NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 6 “Memories of Childhood” provide detailed, precise, and easy-to-understand answers to all textbook questions. This complete study guide covers Reading with Insight questions for both autobiographical accounts: “The Cutting of My Long Hair” by Zitkala-Sa and “We Too Are Human Beings” by Bama. Be sure to read both parts of Memories of Childhood Summary to grasp the powerful themes of cultural imperialism, caste oppression, and early resistance more effectively!
Memories of Childhood Class 12 Questions and Answers
Reading with Insight (p. 68)
Q.1. The two accounts that you read above are based in two distant cultures. What is the commonality of theme found in both of them?
Ans. Both accounts describe how a child from a marginalised community suffers discrimination, humiliation and loss of dignity at the hands of a dominant, “mainstream” culture. The common themes are:
- Oppression of a minority: Zitkala-Sa, a Native American girl, is forced into a white-run Indian boarding school. Bama, a Dalit girl, faces untouchability in her village.
- Loss of identity and dignity: Zitkala-Sa’s long hair, her moccasins and her blanket are taken away, and she is made to follow strange rules. Bama’s people are denied honour, dignity and respect because of their birth.
- Children as witnesses to injustice: Both authors experience the injustice at a very young age, before they fully understand it, and feel hurt, anger and helplessness.
- Insensitivity of the dominant group: The people in power see the others as inferior. Zitkala-Sa is treated “like one of many little animals driven by a herder”, and Bama’s elder must carry the vadais by a string so that the landlord is not “polluted”.
- Seeds of resistance: In both cases, the child refuses to accept injustice quietly. Zitkala-Sa rebels (“I will not submit! I will struggle first!”), and Bama resolves to study hard and rise.
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?
Ans. Yes, I agree. Children are very observant and have a natural sense of fairness, and they feel injustice even if they cannot explain it.
- Zitkala-Sa: She does not understand English or the school rules, but she understands that she is being humiliated. She hides under the bed, kicks and scratches when dragged out, and says she will “struggle first”. When her hair is cut, she feels she has been treated like a coward and an animal. This early experience later makes her a writer and activist against the Carlisle school and the oppression of her people.
- Bama: At first she only laughs at the sight of the elder carrying the packet. When her brother explains the reason, she feels sad and angry: “But we too are human beings.” She says that her people should not run such errands. She studies hard, becomes first in class, and later becomes a writer who fights against caste discrimination.
- Both show that children notice injustice (staring, rules, differences in treatment), and that this experience stays with them and eventually leads to resistance. As Bama writes, she “had already seen, felt, experienced and been humiliated” by untouchability even before she heard the word.
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?
Ans. Zitkala-Sa’s discrimination: It is cultural and racial discrimination against Native Americans (American Indians). The white-run school tries to erase her culture and identity by:
- taking away her moccasins and blanket and dressing her in stiff shoes and tight clothes;
- forcing her to follow strange customs (eating “by formula”, with bells for sitting and eating) without any explanation;
- forbidding or ignoring her language and speaking in an “unknown tongue”;
- and cutting her long hair, which in her culture is a sign of shame (only mourners and cowards had short hair).
She is treated as an “animal driven by a herder”, with no gentleness or respect for her feelings.
Their responses:
| Zitkala-Sa | Bama | |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate reaction | Open resistance and rebellion. She runs away, hides under a bed, and fights (kicking and scratching) when she is found. But in the end she is overpowered, tied to a chair and her hair is cut, and she loses her spirit and cries for her mother. | Shock, sadness and anger. She laughs at first, then feels “terribly sad” and angry when she learns the reason, and wants to touch the vadais herself. |
| Nature of response | Physical defiance, which fails because of her helplessness against a stronger force. | Intellectual and moral resolve, with her brother’s guidance. |
| Long-term response | She becomes an educated writer and activist who criticises the Indian school and oppression. | She works hard, comes first in class, gains respect and friends, and later writes about Dalit experience (Karukku). |
| Message | Resist injustice, even if you cannot win at once. | Education and self-respect are the way to overcome humiliation. |
Both refuse to accept the injustice as natural, and both later turn their experience into writing as a means of protest.
