Memories of Childhood: Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared
Updated 17 October 2026 · Fact-checked
Memories of Childhood has two autobiographical accounts: Zitkala-Sa, a Native American girl whose long hair is cut at a missionary school, and Bama, a Tamil Dalit girl who learns about untouchability. Both face discrimination as children and respond with resistance, but Zitkala-Sa fights physically and loses her spirit, while Bama turns anger into determination through education.
Both girls meet discrimination, but Zitkala-Sa's fight ends in lost spirit while Bama turns her anger into determination through education.
Illustration drawn for QuestionBuddy.
Understand Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods
Part I: The Cutting of My Long Hair. On the first day at the school in the land of apples, Zitkala-Sa finds the bitter cold, the loud bell, the clatter of shoes and the voices speaking an unknown language confusing. Her blanket has been taken away, and she feels exposed. At breakfast she sits at the first bell, not knowing the second bell signals sitting, and is the only one seated. When a third bell rings, she begins to cry.
Her friend Judewin, who knows a little English, warns her that the paleface woman plans to cut their long hair. Among her people, only captured, unskilled warriors had their hair shingled by the enemy; mourners wore short hair; cowards wore shingled hair. Judewin says they must submit. Zitkala-Sa refuses and hides under a bed in a dim upstairs room. She is found, dragged out kicking and scratching, tied to a chair, and feels the cold scissors gnaw off her braid. She loses her spirit and feels like one of many little animals driven by a herder.
Part II: We Too are Human Beings. Bama, in the third class, takes up to an hour to walk home, enjoying the street sights: a performing monkey, a snake charmer, a cyclist, temple festivities, shops and fruits. One day she sees an elder of her community carrying a small packet of vadais by its string, without touching it, to a landlord at a threshing floor. She finds it funny. Her elder brother, Annan, explains that upper-caste people believe a Dalit's touch pollutes their food. Bama is sad and angry, and declares that her people too are human beings. Annan tells her education is the way to throw off such indignities: if she is always ahead in her lessons, people will come to her of their own accord. She studies with all her heart and stands first in her class.
What is common.
- Both writers are girls who first meet injustice as children.
- Both are treated as less than human by a dominant group: missionary school staff and upper-caste people.
- Both show their anger: Zitkala-Sa by resisting, Bama by resolving to study.
- Both accounts are first-person and autobiographical.
What differs.
- Kind of injustice: racial and cultural at a school (loss of hair, language, identity) against caste in society (untouchability).
- Who helps: Judewin advises submission; Annan advises study.
- Response: Zitkala-Sa resists but is overpowered and loses her spirit; Bama finds a path of resistance through education.
- Tone: Part I is a vivid, frightened account of one day; Part II begins in comic wonder and turns to sadness and resolve.
Link to the themes. Discrimination, loss of dignity and identity, resistance, education as empowerment, and children noticing injustice early.
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
No, I will not submit! I will struggle first!
Zitkala-Sa: When Judewin says they must accept the haircut.
Shows her spirit of resistance.
But we too are human beings.
Bama: After learning about untouchability.
Her assertion of equal dignity.
Work hard and learn.
Annan: His advice to Bama.
Education as the way to overcome indignity.
Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods: key facts
- The two girls
Zitkala-Sa Native American, missionary school, haircut Bama Tamil Dalit, third class, vadai packet Both first-person accounts of childhood discrimination - Open every comparison with this pairing.
- Hair in Zitkala-Sa's culture
Shingled hair captured, unskilled warriors Short hair mourners Shingled hair cowards Her long hair courage and identity - Explains why the haircut is a loss of spirit.
- The two helpers
- Judewin: knows a little English, says submit | Annan: Bama's brother, says work hard and learn
- One advises submission, the other empowerment.
- Responses
- Zitkala-Sa: hides, struggles, is overpowered, loses her spirit | Bama: feels angry, resolves, studies hard, stands first
- Compare resistance and its outcomes.
How to answer Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods questions
Use this for a comparison, a theme question or a character question on the narrators.
- 1Name the injustice for each: forced haircut and cultural loss; untouchability and caste.
- 2Give one event: the bell and the hiding; the vadai packet carried by its string.
- 3Give the response: resistance and loss; anger, learning and success.
- 4Add the helper: Judewin, Annan.
- 5Close with the shared idea: dignity and equality, and the power of education.
Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods in real life
The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Education as the answer to indignity
Suppose a girl from a family that is looked down on in her village is mocked by classmates for her old uniform. Her elder brother tells her to focus on becoming the best in class.
How is this like Bama's story, and what does it suggest she should do besides study?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Like Bama, she faces humiliation she did not cause.
- Annan advised Bama to work hard and learn; her success earned respect.
- She should also speak up when needed, because Bama too declared that her people are human beings.
Answer: Her brother's advice is like Annan's. Study can earn her respect, but she should also assert her dignity, as Bama does.
Memory hook: Learn to rise, speak to be equal.
Tricks to remember Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
H-V: Hair and Vadai
Zitkala-Sa = hair; Bama = vadai.
Use it when: Matches each girl to her incident.
J says submit, A says study
Judewin and Annan, two different advisers.
Use it when: Recalls the two helpers.
Spirit lost, spirit sharpened
Zitkala-Sa loses her spirit; Bama sharpens hers.
Use it when: A one-line contrast.
Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods: solved examples
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.
Example 1: Which bell is for sitting? · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
At breakfast, what mistake does Zitkala-Sa make?
(a) She eats before the bell (b) She sits at the first bell, not knowing the second bell was the signal (c) She refuses to eat (d) She leaves the room
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- She sits at the first bell, but the second bell signals sitting, so she is alone (1 mark).
Answer: (b)
Example 2: What did Bama see? · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level
What did Bama see the elder of her community do with a packet of vadais?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- He carried it by its string, without touching it, to the landlord (1 mark).
Answer: He carried it by the string, without touching it, to the landlord at the threshing floor.
Example 3: Judewin and Zitkala-Sa · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Compare how Judewin and Zitkala-Sa react to the news that their hair will be cut. Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Judewin advises submission (1).
- Zitkala-Sa refuses and hides (1).
Answer: Judewin, who knows a little English, accepts that they must submit because the school authorities are strong. Zitkala-Sa cannot bear the shame of a cowards' haircut. She refuses, saying she will struggle first, and hides under a bed. The two reactions show caution against defiance.
Example 4: Annan's advice · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
How does Annan help Bama understand and respond to untouchability? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- He explains it (1).
- He advises education (1).
Answer: Annan explains that upper-caste people believe a Dalit's touch pollutes their food, which is why the elder carried the packet by its string. He tells Bama that she can throw off such indignities by studying hard, so that people will come to her of their own accord.
Example 5: Whose response is more effective? · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Zitkala-Sa fights and loses; Bama studies and succeeds. Which response do you think is more effective against discrimination, and why? Write in 120-150 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Introduction: both responses (1).
- Body: evidence for each (2).
- Judgement (1).
- Conclusion and accuracy (1).
Answer: Both responses show courage, but Bama's is more effective in the long run. Zitkala-Sa hides under a bed and fights, kicking and scratching, but she is much weaker than the adults, is tied to a chair and loses her braid and her spirit. Her resistance is brave, yet it cannot stop a powerful system. Bama, hearing Annan's advice, turns her anger into hard work. She studies with all her heart and stands first in her class, and she earns friends and respect. Education gives her the power to challenge the very idea that her people are lesser. Still, Bama's response was possible because Annan guided her and explained the cause of her pain; Zitkala-Sa had no such support from anyone older. In my view, a combination of dignity, open resistance and learning is the best answer to discrimination.
Where students lose marks in Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Mixing the two settings
The two accounts come from different cultures.
Wrong working
Bama was taken to a missionary school and her hair was cut.
Right working
Zitkala-Sa was at the missionary school; Bama was a Tamil Dalit girl in the third class.
Do this: Use H-V.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Saying Zitkala-Sa agrees to the haircut
She refuses and struggles.
Wrong working
She accepted the haircut as Judewin said.
Right working
She refused, hid under a bed, and was dragged out, kicking and scratching.
Do this: Quote I will not submit.
Usually costs: 1 to 2 marks.
Mistake: Omitting Annan's role
Annan gives the key message.
Wrong working
Bama decided to study by herself.
Right working
Annan advised her to work hard and learn; she then stood first in her class.
Do this: Always mention Annan.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Treating both as the same discrimination
One is racial and cultural, the other caste-based.
Wrong working
Both girls faced caste prejudice.
Right working
Zitkala-Sa faced racial and cultural discrimination; Bama faced caste discrimination.
Do this: Name the kind of injustice.
Usually costs: 1 of 5 marks.
Exam tips
- Use H-V (hair and vadai) to match each girl to her incident.
- Name the kind of discrimination for each: racial and cultural; caste.
- In a comparison, include at least two similarities and two differences.
- Quote I will not submit and we too are human beings.
- Keep a sensitive, respectful tone about caste and race.
Practice questions on Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
What does Judewin advise Zitkala-Sa to do about the haircut?
(a) Run away (b) Submit because they are strong (c) Complain to the teacher (d) Hide with herHint
She knows a little English.
Answer
(b) Submit because the paleface woman and others are strong.
Q2 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
What does Zitkala-Sa mean when she says she felt like one of many little animals driven by a herder? Answer in 40-50 words.
Hint
Dehumanised and powerless.
Answer
She felt treated like an animal in a herd, driven from place to place without any say. The school took away her mother, her language, her clothes and finally her hair. The image shows how powerless and dehumanised she felt among the strangers who controlled her life.
Q3 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
How do the two parts of the chapter present children's early awareness of injustice? Answer in 120-150 words.
Hint
First day at school; the vadai incident.
Answer
Both parts show that children sense injustice early and painfully. Zitkala-Sa is a small girl on her first day in a strange school. She is confused by the bells, the language and the loss of her blanket, and when she hears of the haircut she knows at once that it will shame her. Bama, an observant child on her way home, is first amused by the sight of an elder carrying vadais by a string, but after Annan explains, she is sad and angry and feels that people have lost all human feeling. She says that her people too are human beings. In both cases, the children react with feelings and actions that adults might not expect. Their accounts show that discrimination reaches even the youngest, and that its pain stays for a lifetime.
Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why does the writer describe Bama's walk home in such detail before the incident? Answer in 40-50 words.
Hint
Contrast of mood.
Answer
Bama's long list of sights, such as the monkey, the snake charmer and the festival, shows a child's joy and curiosity. This cheerful mood makes the sudden sadness stronger when she learns about untouchability. The contrast shows how injustice breaks into a child's happy world.
Q5 · 2 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
A student says the chapter is only about the past and has no relevance today. Evaluate this view in 40-50 words.
Hint
Do such indignities still exist?
Answer
The view is doubtful. Forced assimilation and caste prejudice may have changed in form, but discrimination against minorities and the poor still exists in many places. The chapter remains relevant because it asks us to respect all people as human beings.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.Who is the author of Part I?Show answer
Zitkala-Sa.
2.Who warns her about the haircut?Show answer
Her friend Judewin.
3.Where does she hide?Show answer
Under a bed in a dim upstairs room.
4.Who explains untouchability to Bama?Show answer
Her elder brother, Annan.
5.What does Annan advise?Show answer
Work hard and learn.
6.What happens to Bama in the end?Show answer
She studies hard, stands first in class and makes many friends.
Zitkala-Sa and Bama Compared: Two Childhoods: frequently asked questions
What is the common theme of the two parts?
Discrimination against marginalised communities and the struggle for dignity.
Who wrote Part II?
Bama, a Tamil Dalit writer, in her autobiographical work.
Why is long hair important to Zitkala-Sa?
In her culture shingled hair marked cowards, so the haircut is a shame.
What question types come from this chapter?
A 2-mark question on a narrator or Annan, and a 5-mark question on discrimination, resistance or education.