Nectar+in+a+Sieve

= **Title of Work** = =Nectar In A Sieve =

= Author = Kamala Markandaya

= Nationality/Ethnic Background = United Kingdom = Genre and Sub-genres = Semi- Autobiographica, social novel, pastoral novel, naturalist novel, love story, parable. = Pertinent Biographical Information = Western students are subjected to life in rural India and the changes that occurred during that country's British colonization. __Nectar In A Sieve__ is a novel about the conflicts between a traditional agricultural culture and a burgeoning industrial capitalistic society. = Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background = Postmodernism Period- The tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth. Book was published in 1954, a few years after India gained political independence from Britain. T he novel provides opportunity for vocabulary study, examination of imagery, and symbolism. = Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts = Rukmani- Rukmani is the wife of Nathan. Nathan is a poor man that she marries because her family cannot afford the dowry for a more financial stable husband. Rukmani grows to love Nathan and they soon have their first child, which is a girl. In this society it is better to have a son, however after her first child, Rukmani becomes infertile. After she meets Kenny, he treats her for her infertility problem and she soon has six sons with Nathan. Soon, Nathan and Rukmani experience marital problems. Rukmani discovers Nathan's infedilities with Kunthi. Rukmani becomes so enraged that she loses control and almost kills her own daughter, Ira thinking that she is Kunthi. Throughout the novel, Rukmani and her family face many obstacles involving money, adultry, and thievery. From starting out as the daughter of a wealthy man, Rukmani grows into a woman who is selfless. Nathan- Nathan is Rukmani's husband. He is less fortunate than Rukmani is growing up. When Rukmani and Nathan first get married, Nathan owns no land and they live in a house made out of mud. Eventually, Rukmani learns to fall in love with him despite his low position in society. However, early in their marriage Nathan deceives Rukmani's trust by having an affair with Kunthi. After confessing this deception to Rukmani, he soon earns her trust again. In defiance of his previous actions, Nathan grows into a respectable, morally sound husband and father to his children. This is shown when Nathan refuses to eat the food bought with the money from Ira's prostitution. Kenny- Kenny is a doctor who becomes one of Rukmani's friends. He helps both Rukmani and Ira conceive children. He builds a hospital in the village and gives a job to Rukmani's third son. Kunthi- Kunthi is Rukmani and Nathan's neighbor who becomes a prostitute and has illicit affairs with Nathan, who fathers two of her sons. Kunthi causes turmoil in many relationships throughout the novel, for example Rukmani and Nathan's marriage.

= Brief Plot Summary = __Nectar in a Sieve__ is a novel about a young woman embarking on life after she gets married off to a poor man named Nathan. At first she is skeptical about the relationship, but she soon grows to love him. Then together Rukmani and Nathan have a child, Ira. After having her first child, Rukmani realizes she is barren and cannot have children anymore. During her time of being infertile, Nathan cheats on Rukmani with their neighbor Kunthi who is a prostitute. Rukmani goes back to her home village to visit her family and is in a slump due to her infertility. In the village she meets a doctor who cures her inability to conceive and Rukmani and Nathan raise six sons after the visit. Once Ira and all of Rukmani's sons have grown, Ira attempts having a baby with her husband and fails therefore seeking Kenny's help. Ira gets successfully impregnated but by this time her husband has already lost hope in her and left her for another woman, therefore leaving Ira on her own to raise the child. Rukmani and Nathan encourage their sons to seek work and some are killed due to violence at the job. By this time Nathan has no sons to help him work and care for the family and he is in his fifties and very old and frail. One of the incidents that resulted in the death of their fourth son comes back to burden Rukmani and Nathan, and their property is taken away thus leaving them with no place to live. Living on the bare minimum, Rukmani and her family resort to living in the streets and at the temple when available. Eventually Rukmani and her family muster together enough money to get a cart back home but while getting ready to leave, Nathan dies. Though the death is devastating, Nathan dies happy and peaceful in Rukmani's arms reminding her that all is well and good.

= Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance = Drumbeats- Dignity is tarnished when you are hungry. Confronting the stranger- Throughout the novel Rukmani confronts multiple strangers who in return give her great advice that aids her. Rice- Rice is used as the symbol for life. Rukmani is given the rice grains and she begins to grow the rice, but they are destroyed in the monsoon. Rukmani grows them again, showing that life goes on. Title: __Nectar In A Sieve__ The title of this book has a large amount of significance to the plot. Nectar was considered of great importance in India in the time period of the book; almost equal in importance as perfume or gasoline is to us today. A sieve is a porous object like a sponge or a container with a hole in it. The imagery of nectar in a sieve, as expressed in the title, is reflected through the plot by how something precious is gathered and just as easily is lost.

= Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events) = Rukmani grew up her whole life being spoiled by the people of the village and being a sheltered child used to the warmth and loving embrace of home so her young marriage to Nathan is a wake-up call. She is so young and unappreciative that she fails to acknowledge the hard work and time Nathan put into their mud hut and looks down upon his hard work. Rukmani's blindness regarding the love and dedication to her relationship is significant in other sections in the book. Rukmani holds a grudge against Kunthi and is blinded are ends up striking her own daughter, Ira, when she is meaning to fight Kunthi. The following statement by Rukmani is forshadowing on what all the plot is about: " While the sun shines on you and the fields are green and beautiful to the eye, and your husband sees beauty in you which no has seen before, and you have a good store of grain laid away for hard times, a roof over you and a sweet stirring in your body, what more can a woman ask for?" This quote is applicaple throught the whole book because of the thematic references used in it. The shining sun and the fields of green can refer to many things; from the happiness Rukmani found in her marriage to Nathan, her fertility and pregnancies, and her source of well-being. The significance of grain is not just for a mere source of survival; grain serves for many more purposes outside of food. Grain is a symbol for life and sustanance which many other symbols in the story are related to, such as: the hut Nathan built, happiness in family, love, and appreciation. = Major Themes = In this novel, a major theme is the importance of trust and telling the truth in ones relationship. To tell the truth may be hard at times, but after the truth is out it won't weigh down on your conscious and it potentially may strengthen the relationship. For example, this is shown through Rukmani's husband coming clean about the affair that he has going on with Kunthi. Another theme in the novel is that the mind is used as the most powerful object that a person can have. For instance, throughout the novel Rukmani tries to teach her children how to read and write, because she knows that a powerful leads to success. Also, Kunthi uses her mind in an evil way to manipulate the men of the village to get what she wants from them.