Santha Rama Rau Analysis

    Santha was thought of by her mother and sister as young and childish. She wasn’t very confident when attending her new school because it was a change of atmosphere from being homeschooled. The teacher made Santha and her sister, Premila, change their names to more English names that were easier for her to pronounce. Santha talks about remembering “[…] having a certain detached and disbelieving concern in the actions of ‘Cynthia’, but certainly no responsibility” (p.671). She felt disassociated from her own identity when she was given a new name. Santha did not feel that she had any responsibility for what Cynthia would do in school, she viewed them as two different people. Santha and her sister left the school for good because of the racist way in which they were being treated. Once she realized she never had to return she explained, “I understood it perfectly, and I remember it all clearly. But I put it happily away, because it had all happened to a girl called Cynthia, and I never was really particularly interested in her” (p.676). Santha ended that chapter of her life grateful that she could be herself again and was happy to be able to close the door on Cynthia.  

    Santha experienced cultural shock when she entered her new school. For her to go from being homeschooled and enjoying her time with her family once the work was done to her going to school each day for hours at a time. There was a shift from learning about her own culture to learning about another culture each day. She had a negative experience at school with racism that would have never happened when she was being homeschooled.

Word Count: 282

Comments

  1. Katie TaylorFebruary 16, 2021 at 1:25 PM

    I agree that Santha Rama Rau certainly felt a shock when transitioning from being homeschooled to attending Anglo-Indian school. On her first day, she was given a new name because the headmaster had trouble pronouncing or remembering names. personally, if that had happened to me, I would also have a bad taste in my mouth from attending school. I would much rather learn from the comfort of my own home where I am not forced to change my given name.

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