Wednesday, July 25, 2007
"The Schooldays of an Indian Girl" and "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian"
I definetly noticed several similarities between these two texts. Both of the girls mentioned being stared at, and how that alone gave them the worst feeling of all. It seems that when people would actually come out and say hurtful things, they were able to stand up for themselves and not feel quite as bad as opposed to when the "pale faces" would just stare. I feel like people discriminated against them in the same way in both texts, but in the first one they are actually trying to change her. The discrimination comes from trying to "save" the indian people by making them more American and Christian. The part that really stood out to me in the first text was when they made her fear the devil. They tried to change her beliefs so much, thinking that by scaring her with the devil they would be able to convert her. In the second reading, people didn't try so much to change the Chinese, but were just rudly curious about them. The part that stood out to me in that text was when the finace asks the girl to tell his friends and family that she is actually Japanese, because they would be more interested in a "little Japanese lady". This just shows how ignorent people really are about the importance of your nationality. Even though Japanese and Asians may look the same to most people, there is a big difference between them and it is a big deal to say you're one of them when you're actually the other. People in those days didn't realize that, and I think that even today people don't make an effort to see the difference between Chinese and Japanese.
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6 comments:
I liked what you said about both girls being more uncomfortable with being stared at then actually verbally ridiculed. I didn't pick up on that when I read the first time, and I think it's a rather key and intersting point. Being starred at violated the girls more, and I can see why. At least when someone verbally ridicules you you know what they're thinking and you can respond. A stare is much more personal and penetrating.
I liked your point about using the devil to scare the little Indian girl. I didn't really think of it that way when I first read it, but it makes sense that they were trying to scare her into conversion.
I agree, you made a really good point about how much the girls hated being stared at. I can relate to this only because I know how much I hate being stared at. I would rather someone just come out and tell me what is wrong instead of staring at me as if I have three heads. This was a very interesting point and I feel like I missed it as I was reading the text.
It is interesting how the white people in Zitkala-Sa's story tried to "save" her, and "civilize her", but in Sin Sui Far's story, the white people were more apt to just make fun of her instead of trying to include her in their way of life.
I kind of consider the people in Sui Sin Far's story as trying to "change" her when they tell her to pretend she's Japanese instead of Chinese. I agree though, that it's no comparison for the way that Zitkala Sa was forced into "change".
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