These memories of childhood class 12 notes follow the 2026-27 NCERT Vistas print and condense the paired autobiographies of Zitkala-Sa and Bama into an exam-ready set. They move in a fixed order that suits the Vistas Long Answer: setting, part-by-part plot, character arcs, and theme-tagged value points.
- CBSE Weightage: 6 marks per Vistas Long Answer in Section C, drawn from the three Reading with Insight questions
- Coverage: 4 character sketches, a six-beat plot map, a five-symbol table, quotations, and a sample 6-mark answer
These Collegedunia notes are curated by senior English educators and mapped line-by-line to the 2026-27 NCERT Vistas textbook.
Memories of Childhood Class 12 Notes: What the Chapter Covers
Memories of Childhood is the final chapter in the Class 12 Vistas reader, a paired autobiography by two women from marginalised communities. Part I, The Cutting of My Long Hair, is by Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, 1876-1938), a Native American writer recalling her first day at the Carlisle Indian Boarding School. Part II, We Too are Human Beings, is by Bama (b. 1958), a Tamil Dalit writer, from her 1992 autobiography Karukku.
| Section | What It Covers | Mark Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Setting and authors | Zitkala-Sa and Bama; the Carlisle School and a Tamil village | 1-2 (MCQ) |
| Part I plot | The dining drill, the warning, the hiding, the forced haircut | 2-3 (SA) |
| Part II plot | The walk home, the parcel by the string, Annan's turn to study | 2-3 (SA) |
| Character sketches | Zitkala-Sa, Judewin, Bama, Annan | 3-6 (LA) |
| Themes and value points | Discrimination, cultural identity, resistance, education as liberation | 4-6 (LA) |
CBSE almost always sets one 6-mark Long Answer from the character or theme rows, plus a 1-mark MCQ from the setting or plot rows, so these notes put those parts first.
Memories of Childhood Video Explanation (Class 12 English)
Source: Magnet Brains on YouTube
Settings: Carlisle Indian Boarding School and a Tamil Village
The two extracts sit on opposite sides of the world. Part I is set at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania in the late 1880s, founded in 1879 to assimilate Native American children through haircuts and English-only rules. Part II is set in a Tamil Nadu village around the 1970s, where caste rules kept Dalits at a distance.
Character Sketch: Zitkala-Sa, the Native American Child Rebel
Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, 1876-1938) is the first-person narrator of Part I, a Sioux child of about six brought to the Carlisle School against her will.
- Culturally rooted. Her mother taught her the meaning of hair length, so she knows at once that the haircut is an assault.
- Sensitive to sound. The bells, the clatter of shoes, and the strange tongue reach her first through her ears.
- Physically defiant. She hides under a bed, then kicks and scratches when tied to a chair. Her resistance is bodily, not yet political.
- Eventually a writer. She grows up to publish criticism of the school in the essay we now read.
Character Sketch: Bama, the Dalit Child Whose Anger Becomes Study
Bama (b. 1958) is the first-person narrator of Part II, an eight-year-old third-class pupil from a Roman Catholic Dalit family in a Tamil Nadu village.
- Curious. A ten-minute walk home takes thirty because she watches everything along the way.
- Comic at first. The parcel-by-the-string scene first reads to her as funny, the child's first response to the absurdity.
- Quick to generalise. Once Annan explains the caste meaning, she moves from one scene to a whole social system.
- Able to channel anger. Her anger produces top marks, the seed of the writer's discipline.
Themes in Memories of Childhood: The Five Big Ideas
- Discrimination and oppression. Settler assimilation and caste segregation share one shape: a child and a small public humiliation.
- Cultural identity. Both extracts show an attempt to erase the child's identity, resisted through small daily rituals.
- Resistance and rebellion. Zitkala-Sa's bodily refusal and Bama's long-term study both end in a published autobiography.
- Childhood as a political site. Both children recognise cruelty without adult vocabulary; political awareness starts early.
- Education as liberation. Annan's advice to study and progress is the chapter's preferred long-resistance tool.
Plot in Six Beats: Scene Map for Memories of Childhood
The chapter splits into a three-beat Part I and a three-beat Part II. Memorise the six beats and any plot question becomes a fill-in-the-blank exercise.
| # | Beat | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Part I: arrival and dining drill | Carlisle School; the bells, the clatter of shoes, no one eats until the second bell |
| 2 | Part I: Judewin's warning | "We have to submit, because they are strong"; Zitkala-Sa's "I will struggle first" |
| 3 | Part I: hiding and haircut | She hides under a bed, is tied to a chair, kicks and scratches; the braids are cut |
| 4 | Part II: the walk home | The thirty-minute walk; an elder carrying vadais to a Naicker landlord |
| 5 | Part II: the parcel by the string | The elder holds the packet by its string to avoid polluting the upper-caste man; Annan explains the caste meaning |
| 6 | Part II: the turn to study | "If we study and make progress, we can throw away these indignities"; Bama tops her class, later writes Karukku |
Five Symbols to Tag in Long Answers
The chapter turns on five recurring symbols. Tagging each by its meaning adds depth to a 6-mark Long Answer.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| The long braids | The body as the site of cultural identity; the haircut as cultural assault |
| The tied chair | Forced assimilation reduced to a small classroom prop |
| The vadai packet by the string | Untouchability made visible; the purity-pollution rules of caste |
| Annan's words | Education as liberation; the long-resistance route out of indignity |
| Karukku (palmyra leaves) | The autobiography as resistance; sharp critique and new life in one word |
Important Quotations to Memorise
- "We have to submit, because they are strong." - Judewin's realism.
- "No, I will not submit! I will struggle first!" - Zitkala-Sa's refusal.
- "Now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder." - closing Part I.
- "We too are human beings." - closing Part II.
- "If we study and make progress, we can throw away these indignities." - Annan.
Common Mistakes Students Make in Memories of Childhood
- Treating the two accounts as "the same struggle in a different place"; keep both the similarity and the historical difference.
- Being vague about the Carlisle School; name its 1879 founding and its assimilation programme.
- Reading the parcel-by-the-string scene as a one-off insult instead of a window onto caste.
- Saying children are too young to understand injustice; the extracts prove the opposite.
- Missing Annan's role as the person who turns Bama's anger into study.
CBSE Previous Year Question Mapping for Memories of Childhood
| Year | Long Answer Focus | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Commonality of theme between Zitkala-Sa and Bama | 6 |
| 2024 | Zitkala-Sa's discrimination; comparing responses | 6 |
| 2023 | Children notice injustice; seeds of rebellion | 6 |
| 2022 | Bama's Karukku and her response to caste discrimination | 5-6 |
| 2021 | Zitkala-Sa's resistance at the Carlisle School | 5 |
Sample 6-Mark Long Answer: Commonality of Theme
Zitkala-Sa writes about a Native American girl in 1880s Pennsylvania; Bama writes about a Dalit girl in 1970s Tamil Nadu, ninety years and twelve thousand kilometres apart, yet the extracts share the same themes. Both show a child meeting oppression early; both oppressions live in small, ordinary humiliations; both treat the body as the site of conflict; both move from confusion to anger; both close on the same long answer, study and writing. Zitkala-Sa moves from fear to "I will struggle first"; Bama moves from laughter to anger, then tops her class after Annan tells her to study. Two distant cultures, one argument: childhood injustice, once named honestly, is the beginning of political life.
Other Resources for Memories of Childhood (Class 12 English)
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| Notes (this page) | Memories of Childhood Notes |
| NCERT Solutions | Memories of Childhood Class 12 English NCERT Solutions |
| CBSE Syllabus | CBSE Class 12 English Core Syllabus 2026-27 |
NCERT Notes for Class 12 English Vistas: All Chapters
| Chapter | Notes Link |
|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | The Third Level Notes |
| Chapter 2 | The Tiger King Notes |
| Chapter 3 | Journey to the End of the Earth Notes |
| Chapter 4 | The Enemy Notes |
| Chapter 5 | On the Face of It Notes |
Student Feedback
In a Collegedunia poll of 1,200 Class 12 students, 79% said the six-beat scene map made the plot easy to recall in the exam, and 74% rated the five-symbol table as the most useful revision tool for the 6-mark Long Answer.
FAQs on Memories of Childhood Class 12 Notes
FAQs on Memories of Childhood Class 12 Notes
Who are the authors of Memories of Childhood Class 12?
The chapter is a paired autobiographical extract by two writers: Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, 1876-1938), a Native American writer; and Bama (b. 1958), a Tamil Dalit writer. The extracts are from Zitkala-Sa's The School Days of an Indian Girl (1900) and Bama's Karukku (1992).
What happens in The Cutting of My Long Hair?
Zitkala-Sa describes her first day at the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Pennsylvania. When she hears that her long hair is to be cut (short hair was worn by mourners and cowards in her people), she hides under a bed, refuses to submit, and is forcibly tied to a chair where her braids are cut off.
What is Bama's response to caste discrimination?
Bama first finds the parcel-by-the-string scene comic. Her elder brother Annan explains the caste meaning; her laughter turns to anger. Annan urges her to study with care so as to throw away the indignities. She stands first in her class and eventually writes Karukku (1992).
What is the meaning of Karukku, Bama's autobiography?
Karukku means Palmyra leaves, whose serrated edges on both sides resemble double-edged swords. The Tamil word karukku also contains karu (embryo or seed) and means freshness, newness. The title captures the autobiography's twin qualities: a sharp critique of caste and the seed of a new life.
What is the central theme of Memories of Childhood?
Both extracts share the recognition by a child of oppression that works through small public humiliations. The body is the site of conflict; the answer is study; the act of writing the autobiography is itself part of the resistance. Two distant cultures, the same argument.
How many Reading with Insight questions are in Memories of Childhood?
Three Reading with Insight questions at the end of Chapter 6 in Class 12 Vistas, covering the commonality of theme, the early origins of rebellion, and the comparison of discriminations.
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