In her novel, Markandaya is all out to enhance the traditional picture of the Indian woman as a docile, weak before her life partner. She reshapes her women characters like Rukmani in Nectar in a Sieve as forceful blasters of male self image hierarchy. From this overview one can get two sorts of parts played by women characters in Indian Women Fiction: the traditional and the modern. The female novelists attempt genuine endeavours to extend the suffering of women with a specific goal to educate men and their cognizant. The unconventional are seen to suffer for their violation of accepted norms of society or for questioning them; death is the way out for them, unless their experiences teach them to subdue their individuality and rebelliousness …show more content…
Joy, in Markandaya's reality, comprises in coming back to the crease, to time-worn circles of customary society and not in fleeing. Escape from institutions is viewed as negative. The conservation of female identity inside the circle is allowed. Rukmani understand this. Whether an Indian woman can accomplish full acknowledgment of herself inside the substantial patriarchal folds of this society is begging to be proven wrong. Feminism has not yet turned into a movement, despite the expansion in the quantity of urban working women. Therefore, individual fights for female freedom don't win strong ground in the restricting of patriarchal society. However, there is more acknowledgements and recognition of the power of woman to go up against man's world notwithstanding her own domestic sphere and in this, the Indian woman is just going further and further. if women’s liberation is a battle to accomplish responsible status in the society at that point it is succeeding gradually. But, if women's liberation is a fight to measure up with men then it is a long way from triumph at least in India
Nectar in a Sieve (1954) was Markandaya’s first published work that depicts the life of the protagonist of the novel Rukmini and her Family. In the novel, Rukmini drives the life of mental and physical torments, financial scarcity and hardship, however she shows amazing abstinence. Markandaya presents Rukmini as the positive and dynamic picture of valor amidst unpracticed hardships and depression. "Rukmini’s hard laborer life represents
Culture has the power and ability to give someone spiritual and emotional distinction which shapes one's identity. Without culture society would be less and less diverse. Culture is what gives this earth warmth and color that expands across miles and miles. The author of “The School Days of an Indian Girl”, Zitkala Sa, incorporates the ideals of her Native American culture into her writing. Similarly, Sherman Alexie sheds light onto the hardships he struggled through growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in a chapter titled “Indian Education”. While both Zitkala Sa and Sherman Alexie were Native Americans, and take on a similar persona showcasing their native culture in their text, the two diverge in the situations that they face. Zitkala Sa’s writing takes on a more timid shade as she is incorporated into the “white” culture, whereas Alexie more boldly and willingly immerses himself into the culture of the white man. One must leave something in order to realize how
The word “feminist” has caused turmoil wherever it is uttered. It has gained a negative connotation, and is often mistaken with misandry. While these claims may be true for a minimal number of feminists, the truth is that in order to get an accurate representation on what feminists actually believe one would have to go to the source. The two main problems with that, are that first of all, it is “not rigidly structured or led by a single figure or group”, and most importantly there is not just one kind of feminism, there are hundreds in each aspect of our life (Tavaana, 2014). The most under represented group within feminism is the kind that is in the government. Not all have the same theories, and therefore, do not have the same beliefs. However what we do know is that, whatever theory they have, or agenda they follow, they are all fierce promoters of gender equality.
Nectar in a Sieve. New York: J. Day, 1955. Print. In Indian the child marriage is legally and common. In many jurisdictions is bellow 18 years old, especially on girls. Ruku describes her status as the fourth daughter of an important village headman. By the age of 12 years old, Ruku get married. She dreamed with a lover gentle man for her husband, but Nathan her husband was the opposite quiet and reticent. Although she came from a wealthy family, she describe how she was adapt to a humidly life. Nathan always persisted on having the control over his wife. However, Nathan was in loving his wife spite his behavior. By the 20th century, India women were in different standard than men. Indian women were inferior to men. Nathan was always in love with Ruku but it was very difficult to express that you really felt for his wife. She describes her life in this book as despair and poverty for everything that happened. Despite everything Nathan was at his side and together they faced the shortcomings and difficulties of
On account of cultural influences, gender roles are institutionalized and enacted at the levels of the family, community and society. Culture makes gender roles meet certain inescapable beliefs, assumptions, expectations, and obligations. Cultural practices are treasures of a social group as they are a mark of their identity and assertion. Moreover, certain cultural practices are gender specific and are mandatorymarks of a particular gender. Moreover, there is a lot of meandering in the name of culture that goes into the making of women by patriarchy,as "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" (Beauvoir 295). Gender politics camouflaged by cultural norms and governed by patriarchal interests and manifested in cultural practices like ‘Female Genital Mutilation’ or FGM, make the life of women difficult and burdensome. Alice Walker’s fifthnovel Possessing the Secret of Joy(1992)discusses a tabooed cultural practice called female genital mutilation, camouflaged by gender politics, that is used to subjugate women, to protect the interests of men. Walker through the novel has put forth the idea of Judith Butler of how“gender is performatively produced and compelled by regulatory practices of gender coherence . . . constituting the identity it is purported to be."
Love, an emotion everyone can relate to. This theme draws in many readers as it is a very passionate topic. In Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya, she attempts to use love as a major theme throughout the story to keep the audience engaged. However, this method doesn't work in this case because it is not true love, but rather an undermining theme guised by this “fake love.” The true theme, instead of love, is portrayed as anti-feminism and a degradation in power of women. Therefore, love is not an overlying theme in Nectar in a Sieve, but rather women’s dependence on men, which counters feminism beliefs and gives less power to women.
The novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main protagonist, Arnold Spirit Jr., is a fourteen year old Native American living on a reservation in Spokane, Washington. He attends his high school years at Reardan High School, where he struggles to fit in. His best friend, Rowdy, is also one of Arnold’s main strong influences in his life. This story takes place in modern times, with no specific date given, but it can be implied that it took place in the early 2000s when technology really started to take off. In this novel, the author, Sherman Alexie, emphasizes that finding indentity, caring for family, and overcoming obstacles will lead to a happier life.
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.
Nothing has more of an effect to the controversial conversation of women’s liberation than literature. The subtle cues from Cosmopolitan emphasizing femininity: beauty, sensuality, appreciating the female body… Self-help guidebooks persisting the woman to let go and just be free for once. It is liberating for the woman to see such medias to act upon what they were thinking and to even go beyond that. Talks of
As we compare the traditional women versus modern women, we perceive differences and similarities. Prachi fights for a belief system that controls her meanwhile Ruhi struggles with self-identity and depends on the beauty pageant to empower her as an Indian woman. Prachi defends Hinduism but at the same time, is Hinduism that restrains her from becoming “modern.” Ruhi on the other hand considers herself a very modern girl and she values freedom therefor the pageant is a road to liberation for her. Both girls struggle in distinct ways but their goal is similar, to shape their countries future.
In this chapter Mahasweta Devi’s anthology of short stories entitled Breast Stories to analyze representations of violence and oppression against women in name of gender. In her Breast Stories, Devi twice evokes female characters from ancient Hindu mythology, envisions them as subalterns in the imagined historical context and, creates a link with the female protagonists of her short stories. As the title suggests, Breast Stories is a trilogy of short stories; it has been translated and analyzed by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak and, in Spivak’s view, the ‘breast’ of a woman in these stories becomes the instrument of a brutal condemnation of patriarchy. Indeed, breast can be construed as the motif for violence in the three short stories “Draupadi,” “Breast-Giver,” and “Behind the Bodice,”
Right from the ancient epics and legends to modern fiction, the most characteristic and powerful form of literary expression in modern time, literary endeavour has been to portray this relationship along with its concomitants. Twentieth century novelists treat this subject in a different manner from those of earlier writers. They portray the relationship between man and woman as it is, whereas earlier writers concentrated on as it should be. Now-a-days this theme is developing more important due to rapid industrialization and growing awareness among women of their rights to individuality, empowerment, employment and marriage by choice etc. The contemporary Indian novelists in English like Anita Desai, Sashi Deshpande, Sashi Tharoor, Salman Rusdie, Shobha De, Manju Kapoor, Amitav Ghosh etc. deal with this theme minutely in Indian social milieu.
The power of the human spirit consists of a powerful concept that deals with resilience and the ability to continue moving on regardless of the odds that one encounters. Nectar in a Sieve, a novel by Kamala Markandaya, takes place in an unknown town in rural India. The story follows the life of Rukmani who is the narrator and main protagonist of the story. Nectar in a Sieve was published in 1954, a couple years after India gained independence from Britain. Nectar in a Sieve very well portrays the power of the human spirit through the obstacles the tannery instigates for Rukmani, the painstakingly difficult tasks she must surmount that arise from nature such as the drought, and the internal conflicts that result from these external issues.
For thousands of centuries literature has been used as a clever device to show the negative outlook in which society has on women at that time. The common theme of men exploiting women for personal gain and using their heavy-handed power to make women feel inferior can be seen in writings from the ancient Greeks all the through authors of the 20th century. Writers and intellectual thinkers such as Plato, Peter Abelard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henrik Ibsen, and even women such as Virgina Wolfe, and Fatima Mernissi have all written about the struggles caused by domineering men which women have fought against for so long. It is not until the late twentieth century that we see a positive almost spiritual view of women from the stories told by Gao Xingjan in his book One Man’s Bible. The 1994 publication of Fatima Mernissi’s memoirs of her girlhood in a harem spoke powerfully in favor of women shedding prescribed gender roles in favor of embracing their own identities. It is books such as Fatima’s and Gao’s which will help carry out feminist movements into the 21st century.
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya tells the story of Rukmani—affectionately known as Ruku—her family and village. Throughout the novel, Rukmani faces a lot of adversity. She demonstrated her true character each time she overcame one of her problems. Whether it was showing compassion to those less fortunate than her, persevering for the sake of herself and family, or adapting to a new livelihood, Ruku overcomes all of the difficulty. Rukmani exhibits her true character of compassion, perseverance, and adaptability to changing circumstances each time problems faced her.
Indian Writing in English has a special status in English Literature owing to its treatment of women characters. Short stories help the writers to project select characters in an impressive way to the readers. In Indian context the status of woman in a society and her treatment is very different from those of her European or American counterparts. Women are depicted both as a good and evil in literature by various writers. However, in no literature is a women stereotyped as was done in Indian literature. Away from the mythical stereotyping of women, Ruskin Bond portrayed his women in a different way. The female characters of his short stories range from a small child to a grandmother. These characters are as powerful as men and have left a strong impression on the readers. I have chosen following eight short stories for the critical analysis of Ruskin Bond’s Women in this paper.