"Schooldays of an Indian Girl" and "Leaves From the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian by Charlie

Several similarities exist between the works entitled “The Schooldays of an Indian Girl,” and “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian.” The first main similarity I noticed was the internal struggle with which each of the girls was faced. In the first story, the main character was forced to take up the ways of her white counterparts or to come back home and live among her own Native people. In the second excerpt, the main character is faced with a constant identity struggle; she does not feel as if she has a nationality. Both girls are faced with racism and ostracism due to their perceptions as “different.”
Some differences also occur. In the first story, for example, the girl seems to know she is different from white people, and to have already formed a sense of self-understanding in her culture. The girl in the second story seems to not know that she is different from the white people she encounters. She is forced to realize this difference through several life-altering events, including physical violence and torment. She also did her own research on her native country to discover why exactly people seemed to hate the Chinese, and to her surprise, she discovered that her country was among one of the oldest civilizations in existence. This gave her much pride, and over the years, her pride blossomed. She meets people who can relate to her later in the story, and begins to develop a greater sense of self-worth and appreciation for her people. The girl in the first story seemed to have slowly disassociated herself with her Native culture and customs. She knew that her mother would not be happy with her, but she continued her quest for knowledge according to the values of America. Due to being schooled, everything she learned as a small child was taken away from her as she was socialized. She held dearly her values and beliefs for as long as she could, but because of how she was taught, she was not able to maintain them. The girl in the second story was exactly the opposite; she immersed herself into Chinese culture in order to gain a sense of belonging, though she still felt that she did not have a specific race to call her own. I attribute these differences to the environment in which each respective girl was raised.