students for eating. The first bell was meant to draw the chair from under the table. The second bell was sounded to make everyone sit. A third bell was tapped after the man at the end of the hall ceased his prayer and the students were expected to eat. This seemed funny as the author had never experienced such a routine.
Q.4. What impression do you form of the authorities by Judewin’s comment, “We have to submit because they are strong?”
Ans. The authorities of Carlisle School believed in brute force, imposing their orders on tender children. They were authoritative and cruel. Their rigid and regimental discipline was detested by all.
Q.5. The narrator’s “long hair was shingled like a coward’s.” Do you think the author was a coward?
Ans. The author refused to submit to the orders of the authorities. She resisted by picking and scratching wildly. She cried aloud and kept shaking her head. This is all she could do as a helpless child. So she cannot be called a coward.
Q.6. What feelings are conveyed by the author’s statement, “…. now I was one of the little animals driven by a herder?”
Ans. This statement conveys deep anguish8 of the author at the inhuman treatment given to the children at Carlisle School. The disrespect that was heaped on them by forcing them to wear ‘indecent dresses’ and shingling their hair against their wishes makes the author say So.
Q.7. Do you believe that the authorities of Carlisle School were justified in imposing their will on the children? Why / Why not?
Ans. It was very unfair and cruel on the part of the school authorities to impose their will on children of different cultures. Every child deserves love and respect. Children can be taught with kindness, not brutal force.
Q.8. Bama says, “I hadn’t yet heard people speak openly of untouchability?” What does this reflect about her personality?
Ans. Bama was too young to notice untouchability. Class distinctions around her were beyond the comprehension of a student of class three. She was an innocent and inquisitive9 child.
Q.9. Why did it take Bama one hour to reach home? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Bama had to walk home through a market. She was distracted by the street activities like a performing monkey, a cyclist who kept peddling, a puppet show, etc.
Q.10. Discuss the profession of the people who were seen regularly in the bazaar by Bama.
Ans. There were roadside vendors, shopkeepers, entertainers and politicians in the bazaar. There was also a hunter gypsy with his wild lemur in cages, and vendors selling needles, clay beads and instruments for cleaning out the ears.
Q.11. Why did Bama find the situation funny when an elder member was carrying the packet in that manner? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Bama could not understand why he was carrying the packet by its string, without touching it. It seemed funny to the girl as the packet could fall down and the snacks in it would also fall.
Q.12. Who was Annan? How did he justify the behaviour of the elder? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Annan was Bama’s elder brother. He told his sister that the elder member of their community had to carry that packet by the string so that he would not touch it. He explained to the little girl the compulsion of carrying things for the master by the low caste who were considered untouchables and were not expected to touch the eatables of their masters.
Q.13. How was the author woken up? What were the other annoying noises around?
Ans. The blanket was stripped away while the author was asleep. Moreover, the annoying clatter of shoes, the jarring and loud sound of the bell really made her feel miserable.
Q.14. Why does the narrator say, “And though my spirit tore itself in struggling for its lost freedom, all was useless?
Ans. The author felt throttled by the authoritative and inhuman regimentation of the Carlisle School. Her spirit wanted to break all the limitations and win back her earlier freedom. But this seemed impossible in the present surroundings.
Q.15. The author records her initial experience of Carlisle School as, “a bedlam within which I was securely tied.” What did she mean by this?
Ans. To the author, everything about the Carlisle School gave an appearance of a madhouse. The noise, the behaviour of the authorities and the inhuman treatment amounted to being an inmate of a madhouse. She wished to break free from such constraints.
Q.16. Why was the author’s behaviour in the dining room peculiar to others?
Ans. All the children were herded together, lined up and had to move when a bell sounded. The author was not aware of it and she sat on the chair. Three bells were sounded, one after another and only then they could move and eat. This eating by formula looked crazy to the author.
Q.17. What were the author’s objections to the cutting of her hair? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. In the author’s community, cutting of hair was considered inauspicious and undignified. Only unskilled warriors, cowards or mourners had their hair shingled. So for the narrator, this was the greatest humiliation.
Q.18. Why does the narrator remember her mother during this ordeal? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. The narrator remembers her mother for two reasons. Firstly, it was her mother, who had told her that only the cowards and betrayers had their hair shingled. When the narrator was tied to a chair and she moaned and cried no one came to comfort her and reason with her as her mother did. So she really missed her mother.
Q.19. Why did the author feel like an animal being herded? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Zitkala-sa was tied to a chair. She felt helpless in the face of such an inhuman treatment. The children were treated without respect or dignity. Discipline was imposed wilfully on them and they were not allowed any freedom.
Q.20. What were some of the oddities or the novelties that Bama watched on the way? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Bama found a lot of entertainment that made it impossible for her to move. There was a performing monkey, a snake-charmer and a cyclist who would keep cycling for days together. The hunter gypsy with its wild lemur in cages. All these were very attractive for a little child.
Q.21. Who were the people regularly seen on the roads by Bama? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Many political leaders would give speeches. There were waiters outside the coffee clubs, cooling the coffee in a tumbler, devotees outside the temple making offerings and many peddlers selling fruit and sweets.
Q.22. Bama says, “Each thing would pull me to a standstill and not allow me to go any further.” What does this reflect about her personality?
Ans. Bama was a little child, who liked fun and games. Her eyes were drawn to all kinds of spectacular displays of eatables and entertainment. She was a keen observer of men and manners and her childhood and innocence were mainly responsible for her varied interests.
Q.23. What information is given in the text regarding Bama’s family? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Bama’s family is most secure and even though she is in the third class, her parents have not exposed her to the evils of untouchability. It is only when she experiences it herself that she is told of this evil practice. Her brother is most positive and encouraging and guides her properly out of this menace of untouchability.
Q.24. What was the landlord doing and what work was deputed10 to ‘our people’?
Ans. The landlord was seated on a stone ledge. A threshing floor had been set up and some men were driving the cattle in pairs, round and round to tread out the grain from the straw. Bama felt that there was a difference in the landlord and the people doing manual work. She also knew that their community was different though she had not known discrimination openly.
Q.25. Why did the elder of their community carry a packet? What was Bama’s reaction? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. An elder of Bama’s community was carrying the packet in such a funny manner, holding it by the string that Bama felt like laughing. The elder was bringing some oily snacks for the landlord to eat.
Q.26. Why did Bama regret her reaction later? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Bama’s brother told her that the elder was carrying the packet in such a manner, so that their touch would not pollute the snack. Bama felt most resentful and angry at this discrimination and exploitation of her community.
Q.27. What details of the inhuman behaviour of the upper caste were given to Bama by her brother? (Memories of Childhood Question Answer)
Ans. Annan, Bama’s brother, told her that they were untouchables, who were not given any respect, dignity or honour in the society. By virtue of being born in that community, they had become ‘untouchables’ and were exploited and made to do manual work.
Q.28. “I studied hard, with all my breath and being in a frenzy almost.’ What does this statement reflect about Bama as a person?
Ans. When Bama’s brother told her that she could only fight untouchability by rising above it, Bama became very determined. She was single-minded, focused and showed great grit and diligence.(लगन) She studied hard and fought the evils of oppression by raising her status.
29. What is the lesson ingrained in the section “We too are human beings”?
Ans. It is impossible to eradicate such a widespread evil like untouchability from the society. It can be countered by reacting in a positive way. The solution to fight caste barriers is through education, empowerment and economic growth.