Analysis Of An Indian Girl And Size 6: The Western Woman's Harem

Kennesha Lee
Professor Nenna
ENC1102- 403997
27 July 2014

Thematic Synthesis of “The School Days of an Indian Girl” & “Size 6: The Western Woman’s Harem”
In both essays “The School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa and “Size 6: The Western Woman’s Harem” by Fatema Mernissi the theme is based around alienation and the definition of normal, which is tested when these ladies step outside of their homelands. In Zitkala-Sa’s essay she tells the story of a young Indian girl who, in transit to be educated by missionaries is left feeling alienated and embarrassed through the sights, and things she endures on her way to the missionary and once she arrives. In Mernissi’s essay she tells another story, but one about a Muslim woman who receives
It began when a woman/the author could not find a skirt that fit her. Making a statement about the fact that she could not find a skirt in her size the saleslady said to her that she is too big (106). This sparks up a conversation that leaves the woman feeling less beautiful and less self-worthy. Mernissi then replies with, “I am too big compared to what?” (106) and the saleslady responds with, “Compared to a size six” (106). Insisting that size four and six are the norm and that she can find her size clothing in a specialty department store. Mernissi is baffled by the saleslady remarks, “That was the first time I had ever heard such nonsense about my size…The flattering comments I received from men in Morocco regarding my particularly generous hips had for decades led me to believe that the entire planet shared their convictions” (106). Mernissi was determined to find out who placed these standards and why did they exist and to her surprise this “norm” is everywhere you go in America. So it is a constant weight of the western women to look a certain way, and she just did not agree with this. She then begins to express to the saleslady how in Morocco there are no sizes, you gather material and have a seamstress make whatever you want. The saleslady then goes on to say, “You mean you don’t watch your weight?...Many women working in highly-paid fashion-related jobs could
Repetitive statements beginning with or including “I” are throughout both essays. They are recounts of actual experiences that these two women bared through; focusing only on one character which is the author which does not change focus throughout the story. “I had arrived in the wonderful land of rosy skies, but I was not happy, as I thought I should be…My long travel and bewildering sights had exhausted me” (104), is a great example from Zitkala-Sa’s essay that shows how the story is told from the author’s recollection. The opening sentence in Mernissi’s essay gave hence to the first person point of view, “It was during my unsuccessful attempt to buy a cotton skirt in an American department store that I was told my hips were too large to fit into a size six…That day I stumbled onto one of the keys to enigma of passive beauty in Western harem fantasies” (106). The fact that these are personal recollections also places them together to share many of the same