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The Curse Of Imperialism And Its Effects On Indian Independence Movement

Decent Essays

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.
To begin, Markandaya conveys imperialism as a system of dominance through social and economic hierarchical changes in the novel. Before the British arrive in India, a person’s caste level was determined by which caste they born into. They would

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