Rukumani In A Sieve Character Analysis

Rajam Krishnan occupies an important place among Tamil women novelists. She was born in 1925 Musiri, Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. Her childhood and early adult life were remarkably traditional. Her education was interrupted by her marriage at the age of fourteen. Rajam Krishnan writes that it was “unthinkable that a girl brought up in a conventional middle-class Brahmin family in a village would become a writer”- especially in her case, since she was the youngest member of a joint family. “I had to toil with humility and perseverance, obeying all my husband’s people, to earn a good name and add to my family’s honour and pride…I was calm outside, discharging my duties in the house, but there was a turmoil inside.” Things eased a little within the household when, in 1950, one

Indian fiction in English has matured itself over the years. It has become more expressive and experimental, both thematically and stylistically, than ever, and has come to establish itself as an indigenous branch of world literature. With the passage of time novel in English became recognized as an effective vehicle of human relationships in Indian society. Novelists since the formative years of this genre have been exploring through it, human relationships in the complex Indian society. R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, Anita Desai, Shashi Despande, Arundhti Roy, Kiran Desai, Jumpha Lahiri, Geeta Mehta, and Githa Hariharan etc., have produced social novels which deal with the theory of human relationships in the traditional and

Does accepting one’s femininity mean having to put on a dress and wear makeup? Does expressing one’s femininity mean having to get married, have babies and looking after the children and their husbands at home? The women today can be so much more without losing their feminism. There was a time when men are to hunt and gather food while women stayed at home and cooked and give birth and look after the children. Nowadays, women are as educated as the men and are able to hold any position that had been reserved for men. Women today are politicians, leaders of countries, professionals and even combat soldiers. Thus, they have proven that they are equal to any tasks. The only reason why they are lacking is probably because of social stereotyping. This is the reason why it is particularly important to empower femininity.

This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.

My opinion I would agree that I would most relate to Rukmani because she demonstrates her true character each time she overcame one of her problems. For example, throughout the novel, Rukmani faces a lot of adversity such as whether it was showing compassion to those less fortunate than her, persevering for the sake of herself and her family. She is a very strong character by learning how to help others. This relates to me because during the past couple of years, I have become stronger of a person and to help others around me. Over the years she endures loss, rage, poverty, and starvation. Another example, she learns to control and face the consequences of her actions. In my life I have endures a loss in my family and I have also learned how

Mr. Argyle focuses on various themes and comparisons presented in Nectar in a Sieve and juxtaposed them to the ones in Thomas Mann’s poems. By doing so, he elucidates that there is another way to perceive life and not to mundane idea that the destiny of a man is determined by the politics around him. Based on the depth of the analysis he makes, the author’s intended audience would include scholars, and people who are familiar with Indian culture and the distinct association of poverty with social classes. Additionally, he does assume that his audience is familiar with the religious aspects on Indian life. He presents a critical view on how fate and time play crucial roles in this ever-changing life Rukmani and her husband, Nathan experience.

Nectar In A Sieve is a novel which tells the story of Rukmani and her family’s daily experiences and hardships living in a rural Indian village. In the novel, the characters are often plagued by hardships, although, not every character handles those hardships in the same way.

Feminine longings can be considered as a recurrent theme in the writings of Rokheya Sakhawat Hossain and Kamala Das. The critical analysis of both these writers may remain incomplete without mentioning the feminine longings within their text. Rokheya Sakhawat Hossain and Kamala Das were two distinguished authors. They were representing two generations almost a century apart. Rokheya Sakhawat Hossain was born in 1880 where as Kamala Das was born in 1934.Rokheya belongs to the northern part of India, precisely colonized Bengal. Kamala Das hails from the South, precisely from the Southern Malabar in Kerala. The place Calcutta has much significance in the writing

Challenges are everywhere in life, and you can never escape them. They are difficult to overcome, but the human race always find a way through them enhancing their knowledge. Kamala Markandaya illustrates all of life's challenges put onto one's shoulders in the novel “Nectar in a Sieve”. In her story, she tells the reader about Nathan and Rukmani two destitute farmers who live in 1950s rural India, they face many challenges and hardships during their lifetime such as bad weather, industrialization and more. By describing all of these hardships and challenges, Markandaya shows the determination of one and how one shall never give up to overcome the dilemma and obstacle thrown at them.

Anita Nair is a popular Indian English-language writer. She has much insight into the concerns of studies, family, love and striving for fame and fortune . She makes an attempt to show the quality of strength in a woman. Anita Nair also adds that strength is not usually considered a woman as this. Her styles ultimately differ from other feminist writers. In other words, she is a feminist with difference. She traces the real position of women in the families as well as in the society. Her attempt to exhibit the plight, fears, dilemmas, contradictions and ambitions of her women characters is remarkable. Her primary focus of attention is the world of women, the struggle of women in the content of modern Indian society. Her novel reveals the

Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent leader in the Indian independence movement against Britain once said, “Violent nationalism, otherwise known as imperialism, is a curse.” This curse of imperialism is shown all throughout Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve. Nectar in a Sieve is about the pain and suffering an Indian woman, named Rukmani, goes through in order to survive in British-ruled India. The presence of British imperialism in India negatively affects Rukmani and other Indians by making survival even harder for them. Throughout history, imperialism can be seen destroying the economies and committing cultural genocide of the countries being imperialized for the personal gain of the imperializing country. Geopolitics played an important role in India being sought by Britain because India had natural resources, readily-available cheap labor, an abundance of raw materials, and was the center of trade in Asia. Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve conveys imperialism as a system of dominance, rather than global progress, by writing about how British presence corrupted the social and economic order in India, destroyed India’s economy, and how Rukmani and Kenny’s relationship is a microcosm of the imbalance of power between India and Britain.

The novel, Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya, takes readers on a journey of the struggling country of India. As a series of characters are introduced, we meet Rukmani, the narrator and protagonist. Rukmani is portrayed as a positive woman as she and her family endure the challenges of poverty. She embodies gender issues despite the unavoidable superiority of males. Nectar in a Sieve provokes readers to question power shifts and role of women in rural, isolated, or impoverished cultures.

The paper, titled ‘Revelation of Psychic Wholeness in Shobha De’s Sultry Days’ discusses the powerful site of rebellion and self- assertion in Shobha De’s Sultry Days(1994). The protagonist Nisha is transformed from the ingénue of submissive woman into a thriving complex character by asserting and establishing psychic wholeness. The novel apart from throwing light on the world of advertising, journalism, glamour encased in the hollowness, artificiality and inner fragmentation of the upper class society, also focuses on Nisha’s voyage towards self-realization. The novel also attempts to propagate that female subjectivity can resist male injustice and is capable of sustenance by facing it confidently eventually evolving triumphant.

Woman in Shashi Deshpande's novels is initially an unconventional one. She willy-nilly submits herself to the tradition, perhaps realizing the wisdom of the traditional ways at this stirring moment of the transitional phase of society. Ultimately, she is an appendage to man or family. Though economically independent, she is emotionally dependent on her husband.

Bharati Mukherjee is one of the accomplished diasporic writers. Her writing focuses mainly on women’s suppression, struggle to overcome the problems and attempt to attain identification. Bharati Mukherjee also depicts the cultural conflicts between the East and the West. When a person enters into a new culture from the old one, the conflict arises between the two cultures in the alien land. This paper explores how the female character, Jasmine is portrayed as protagonist in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine. Bharati Mukherjee portrays Indian woman as protagonist in all her novels and the character takes brave decision to emigrate which is the first major step of heroism. The character is portrayed with the capable of facing adventures and creates own happiness and identity, unyielding by conventionality. In Jasmine (1989),