In Kamala Markanday's Nectar in a Sieve, Rukmani is portrayed as a positive woman and provides the ideal sufferer and nurturer. Rukmani displays suffering, strength, and a positive outlook throughout out the book. Even after all the blows she receives, poverty, famine, her husbands infidelity, and the deaths of her sons, she accepts the blows and then moves on, not spending very much time on the problem.
Rukmani's relationship with Nathan, her husband, is the center of her emotional life. When she finds out Nathan has slept with another woman, she doesn't throw a fit or start yelling like most women would about the man who has betrayed her. Rukmani is very different, and these are the stages she goes through:
"Disbelief first; Disillusionment; anger, reproach, pain…He had
not known her once but twice; he had gone back to give her
a second son. And between, how many times, I thought, bleak
of spirit, while her husband in his impotence and I in my
innocence did nothing"
She never shows her emotions to the outside world.
Even when her son Raja is murdered at the tannery, her thoughts still don't come out in violence. She deals with her numbness and grief by thinking, "For this I have given you birth, my son, that you should lie at the end at my feet with ashes in your face and coldness in your limbs and yourself departed without a trace". After this is said, she prepares the body for the burial. Soon after, two officials come to the hut of Nathan and Rukmani to make sure she understands the tannery is not responsible for the death of her son. Rukmani is not moved to physical anger and, after much arguing, tells them what they want to hear.
Rukmani's general submissiveness appears to us, people who live in the
In the Time of the Butterflies is a historical fiction novel by Julia Alvarez based on events that occurred during the rule of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. This book shows the hardships the Mirabal Sisters had to go through while being part of an underground effort to overthrow the dictatorship of Trujillo. It also shows that ultimately, it was their courage that brought upon their own death. Alvarez wants us to understand anyone and everyone has the potential to be courageous.
The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain is a spectacular story which takes place about twenty years after Jesus ascended into Heaven. It tells of how a young man named Basil was adopted by a rich merchant. But, when the rich merchant died, Basil’s cousin stole Basil’s inheritance; and made him a slave. After a few years he was to be rescued, married, and to gain back his inheritance.
Seed by Lisa Heathfield is set in a cult or “a small community where they worship Nature and idolise their leader, Papa S”. The novel follows the journey of a 15 year old girl named Pearl who had been born and raised in Seed. Mental and sexual abuse is a continuous, recurring subject throughout this story. Heathfield’s representation of this theme is shown through a strong and unsettling use of imagery and the nature setting.
Although different, the cultures in In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Makandaya share a lot of the same conflicts. Conflicts between the characters and society are what cause the themes. The two books are very different but they share three main themes that are still prevalent in societies today. Feminism, societal classes, and the struggle of power are the themes that fill both books.
She’s just so weak. If she would stand up for herself, no one would bother her. It’s her own fault that people pick on her, she needs to toughen up. “Shape of a Girl” by Joan MacLeod, introduces us to a group of girls trying to “fit in” in their own culture, “school.” This story goes into detail about what girls will do to feel accepted and powerful, and the way they deal with everyday occurrences in their “world.” Most of the story is through the eyes of one particular character, we learn about her inner struggles and how she deals with her own morals. This story uses verisimilitude, and irony to help us understand the strife of children just wanting to fit in and feel normal in schools today.
Women through the years have shown that there should always be equality between women and men. In the novel Like water for Chocolate written by the famous author Laura Esquivel, she mentions her strongest feminist through a main character, which is Tita. Many clear deception of the characters and detailed have shown how women in this book show that there is not only male-dominated reality. In this book the author has written memories that has been kept in Tita’s heart forever. In this book there are several models for strong, powerful or otherwise influential women in terms of its developed characters.
Their conversations show more deeply how each culture views marital relationships. Rukmani only sees Kenny for her fertility problems when her husband won’t find out; she believes he will be angry (Markandaya 21). She also only takes Ira to Kenny when her husband leaves town: “I (Rukmani) waited all day [to see you]. My husband will be back soon and the I cannot come” (Markandaya 59). Though she subverts it, Rukmani is limited by her belief she cannot disobey her husband. Instead, since she doesn’t ask his permission, she can’t break his rules. Kenny scorns this, saying, “You people will never learn. It is pitiful to see your foolishness” (Markandaya 59). In Kenny’s country, women have rights. They can even divorce their husbands, as Kenny’s wife does. Rukmani fails to understand how this woman can leave her husband and wonders if it’s Kenny’s long absences. They discuss women’s role, Rukmani says, “A woman’s place is with her husband” Kenny replies, “You simplify everything… Your views are so limited it is impossible to explain to you” (Markandaya 106).
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
Life choices are always hard to make. In fact, some of them are impossible to make. Kamala Markandaya demonstrates some hard life choices in the book Nectar in a Sieve. The story is about Nathan and Rukmani, A poor rural India family living in the 1950s; with their children,a friend named Kenny,and their adopted son Puli.In the novel, it proves that in life that an individual has to make hard decisions to get through life.
In the novel Life of a Sensuous Woman, Ihara Saikaku depicts the journey of a woman who, due to voraciously indulging in the ever-seeking pleasure of the Ukiyo lifestyle, finds herself in an inexorable decline in social status and life fulfillment. Saikaku, utilizing characters, plot, and water imagery, transforms Life of a Sensuous Woman into a satirically critical commentary of the Ukiyo lifestyle: proposing that it creates a superficial, unequal, and hypocritical society.
In the story, The Natural, certain characters and events are portrayed in a distinctive way that makes this story unique to other books and shows the typical writing style of the narrator. The author uses a repetitive writing technique that is impossible to overlook. The writer of this book is able to catch the reader’s eye with his concept of the importance of beautiful description. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, uses great imagery that makes the story appealing.
How different are families compared to the past? Lately there has been some major changes in relationships, weather female dominance, or even just having no relationships at all. We also see that relationships are based only on a basis of reproduction and sometimes the child of the relationship is rather irrelevant. In a Temporary matter by Jhumpa Lahiri, the reader can see how relationships have developed with the rest of the world into failing, no relationship, and feminist relationships.
The excerpt from Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel exposes the uncanny scenario of Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding, and the sudden nostalgia everyone is revealing. The connection of food, and the role of the Mexican revolution is depicted in this excerpt, and the use of intense emotion and sorrow is used to create a dismal atmosphere filled with loss and loneliness. Esquivel uses Tita’s culinary skills and her deep affection towards Pedro as a technique to emphasize the effect it has on the secondary characters in the novel. The overall depiction of the novel is effected by Tita’s culinary skills; each month represents the emotion she is currently feeling. This particular excerpt illustrates the grief of Tita towards the marriage of Rosaura and Pedro by depicting the scene as a heartache resulting from the turmoil of the Mexican revolution. Esquivel integrates love, food, nostalgia, and tradition in this excerpt, throughout the novel. This accentuates the outcome of the Mexican revolution and its affect on the citizens.
As people, we naturally “size people up,” or rather determine their value and treat them
that lay down ‘who should be loved, and how and how much’ when she has