Nectar in a Sieve (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Kamala Markandaya
- First Published: 1954
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Historical realism
- Time of Work: The 1930’s to the 1940’s
- Setting: Rural southern India
- Principal Characters: Rukmani, Nathan, Kenny, Sevlam, Ira, Kunthi, Puli
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism, Social realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, Culture, Family or family life, Tradition, Class conflict, Colonialism, Love or romance, Race, Nature, Marriage, 1940’s, Rural or country life, Villages, 1930’s, Poverty or poor people, Farms, farmers, or farming, Faith, India or East Indian people, Small-town life, Lifestyles, Economic conditions, Hindus or Hinduism, Life, philosophy of, Modernization, Industrialization
- Locales: India
Form and Content
Nectar in a Sieve centers on the changing socioeconomic milieu of a small village in southern India. Kamala Markandaya focuses the effects of these changes through the plight of Rukmani and her husband, Nathan. They are farmers who grow and sell grain, exchanging their crop for food at the village; Rukmani also has a fruit and vegetable patch for their own consumption. They expect their sons to carry on their age-old tradition of tilling the land, living in extended family networks and maintaining Hindu values, but things begin to change. A large...
[The entire page is 1727 words long]
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