Author

● Faustina Mary Fatima was a Dalit feminist who was born in a catholic family from
puthupatti - her pen name was Bama.
● Early education in village, and after graduation she became a nun for 7 years.
● In the convent, she found oppression of Dalit children and teachers.
● She started writing Karukku, a book based on her childhood experiences, upon
encouragement from a friend.
● She was banished from her village because of the way she portrayed her village.
● Later on in life, she got a loan and set up a school for Dalit children in Uthiramerur.
● Bame once said that she writes because considers it her duty to share her
experiences and the experiences of the people who surround her.
● Bama’s novels generally portray caste and gender discrimination, her works embody
Dalit feminism.
Summary
● Autobiography
● About how she faced discrimination for being a Dalit who converted to a Christian.
● The author is depicted as living in poverty and facing economic marginalization as a
result of her caste system.
● As the author grows older, she starts to understand why discrimination occurs in the
world.
Themes
● Caste discrimination
● Oppression and sexism.
○ “The men in my community treated us like property. They treated us like
animals.”
○ “I was treated as a sexual object by the men in my community. They treated
me like a thing to be used and discarded.”
○ “I knew that I had to fight against the oppression of my people. I knew that I
had to fight against the oppression of my sisters.”
● Identity
○ “I realized that I could not escape my Dalit identity. I realized that I had to
embrace it.”
○ “I was torn between my past and my present, between my old identity and
my new one.”
○ “I realized that my identity was not fixed, but constantly evolving.”
● Importance of education
○ “I was denied education because of my caste. I was not allowed to attend
school.”
○ “I realized that education was not just about reading and writing. It was
about understanding my place in the world and my relationship to society.”
 ○ “I was proud of my achievements, despite the obstacles I faced. I knew that
education had the power to change my life.”
● Resilience
○ “I learned to fight back. I learned to use my voice and assert my rights.”
○ “I was determined to educate myself. I taught myself to read and write.”
○ “I realized that resistance was not just about the big, grand gestures. It was
about the small, everyday acts of defiance.”
● Religion
○ “I realized that Christianity gave me a voice. It gave me the courage to speak
out against the injustices I face.”
○ “I was drawn to Christianity because of its message of equality and social
justice.”
Chapter 1
● Summary
○ The chapter starts with a pleasant description of Bama’s village and its
beauty.
○ There’s a clear hierarchy established, with landowners (such as the Naicker
family) at the top and the rest having to work on the fields they own.
■ The issues of scarcity and survival don’t apply to the rich.
○ Bama also talks about injustice and unequal rights, the laborers weren’t even
allowed to fish for their own food,
○ There’s a lot of local tales with supernatural elements, like ‘peys’.
○ Religion is very important in the mostly Christian village, but everyone uses
nicknames instead of people’s Christian names.
● Extract analysis
○ “Sobbed his heart out like a woman”
■ Stands out because the rest of the passage is bluntly written.
■ The simile comparing the crying to that of a woman shows that the
villagers had an orthodox perception of gender roles, and highlights
how the village was behind its times even for a 20th century setting.
○ “All sorts of fibs, and somehow got round him.”
■ Ambiguity of the story.
■ Makes the reader question whether the story is true.
○ “If I have been a true and faithful wife”
■ It seems like Nallathangaal’s worth in this time period is dependent on
their role as a wife, rather than their own accomplishments.
■ She says it as if it’s her redeeming quality and biggest source of pride.
○ “Were so ravenous that they fell upon”
■ Dehumanization or zoomorphism.
■ Shows that they were going hungry and food was a luxury.
 ■ Hard time for the village, but there’s not much mention of complaints
in the chapter.
○ “The vain and conceited one”
■ As if Muuli Alangaari isn’t worthy of her name.
■ This is also similar to many classic tales or fables which have orals and
focus on the characters’ traits.
■ Since both words mean the same thing, it shows that the author is
trying to emphasize the negative trait.
○ “Last little one escaped and ran away”
■ This sets up a bit of hope at the end of a horrific sequence of events.
■ This anticlimactic ending may foreshadow that there is no light at the
end of the tunnel in this book.
○ “Threw her inside, and killed her.”
■ Although this is a very unlikeable character, it’s still a very harsh
ending.
■ The blunt description speaks of death as a normal occurrence.
■ Even someone clearly compassionate could do this.
○ “I don’t know whether all this really happened or not.”
■ It’s likely exaggerated or a tale.
Chapter 2
● Summary
○ Bama (the author) mentions untouchability for the first time, she talks about
how she had seen it in practice and had been humiliated by it when she was
young while walking back from school. Like every other day, she used to walk
back from school distracted by the stalls, shops, food, activities, and much
more. She talks about how her 10 minute walk would take her 30-60 minutes
every day because of the distractions. One day while returning back from
school she sees an elderly man carrying a small packet of vadai and barely
touching it, walking towards the naicker. She is amused by this and goes on to
tell her brother. Her brother proceeds to explain to her that the elderly was
not holding it like that for amusement but because he was not ‘allowed’ to
touch the vadai considering that he was a lower caste than the naicker. She
recalls that both her grandmothers used to work as servants for the naicker
caste. She goes on to remember how horribly they were treated, and how
hard they worked every day with almost no reward in return. Bama talks
about how even the schools and churches would favor the upper castes, Even
in college she felt excluded because the lecturer asked the upper caste
students to state their name and registration since the government wanted
them to receive special tuition. After Bama completed her B.Ed she decided to
join a convent school as a teacher. She realized that the nuns in the school
 disdained her as well as the Dalit students studying in that school. She then
decided to become a nun herself to serve the Dalit children and help them.
● Themes
○ Stereotypes
○ Differences
○ Success
○ Power
○ Identity
● Extract 1
○ “I fell about with laughter at the memory of a big man, and an elder at that,
making such a game out of carrying the parcel.”
■ Shows Bama’s innocence at that age.
■ Her brother explains to her how the upper caste won’t accept the
parcel if the man touches the parcel.
■ After hearing this Bama says, “I didn’t want to laugh anymore.”
■ Bama realizes and feels ‘provoked’ and ‘angry’.
○ “What did it mean when they called us ‘Paraya’”?
■ ‘Paraya’ is the name given to the lower caste.
■ Theme of identity, paraya’s identify as the lower caste and are
discriminated against.
○ “And this grandmother, like all other laborers, would call the little boy Ayya,
Master, and run about to do his bidding.”
■ The servants would have to call the little boys ‘ayya’ or ‘master’ which
is demeaning and disrespectful.
■ They had to do this only because they were from a lower caste.
○ “And for some reason, she would behave as if she had been handed the nectar
of the gods.”
■ Comparing the left over rice to nectar of the gods.
○ “Can we change this?”
■ Foreshadows Bama’s ways of changing ‘this’.
■ ‘This’ refers to the discrimination of lower castes.
● Extract 2
○ “The reply that I was given: “What celebration can there be in your caste, for a
First Communion?” They told me, in their domineering way.”
■ Shows the domination of higher castes.
■ Identity
○ “Most of the nuns there were Telugu people. They did not care for Dalits like
us.”
■ The Dalits were not treated properly.
 ■ The Telugu people had some sort of idea about the caste system,
knowing that Dalits were at the bottom of the caste system.
○ “I enjoyed standing up to the authorities and teaching with some skill and
success.”
■ Build up Bama’s character.
Chapter 3
● Summary
○ Talks about the battle/the conflict between parayas and chaaliyas over the
graveyard that parayas had historically utilized in Bama’s village is described
in this chapter. Bama was only 11 years old. The challiyar community school
was next to this graveyard. A different cemetery served the Christians of the
upper caste. The result. Conflicts between the two communities occurred
frequently. When Bama was 11 years old, there was an incident (izhavas
husband’s murder, chaaliyar boy beaten up) that escalated into a huge
altercation and led to unjust police action against the Dalits. She describes
the violence of the police and the tenacity of the ladies in her neighborhood.
She recalls how even the church had turned against them; the priest had even
declined to lend them some money for the legal proceedings.
● Themes
○ Dalit liberation
○ Religious conflict
○ Marginalization
○ Caste discrimination and oppression
● Extract 1
○ “It was during this time too that were frequent skirmishes between our caste
people and the chaaliyar community. Sometimes these would even develop
into full scale fights.”
■ The above lines show the prevailing social scenario that existed in the
country. Caste and creed had a dire influence on the person’s social
standing. There was no harmony and people got into physical fights to
claim their rights or deprive the others of theirs. It also shows that
there is no civil rights and definitely no universal human rights or a
system to protect one. This also highlights the theme of social
discrimination.
○ “The upper-caste Christians had their own cemetery elsewhere.”
■ This line also supports the theme of social discrimination based on
class. It was a time of Christian missionaries flooding the country
giving the Dalits the opportunity to establish a social standing by
converting. Within the same caste, there was inequality based on
 money. The upper rich Christians faced no grief for the community. So
money determines how one is treated.
○ “Those chaaliyar fellows had planned that if they could claim the cemetery by
provoking a fight if need be, then it could become part of the playground or
gardens of their school.”
■ This again highlights how the Dalits were treated with utter disgrace.
○ “But apparently they had much more by way of land, property, and money
than we did. It was because of their possessions that they were so uppity.”
■ This shows the real reason why they behaved the way they did, THey
had the money, power, and a lot of land which allowed them to feel
entitled and behave the way they did. It also again reinforces the
struggle of classes and how if one belonged to the rich if allowed to
behave as if one wished.
○ “Our people forbade the children who normally went past the chaaliyar
settlement on their way to school to walk together in that direction.”
■ This shows the fear and the extent that the Dalits went through. They
were so scared of indulging the other community that they avoided
them completely. They restricted their women from venturing in that
area to avoid any encounters and lay a platform for fights.
Chapter 4
● Summary
○ Bama is talking about her experience growing up and the discrimination she
faced being a Dalit. She explains the social hierarchy and the work each caste
does. Bama then talks about her Patti (grandmother) and how she worked for
the Naickers and what was expected of her. Bama would also work for the
Naickers during her summer break and would do other tasks while she had
school. The Dalits were overworked and underpaid, a theme that reoccurs
throughout the chapter. She also says that health and safety were not a
priority as much as making a living. Bama concludes by saying that she
attended a boarding school for her 9th and 10th grade, where she did not
have to work and could focus on only having to study and eat. She also points
out that children who should be studying, going to school, and playing, were
spending their days working in factories.
● Themes
○ Gender discrimination
■ “It was always the girl children who had to look after all the chores at
home.”
■ “Men received one wage, women another. They always paid men
more.”
○ Caste discrimination
 ■ “I should not touch their good.”
■ “I should never come close to where they were.”
■ “I should always stand to one side.”
○ Resilience
■ “Only by toiling like this, without taking any account of their bodies as
human flesh and blood, that people of my community could even
survive.”
○ Education
■ “At any age when they should be going to school, studying like
everyone else, and playing about in the evening, they are shut up
inside factories instead.”
○ Identity
■ “Our people laughs and were cheerful.”
■ “This is a community that was born to work.”
● Extract
○ “A bundle.”
■ Shows the extent to which they have to go for just the bare minimum.
○ “Vomiting vast gobs of blood.”
■ Imagery of hard work and potential death due to the amount of blood.
■ Have to work despite unfavorable conditions.
○ “But it was only by toiling like this, without taking any account of their bodies
as human flesh and blood, that people of my community could even survive.”
■ Shows resilience as they still keep working besides the toll it takes.
■ Flesh and blood is organic imagery showing a connection to nature.
○ “Carrying their younger sibling on their hips.”
■ Gives a maternal image.
■ Emphasizes on the responsibilities placed on kids.
○ “It was always the girl children who had to look after all the chores at home.”
■ Shows the gender divide that is still prevalent and the typical gender
roles.
Chapter 5
● Summary
○ Gives background about the type of society and time they grew up in
○ Starts off by recollecting childhood memories.
○ Talks about the different games they’d play in their childhood and how the
games evolved with age.
○ Loss of childhood- went to work as soon as they were eligible, no more
playing.
○ Male stereotypes- showcasing of physical strength near the community hall.
○ Talks about how the festivals were different.
 ■ Cinema halls- considered unsafe for the women of their community.
■ She talks about the distance between the church and the community.
■ During new year- Dalits had to give presents to the priests/ mother
superior.
○ End of the chapter, we see that the people are keener on going to the movies
than to the evening mass.
○ The youth would no longer put up plays- only time pass is cinema and
drinking toddy or arrack.
● Themes
○ Gender inequality
○ Caste oppression
● Extract 2
○ “A small urchin was standing completely naked.”
○ “Four sharp blows to his back. The boy couldn’t stand the pain and screamed
out.”
○ “Should you hit him as if he has committed some kind of heinous sin?”
○ “Have you given me some money in order to buy you holy pictures?”
○ “Go home quickly without leaning on the walls or touching anything.”
Chapter 6
● Summary
○ Bama’s father works in the army.
○ Only when he comes back is there plenty of food.
○ There would be good food on Sundays but otherwise only kuuzh.
○ Mother worked as a coolie during wartimes.
○ Admission into a high-fee school.
○ Difference between her and other students.
○ A nun helps her get money for college.
○ Faces shame and humiliation from students and family.
○ Good marks = better treatment.
○ Didn’t attend the college party.
○ Money = power.
○ Education can get the Dalits out of their misery.
○ Convent still had discrimination.
○ “Is it likely that he who finds his, comfort by exploiting us will ever change, or
ever allow the system to change?”
■ Direct reference to the Naicker’s.
● Themes
○ Discrimination
■ “Did I only possess one set of clothing? Didn’t I have any others?”
 ■ “And I realized how deeply shamed one can be for the lack of a few
rupees in one’s hand.”
○ Importance of education
■ “I realized that if only the children on my street acquired a little
education and found jobs, then they too could live reasonably well.”
● Extract 1
○ Family dynamic
■ “Pakistan war, the China war, the Bangladesh war. During those times,
he was never able to send home any money. Nor did we get any
letters.”
■ “My mother had threatened me that my elder brother would kill me if
I ran away from school and returned home.”
■ “A child from the Thevar street of our village joined the school at the
same time as me. Within two days she ran off home.”
○ Loss of innocence
■ “During the school holidays, I’d find some work cleaning groundnuts,
collecting firewood, picking up dry dung.”
○ Poverty
■ “We never forgot to ask for our spending money.”
■ “In the evenings, pluck some wild greens like kuppaikira or
thoyilukkira, and eat it with a quickly stirred and thickened ragi
dough.”
■ “On occasion we children would finish off whatever gruel or porridge
there was. Then it was my mother who had to go hungry.”
○ Change
■ “I felt uncomfortable to stay there, although they fed us well.”
■ “I didn’t at all want to stay and study there.”
■ “Because there was no other way out, I gritted my teeth and stayed.”
● Extract 2
○ “Did I only possess one set of clothing? Didn’t I have any others?”
■ Consecutive questioning
○ Author’s conflict and how she persisted through it is presented directly.
○ Narrative of how she had to prove herself unlike other students.
○ Lexical choices to show the worthlessness of accessories.
Chapter 7
● Summary
○ Bama talks about her belief in god.
○ She outlines the influence of the church and the nuns.
○ Her confessions before her first communion.
○ She and the host - she lost belief in what the nuns taught her.
 ○ Beatings at the church.
■ Slaps and smacks when young.
■ Pinches when older.
■ Nuns used to grow out their nails so that the pinches hurt more.
○ The new church and the bones that Bama collected.
○ Bama’s house was electrified.
■ Before they used to live with kerosene lamps and all.
■ Now they have electrical current flowing through their house.
■ Shocked herself after putting the stems of 3 flowers into plug points.
■ She took these shocks to imply that the shocks were god’s punishment
for stealing the 3 flowers.
○ ‘Our Lady’ in the mountains Chinnamalai.
○ Chinnamalai festival.
■ Everyone wears good clothes, eats good food, and goes to the church
to ‘Our Lady’
○ Easter, Christmas, and New Year's day.
○ Changed beliefs in god.
■ She believes god to be everywhere.
○ Her decision to become a nun.
● Themes
○ Faith and devotion
■ “The oppressed are not taught about him, but rather, are taught in an
empty and meaningless way about humility, obedience, patience,
gentleness.”
○ Discrimination
■ “That this was the way it was meant to be for Dalits; that there was no
possibility of change. And mainly because of this, those children
seemed to accept everything as their fate.”
● Extract 1
○ “The dark devil that I had been shown in pictures, with a long tail, and with
sharp horns, nails and teeth, coming towards me.”
■ Description of the devil.
■ Visual imagery, puts an image of the devil in the reader’s head.
○ “I did everything that the Sisters told me to do.”
■ Imperative statement.
■ She was told that if she didn’t do what she was told to do, the devil
would harm her.
Chapter 8
● Summary
○ In this chapter, Bama reflects upon how life in the convent was different from
 what she had expected. She idolized the woman who founded the convent
and entered it thinking she would also help to make a difference in the
situation of her community. As she practices to become a nun, she faces the
harsh reality of discrimination and prejudice that exists in the space that she
had thought would be her free space. Reality hits her as she understands that
her family was right about how she would be treated in the convent.
Moreover, one’s status in the convent depended upon how rich the family
was. The school took only a few poor children as a token and those couple of
kids were discriminated against by everyone. Bama was not allowed to do
what she joined the convent to do - instead of helping the poor, she was
forced to serve the rich and do what she was told. Not only did the convent
have no idea about Dalits, but also they spoke to them in an insulting and
harsh manner. Bama served for three years in the first place and was
transferred five times within a month. Again, towards the end of that month,
she was placed in a big school full of rich children. After 6 months in that
school, she packed her things and went back home. As illustrated in this
chapter, Bama’s experiences highlight the existence of discrimination against
Dalits and favoritism of the rich in all institutions.
● Extract
○ “Both family members and others whom I knew outside my home had done
their best to dissuade me.”
■ The family’s and others’ awareness of the discrimination in the
convent.
■ The discrimination is rampant.
■ Everyone is concerned about Bama.
■ Difference of opinion between Bama and everyone else.
■ Bama lacks experience and chooses to believe in the idealistic image
of the convent instead of the reality.
○ “It was only after I had entered the convent that I came to realize that what
they had warned me about was entirely true.”
■ Everyone’s demotivation foreshadows Bama’s experiences in the
convent.
■ Reality is different from her expectations.
■ She’s introduced to the real world and the existing discrimination.
○ “There was such a variety of good things then that one could not make up
one’s mind what to eat and what to forego. Often, I didn’t even know the
names of these good things. And if I did, I couldn’t even pronounce those
names. The comforts and conveniences were such.”
■ The convent is much different from the world that Bama comes from.
■ Shows the richness of the convent.
 ○ “ I felt very strange about it. I felt a kind of shame. At the same time I felt as if
I had gone into a Naicker house. I couldn’t act or speak, or even eat
independently.”
■ Again shows the richness and luxury of the convent.
■ Bama compares the convent to the Naicker house, she compares the
richness of both.
■ The shame could refer to the shame of being a Dalit and living a
luxurious life.
■ She didn’t have freedom. She had to succumb to the dominant class.
○ “I came here for the sake of my people; let these others go their own way.”
■ Here, Bama is comparing her life at the convent to the life she set out
to live.
■ She isn’t living up to her own expectations.
■ ‘My people’ refers to Dalits, the lower caste.
■ Bama joined the convent to help people like her, of the lower caste and
those who live in poverty, but instead she is living a luxurious life with
people from higher castes.

Chapter 9

● Summary
○ Bama’s life after leaving the convent.
○ She lived a restless life after returning home.
○ She needed to look for a job in order to survive.
○ She received a job offer but they only paid her 400 rupees a month.
○ Dalit children didn’t have any certain school they could go, and even if they
took permission to receive education in Christian school, they were told they
would be failed.
○ Dalit women are compelled to roam around unprotected since they would
face difficulties wherever they went, not only because of their gender but also
their caste.
○ She talks about how she herself can understand the difficulties people go
through without having a certain place they can stay in, however, she never
regrets leaving the convent.
○ People in the convent were alienated from the outside world.
○ The convent dulled her life, making her even more confused about the
outside world.
○ She was a strong person when she entered the convent, but after leaving,
she’s become the weakest she’s ever been.
○ She doesn’t know when she will be able to heal properly, but she still has to
 desire to keep going.
● Themes
○ Caste and class
■ “Nadar schools only admit Nadars, and Naicker schools only admit
Naickers. And then, Aiyar school will only teach Aiyar children.”
■ “They are told that if they take Dalit children, their standards will fall.”
○ Gender discrimination
■ “If a woman so much as stands alone and by herself somewhere, all
sorts of men gather towards her showing their teeth.”
○ Loss of innocent / adulthood
■ “But in real life everything turns out differently. We are compelled to
wander about, stricken and unprotected.”
■ “Because I had been caged within that special world. It was difficult
when I came outside to find a way of dealing with the energy of the
real world.”
■ “Rather than live with a fraudulent smile, it is better to lead a life
weeping real tears.”
○ Poverty / importance of wealth
■ “And this was because we had a number of elitist attributes such as
status, money and a comfortable life, and so they never could be close
to us.”
● Extract 1
○ “I didn’t get that job. Why? Because I am a Dalit.”
■ Caste discrimination
■ Even though Bama had the education she didn’t get the job due to her
caste.
○ “I do know what it is to be hungry, to suffer illness in solitude, to stand and
stare without a paisa in one’s hand, to walk along the street without
protection, to be embarrassed by a lack of appropriate clothes, to be
orphaned and entirely alone, to swim against the tide in the life without
position or status or money or authority.”
■ Show what it is like to be a Dalit woman.
■ ‘To swim against the tide’ is a metaphor to go against everything in the
real world or to push past everything the world throws at her.
● Extract 2
○ “Just as people throw sticks and stones to wound a wingless bird, many
people have wounded me with their words and deeds.”
■ Imagery and simile
○ “I have courage. I have a certain pride. I do indeed have a belief that I can live,
a desire that I should live.”
■ As soon as she heals a little, someone brings her down again.
■ Her will and courage are what she needs to survive. Shows
independence and strength.