HCE 9 – English Assignment

My narrative paragraph was inspired by the “Assimilation vs. Inclusivity” created by an unknown artist.

The Grey Ladies

I was on a big bus, filled with all the kids from my village. Mama and Papa were talking last night, saying they were coming. I didn’t know what that meant. Now I did. The children in my village were being taken by old ladies, pale as the snow that dusted the ground during deep winter, wearing long, woollen grey dresses. I called them the grey ladies in my head. I called them ma’am out loud. We were taken to a big gray building that had tiny windows on every wall, with a big bronze sign over the doors. I was told to get off the bus. I was very scared. I wanted to see Mama. The grey lady told me to go through the big doors with all the other children. There was another grey lady inside the doors, who gave me a long woollen dress, not unlike their own. She told me to put it on like the other girls. It was very long and went down past my knees. It was also extremely itchy. I looked around at the rest of the children, and everyone was wearing a long grey dress, like me. Then, a lady came around with a gleaming pair of shears, cutting off our long black hair, one by one. Ida, a girl who I knew well, began crying but she got yelled at and stopped. I was very afraid but kept quiet, not wanting to be yelled at. We were led to little rooms with copper beds for us to sleep in. After some time, I lost track of how many days it had been since I saw Mama and Papa. I tried to say something to my roommate, Ana, in our native language one night, but I couldn’t remember how. That was what scared me the most. I wanted to go home and get away from this horrible gray place. I was older and taller. Would Mama and Papa even recognize me? I didn’t realize it until afterward, but when the grey ladies released me, they were setting me up for failure. I was sent home to my family and couldn’t even speak the same language as them. I had become a grey lady, who couldn’t speak any language except for the one they taught us that was apparently correct. A grey lady who no one could pick out of a crowd. I blended in, and when I left that horrible grey building with its big bronze sign, they said I had done very well. I didn’t feel like I had done well at all.