Nectar In A Sieve

Women in society have always been looked down upon, and not taken seriously for centuries. The coming-of-age novella House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, proves that statement correct. The novella is about a young girl named Esperanza who moves into a house for the first time, on a street named Mango street. The house is not what she envisioned, so she makes plans in her mind to move out and get her own place, far away, but she is still very innocent. While she’s on Mango Street, Esperanza experiences series of events, that force her to mature. In House on Mango Street, the theme that females are looked down upon, taken advantage of, and the ones to blame in society are shown through literary elements such as, conflict and characterization. The gender literary theory applies to this theme. This theme is also shown throughout multiple vignettes such as “Rafaela who drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice on Tuesdays”, “The Monkey Garden” and, “Red Clowns”.

Each woman’s life story shows us how women are treated/viewed in that culture and just how little freedom they have. The women enter into the other women's stories as they are all connected. As their life stories progress, the reader’s perspective changes as they have more understanding about how women are treated in this area of the world. The first woman is Suha

Mahasweta Devi’s short story, “Giribala,” is about the life of Giribala, a girl of Talsana village located in India. Born into a caste in a time when it was still customary to pay a bride-price, Giri is sold to Aulchand by her father. From this point on, we see a series of unfortunate, tragic events that take place in Giri’s life as a result of the circumstances surrounding Giri’s life. There are many issues in Giri’s life in India that Devi highlights to readers. First, the economic instability of the village leads to an extremely poor quality of life for the lower, working classes. Next, the cruel role of women determined by men in society is to either satisfy the sexual desires of men or to reproduce offspring who can work or be sold off to marriages. There are also other social norms and beliefs which discriminate against women that will be discussed.

The author shows a great example of the power these men had against these women in the village. In the time period this story took place, it was amazing to the author to witness that gender inequality was still a very big issue in some places. The author described how shocked she was when she found out that these women were not allowed to

In the novel, The House On Mango Street, women face numerous challenges in their lives. Women face abuse, objectification, and oppression. They are also subjects to the societal roles that hinders them from being free and successful. Cisneros utilizes metaphors to reveal the theme of society’s gender roles restricting the lives and sexuality of women.

Rukmani is told that she will have a grand wedding and is going to be married to a rich man, but instead she is “married to a tenant farmer, who was poor in everything but love and care for me”. (Markandaya 8). Rukmani went from a very nice house with her parents to a poor farmer’s house to spend the rest of her life. In the prime of her life, she is having trouble becoming fertile. Rukmani visits a white doctor named Kenny and asks for treatment. After a couple years, Rukmani has six children, one girl and five boys. Rukmani is overjoyed with her fortune. The calm in the storm soon passed, and Rukmani started to face adversity. One of her sons are killed, another dies of starvation, and three go off to work. Rukmani’s only daughter, Ira, turns to prostitution to save her starving brother, but does not succeed, and the landlord of their farm wants to collect rent. Rukmani’s life could hardly get worse. Soon, monsoons come and replenish the land, and their crops are plentiful. Rukmani could have chosen to give up, but instead she fought hard to provide for her

In the novel, The House On Mango Street, the women of Mango Street face numerous challenges in their lives. Women face abuse, objectification, and oppression. They are also subject to the societal roles that hinders them from being free and successful. Cisneros utilizes metaphors to reveal the theme that society’s gender roles and double standards restrict women’s sexuality and success.

First, this novel showcases acts of caring for family and friends, during a rough time for all the Indians bringing them closer into one community. The protagonist Sabine displays acts of caring among her friends and family. For instance, near the end of the novel, Sabine helps her mother’s friend, Lalita, despite having a sour relationship with her. Sabine saves Lalita from being arrested by lying to a military officer, thus making Sabine a more confident and brave person. Sabine faces her fear of the military and gains the power she

After Rukmani and Nathan’s marriage ceremony, when they got on the bullock cart to go to there future home, Rukmani was saddened by the “disgrace” she had suffered by marrying “beneath her”. But later she is glad that she married as she did because she has come to love Nathan and she believes she couldn’t have had a better husband than him, who cared for her so much.

unfamiliar with the new world that has been placed around them. The novel S​old,​b​y Patricia McCormick, begins with a young girl named Lakshmi, living in a small village in Nepal with her mother, baby brother, and an unworthy step­father. Even though she is dreadfully poor, she is happy and lives a life of wonder and imagination with her best friend, but all too soon, everything changes when the monsoons destroy the family crops. The story continues with Lakshmi leaving to earn money to support her family and learning an unbelievable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. This novel taught me the importance of making sacrifices for loved ones and finding companions

In certain ways it represents the encircling and productive forces that are often related to women as well; the safety of the womb, the feminine forces of creativity and intuition. Water was also commonly used in rituals of rebirth or transformation - something which was greatly connected to the female menstrual cycle in terms of symbolic meaning. Many cultures other than the ancient Greeks had creation myths which involved water to a great extent as well, especially portraying it as a source of life and the essence of which all life is formed. It is even said that “it was from the divine waters of the Mother’s womb that life came into existence” (Laoupi, Pararas-Carayannis) which encompasses both water and womanhood in one fell swoop. Additionally, the cultural role of women was one which was steeped in productivity and aid. This shows yet another parallel aspect which womanhood and water share; the creation, nurturing, and sustaining of life. Both water and women have the capability to ‘bear children’ as well as protect and provide for them. Though it can be incredibly productive, water also symbolizes a great destructive power, for in large quantities it can completely destroy and eradicate entire cities, or even states should they be so small. Through symbolism, water and womanhood are connected, and it is not necessarily always in a positive manor. Not only are there symbols that connect womanhood to water, but the

Adolescence is a time of being forced to come to terms with the more grisly aspects of human nature- and for girls, this means the realization that they are seen as prey by many men. Because of this, Sally acts a crucial role in Mango Street, as her lack of control over her own life sheds light on what the female perspective truly entails. But this narrative of men holding power must change- only when women are empowered can society truly advance. Sally from Mango Street may never experience the freedom to be herself and choose her own path, but Sandra Cisneros has created a book that will work to bring women’s issues out of the

”xiii Indian society is no different when it came to what they expected of their women. In a song composed by a Buddhist nun Sumangalamata, the composer exclaims of her new freedom. She defines herself as “a woman well set free!” and explains that she is free “from kitchen drudgery” and free “from the harsh grip of hunger, from empty cooking pots, (and most importantly) free too of that unscrupulous man.

In the novel, Nectar in a Sieve, the author, Kamala Markandaya creates various themes. One theme from the book is that tensions can be caused by modernization and industrial progress. This theme is highly prevalent throughout the story and broadens the reader’s outlook on modernization. Markandaya writes of a primitive village that is going through a severe change. Her ability to form a plethora of characters with different opinions, yet to share one main culture, helps highlight the tensions in the village.

She makes an important point when trying to go beyond the female (otherness), by paying careful attention to differences among women themselves, and by putting emphasize on the multiple realties that women faces, and by that trying to uncover universalist interpretations (Parpart and Marchand 1995:6). She reveals the inadequacy of binary categories by showing us how power is defined in binary terms, between the people who have (men) and the people who do not (women). This is a consequence of seeing women as a homogenous group, and contributes to the reinforcement of the binary division between men and women (Mohanty 1991:64). By assuming that women are a already constituted group with the same experiences and interests, gender is looked upon as something that can be applied cross cultures (Mohanty 1991:54), and it also produces an assumption about the “average third world woman” as poor and uneducated, in contrast to the educated, modern Western women (Mohanty 1991:56). Implicit in the binary analytic lies the assumption that the third world woman only can be liberated through western rationality. Mohanty is making an important point when emphasising the need to challenge these objectifications (Udayagiri 1995:163).