Thursday, July 26th

The two main characters in today's readings share a similar feeling of being different in American society. One, a little half-Chinese girl, and the other a little Indian girl. They are taken from their homelands at a very early age and are immersed in American society. Even at such a young age they both resist this westernization, knowing that it is not right.

The main similarities that can be drawn between the two stories is that as young girls both women hold fast to their Indian and Chinese nationalities. They resist westernization and stand up against it and ridicule for their unknown heritage from the "pale faced" people.
In the excerpt "from The School Days of an Indian Girl" by Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin,) the girl is embarrassed at the beginning by the "pale faced" children starring at her and pointing out her differences from them. Then a "pale faced" woman starts tossing her in the air, and bouncing her playfully, and she is insulted by such trifling. She holds hard to her heritage and fights the change into American ways when she is young. When they cut her long hair off she says she has "lost her spirit," and I think from this moment on she almost gives in to the change.
In the excerpt "from Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" by Sui Sin Far (Edith Maud Eton," at a young age she learns that she is something different, apart from the other children and while her mother might have forgotten, she has not. People and children alike ridicule her for having a Chinese mother, and she yells at some teasers one day, "I'd rather be Chinese than anything else in the world." (p.524) The ridicule sometimes becomes too much for her and she thinks of "mysteriously disappearing." however she soon learns from all her readings of China that people are just ignorant. At age 18 she can't understand why the others are ignorant of her superiority. Even in the face of ridicule from her boss and fellow townspeople she stands up and says that she is Chinese.
However, they both gradually come to accept the change over, while still holding onto pieces of their heritage in their hearts.

In "The School Days of an Indian Girl," she ends up going to college after her schooling, against her mother's wishes, and even still there she is humiliated and ridiculed. Even though she bests her fellow students at a contest, this victory does not satisfy her heart, because her mother was holding a charge against her. The charge, not returning home to her homeland to live with her people, instead she goes to college to learn more American things.

In "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian," she travels back and forth between the East and West and recognizes that, "After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more than nationality. "You are you and I am I," says Confucius. I give my right hand to the Occidentals and my left to the Orientals, hoping that between them they will not utterly destroy the insignificant "connecting link." And that's all." (p.533)

The biggest difference that I noted was that in "The Schooldays of an Indian Girl" she still recognizes her true home is with her mother and people on the plains. In the "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" she can't chose between the east or the west. She feels strong ties to both sides of her nationality and sites that being an individual is more important to her than having one nationality. I think the reason why in this instance the girls are different is because one is full blooded Indian and the other is Eurasian, a mix. The Indian girl is raised on the plains with her people and is taken away to be schooled. Her mother wants her to come home after the initial 3 years of school and return to her people. The Eurasian girl is born in America, and her mother does not recognize that she is Chinese. Her mother fully accepts westernization and wants to stay in America, not China, her nationality.