Memories of Childhood Summary In English
I. The Cutting of My Long Hair (Zitkala-Sa)
It was the writer’s first day at school. It was bitter cold. A large bell rang for breakfast. Shoes clattered on bare floors. Many voices murmured. A paleface woman, with white hair, came up after them. They were placed in a line of girls who were marching into the dinning room. She walked noiselessly in her soft moccasins. She felt like sinking to the floor, for her blanket had been removed from her shoulders. The Indian girls did not seem to care though they were more immodestly dressed in tight fitting clothes. The boys entered at an opposite door. A small bell was tapped. Each of the pupils drew a chair from under the table. The writer pulled out hers. She at once slipped into it from one side. She turned her head. She found that she was the only one seated. All the rest at their table remained standing. She began to rise. A second bell sounded. All were seated at last. She heard a man’s voice at the end of the hall. She looked around to see him. All the others hung their heads over their plates. She found the paleface woman looking at her. The man stopped his mutterings. Then a third bell was tapped. Everyone picked up his knife and fork and began eating. She began to cry. This eating by formula was a difficult experience.
Late in the morning her friend Judewin told her that she had overheard the paleface woman talk about cutting their long heavy hair. Among their people, short hair was worn by mourners and shingled hair by cowards. Judewin said that they had to submit because the school authorities were strong. The writer rebelled. She decided to struggle before submitting.
When no one noticed, she disappeared and crept upstairs. She hid herself under the bed in a large room with three white beds in it. She heard loud voices in the hall calling her name. Even Judewin was searching for her. She did not open her mouth to answer. The sound of steps came nearer and nearer. Women and girls entered the room. They searched her everywhere. Someone threw up the curtains. The room was filled with sudden light. They stopped and looked under the bed. She was dragged out. She resisted by kicking and scratching wildly. She was carried downstairs and tied fast in a chair.
She cried aloud and shook her head. Then she felt the cold blade of scissors against her neck. One of her thick braids was removed. Her long hair was being shingled like a coward’s. Since the day she had come here, she had suffered insults. People had stared at her. She had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet. She moaned for her mother, but no one came to comfort her. Now she was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.
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1 окт 2024
