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.
One characteristic of Rukmani that she demonstrated for the duration on Nectar in a Sieve is that she is a compassionate person. She frequently acted out of her compassion with many characters. Rukmani even exercised her compassion to Kunthi. Ruku did this during a period of hardship and famine in her village. “Poor thing, I [Rukmani] thought. She [Kunthi] has suffered. I looked at her pityingly.” (K. Markandaya, 80). After looking and listening to Kunthi’s situation, Rukmani, out of compassion, gave Kunthi (who was not one of Ruku’s favorite people) a little meal. Rukmani also is compassionate to Old Granny. Before Old Granny had died, she gave Rukmani a rupee for her infant grandson, Sacrabani. When Old Granny died however, Rukmani felt especially bad because she learned that Old Granny had given her her last rupee. Even though Old Granny had passed and nothing could have been done, Rukmani still wished she could have done something out of her compassion. She thought that if Old Granny would have kept the rupee it “might have fed her for several days.” (K. Markandaya, 121). One of the most prevalent examples of Rukmani’s compassion was shown to Puli. Ruku t...
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...e.” (K. Markandaya, 98). Rukmani unwillingly adapted to Ira’s decision to be a prostitute and her disobedience in the end. Rukmani adapted to many of the hard changes life put before her.
Rukmani is ultimately a very strong character throughout this novel. She demonstrates her character in the way she overcomes all of her problems. Rukmani was compassionate to those who had never shown compassion to her. She persevered through monsoons, poverty, and famine. She furthermore adapted to all of the changing circumstances she had to undergo in her life. Overall, Rukmani exhibits her outstanding characteristics of compassion, perseverance, and acceptance and adaptability to change vividly for the entire course of Nectar in a Sieve. There is no doubt that Rukmani is one of the novels truly inspiring characters who displays great character even in the face of adversity.
Riva was extremely loving toward the people that were in her life. For example when her little brothers bartered their weeks worth of bread for a tangerine to make her feel better she replied, “We’ll share, or I will not eat. I mean it” (Page 43) Riva cared so much about her brothers that she did not eat the foo...
Now that they have overcome each challenge by persevering, their lives change for the better. Now having easy access to clean water, Nya and the rest of the village will prosper. Nya’s village will now be able to evolve as a village from having clean water. Now that Salva’s life has changed, he is able to change the lives of others by building wells in their village. In fact, Salva was able to change the life of Nya and her village. Linda Sue Park hopes that readers will take away that change can be for good or
Innocence ripped away and replaced by premature struggling through life is what outlines Sold by Patricia McCormick. This historical fiction novel follows the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl living in Nepal. Desperately poor, Lakshmi can only enjoy simple pleasures, such as raising her speckled goat named Tali, and having her mother Ama brush and braid her hair. When the violent Himalayan rains tear away all that remains of their cucumber crops, Lakshmi’s maimed stepfather says she must take up a job, for he cannot get work. Lakshmi is introduced to the charming Bajai Sita who promises her a job as a maid in a wealthy area of India. Excited and full of hope to help her family, Lakshmi endures the long trek to India where her journey ends at the “Happiness House.” Soon she learns the frightening truth: she has been sold into prostitution. She is betrayed, broken, and yet still manages to come through her ordeal with her soul intact. Sold depicts a story meant to teach and inspire, making the novel a piece that is highly important for all to see and read.
Fatima Mernissi is a superb writer who introduces the reader into a harem through the mind of a nine-year-old girl. In this autobiographical novel young Mernissi talks uncensored about the contradictions of life in a harem, surrounded by the extraordinary women in her family who are restrained from leaving the family courtyard. These women’s is a struggle of complete lack of freedom. They are not allowed to leave the courtyard except on very few occasions, and escorted by men (Mernissi 39). Their lack of mobility is also accentuated by lack of other freedoms such as education and financial freedom, although they have a voice in the decision making of the crucial changes in the harem life.
The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to work but they still remain a close nit family. In addition, they even manage to stick together after being separated for one of their own. These show how even in the darkest time they still manage to find a glimmer of hope and they pursued on.
Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.
As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.
... of tragedy and lets her be the diamond in the rough. She is the one person whose vision is unaltered from the very beginning of the book and to her the other survivors draw their own courage.
Her lionhearted clothes reflected her valiant and strong attitude. However – Elisa Allen hid her true feelings. She was deceitful in interpersonal communication. Her tongue spilled bittersweet black smut like that of industrialized coal engines. However – it was compassionate, her concern and subtle behavior. A girl screaming to escape maiden life, but only knew it was disrupt order. “Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.” Verily, she had the heart of a lion and the appearance of a virgin.
From the exposition to the denouement of Like Water For Chocolate, the character Tita represents an archetypal hero. One knows so owing to the fact that Tita experiences an unusual birth, wields a special weapon, experiences a traumatic event, receives supernatural help, atones for her mother’s wrongdoings, and is rewarded spiritually at the end of her life. Overall, Tita is not the most glamorous hero, but she fit’s the archetype nearly perfectly. Given this, it is important for one to remember that the subtleties of a character do, in reality, often represent the elements of an archetype. In finding these items, the reader may find deeper meaning within most any story, and Like Water for Chocolate does not stand as an exception.
These characters, however different they lie on the morality scale, all share the sinful trait of greed. They all ask, and take too much, ruining what the good that they had in their lives. Understanding their mistakes offers its useful readers a lesson, not to demand too much of the things we are offered. The characters struggle with their desires, each of them succombing to their passions.
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.
...reedom by going out with other men without being fearful on what the repercussions would be. The filmmaker of Daisies did the best to show change by their film that showed Jarmila and Jezinka rebelling against the society that entrapped them. The movie was successful and displays how women can participate in important work and move forward in careers that were unseen at the time such as expressing themselves creatively. Ultimately, the films show how women were living in unsatisfactory conditions that were contradictory by declaring to be equal when women were seen as inferior to men. The women who took action towards society by leaving a relationship or rebelling against how society wanted them to act shows the lesson that women should not be subjected to abuse or inferiority in relationships or any other aspects of life that was suggested by patriarchal societies.
Change is the law of life. A person goes through different stages of life, and at every stage there is transformation in the personality of the person. This new individual is entirely different from the previous one. For this change, different circumstances and events are responsible. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Monica Ali’s Brick Lane are two texts of feminism in which we find the theme of evolution among the life of the characters like Celie and Nazneen who, happened to highlight the oppression of women in universal phenomenon irrespective of caste, creed, culture and nation. My paper is an attempt to study these two characters and see how their personality is evolved because of the different circumstances of life.
Tsotsi begins as a thug, suffering no remorse. But he changes and his last deed is committing a great act of love; sacrificing himself for a baby. He regains memories of his childhood and discovers why he is the way he is. The novel sets the parameters of being “human” as feeling empathy, having a mother, having morals, having an identity, having a spirituality and feeling love. Tsotsi learns these and is redeemed. It is a very moving story about the beauty of human nature and hope for redemption no matter what.