Zitkala Sa reached the hall for the first time. She did not know much about the table manners used there. All the pupils pulled out their chairs On the bell and kept standing. But Zitkala pulled her chair and sat on it. When she saw other students standing she also started to stand. In the meanwhile a second bell rang and all the pupils sat down. A pale faced woman was watching her. At the third bell, all started eating. All these activities confused her. She felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. She started crying.

The Indian girls were in stiff shoes and closely clinging dresses. The small girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair. On her first day Zitkala Sa was not yet in school dress. She was wearing soft flat shoes and the loose clothes of her tribe. Without her blanket on the shoulders, she was feeling shy. For other school girls, Zitkala Sa thought it immodest to dress like that.

Zitkala–Sa is the pen name of Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, who was an American-Indian woman. She was an extraordinarily, talented and educated Native-American Indian woman. She suffered discrimination on the basis of her sex and nationality. She struggled against all this. She wrote articles criticising the dogma and evils of oppression. She belonged to a marginalised community.

The lesson details a good account of two different girls living at distant places. Zitkala Sa is a native American. She is taken away from her mother forcibly because the white people want the native Indians to adopt their culture. Zitkala revolts the way the Indian girls were forced to wear dresses in an immodest way.

She was much perturbed that the brave shingled the long hair of the girls. According to her culture only the mourners or cowardice wear shingled hair. But she could do nothing when they took her bravely, tied in a chair and cut off her hair. But her spirit could not be suppressed.

On the other hand, Bama was a low-caste girl. She saw the upper caste people showing discrimination against the low caste people. They could not touch food and other items of the upper caste people. They had to work for them and bow their heads. Her spirit too revolted against this injustice. She could not understand this human treatment since all are human beings. She wanted honour for all. Her brother Annan told her that she could do away with these indignities if she worked hard. Bama studied hard and stood first in her class. Many people became her friends.

“Eating by Formula”, Zitkala Sa means a set pattern of eating. Accordingly there goes a long bell and the children move in lines to the dinning room. Then there goes another small bell and all the pupils will draw a chair from under the table. After that there goes the third bell. It signals all to sit on their respective seats. Then a man addresses them. After the talk, another bell goes and the eating will start.