I really enjoyed how these two stories compliment eachother is several ways. Reading them one right after the other really helped notice the disticnt similarities and differences between them.
The similarity that stood out to me most between these two stories stems back to the idea of being watched. In the first text, From the School Days of an Indian Girl, I could almost feel the unease and pressure the Indian girl felt while riding on the train. "I sank deep into the corner of my seat, for I resented being watched... Sometimes they took their forefingers out of their mouths and pointed at my moccasined feet." On this train, the degree in which the "fair people" are watching this young girl is extremely rude. In the second text, Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, the little girl, Sui, experiences what it is like to be watched as well. "He adjusts his eyeglasses and surveys me critically. 'Ah indeed' he exclaims, '...very interesting little creature.'" In both of these texts, the girls are being watched, criticized, and looked at as if they were aliens.
The main difference I noticed between the two stories is the way in which the two girls dealt with their cultural differences. The little Indian girl struggled with being different and it seemed that she eventually gave into the "fair" people and conformed the the ways of the pale-skin people. However, Sui, held on to her heritage and accepted the fact that she was Chinese and was different. She never lost sight of who she was or where she came from.
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I really agree with your summary. I think you had really great observations, and I too, liked reading them one after another, it really showed how different Sui and the Indian girl were. I think girls right now are still struggling with the same social pressures that they had to deal with, some people are just better at dealing with acceptance and in this case, I think Sui was stronger.
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