By Any Other Name
Santha talked about her personal experiences that helped to shape her own identity as an Indian girl. She described racism and the significance of name through her school life in the British school. Historically British had superior feeling toward Indians because India was one of their colonies. Therefore, many British brought their own culture into there and enforced Indians to be accumulated in British identity. Santha’s teacher was the one who persuaded England nationality and had no interest toward Indian culture. The teacher gave Santha and her sister British names just for the purpose easily to remember. She neglected their own identity by which built up in the Indian culture.
Name is so important to justify who the person is. The power of naming is an identical tool which shows one’s sex, race, identity and individuality. If you change someone’s name, his or her identity has been changed meanwhile because it takes time that name begins to fit the individual and build up one’s personality. “The ayah found me, shouted at the cook’s son, scolded me, hurried me in to supper- it was an entirely usual, wonderful evening.”(Rau P148) Her name, “ayah” is not capitalized, and it shows her cultural identity has lost because she is not even treated as human being. “To be unnamed is to be unknown, to have no identity.”(Bosmajian P155) Bosmajian demands the importance of receiving name to describe that name is a symbol of identity. It is same as not existing unless he receives his own name. The class distinction labeled Ayah’s name of value. She was enforced to avoid her Indian identity to blend in British culture. She needed to wear cotton clothing, behave like a British girl; polite and elegant. Our society still has such cultural enforcement. Each of us should accept different cultures to make it more comfortable society.
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