Erica DiNapoli
HW 2
Poisoned Bread contains short stories and memoirs of the Dalit people and their everyday
lives. Thought these short stories and memoirs we hear the voices of struggle and
resistance. Looking at two of the short stories: Naja Goes to School-and Doesn’t and
Explosion show both resistance and struggle among the people living under the Dalit
Caste.
In the short story Naja Goes to School-and Doesn’t a young girl named Naja gets a
scholarship to go to school. Being able to get an education gives Naja hope that her life
will be better after her education. Also it gives her acceptance and a sense of freedom
being able to be a woman and a Dalit. Naja excels quick in the school and soon enough a
new headmaster takes over. The new headmaster informs Naja that she will need to go to
an all-girl school in another city. Not having the funds to this Naja must stop her
education. All hope and dreams are crushed for Naja. Appa tells Naja “We have no food to
eat. We are the poorest of the poor.” This shows how the Dalit people living in India
struggle to not only be able to get an education, but to even have food to eat. Also Naja
struggles people a woman because if she were a male she could have continued her
education at the school she was at. Throught the rest of this short story we can see that
these people work very hard and have little to show. “How long do I starve and work?”
