Kamala Markandaya's Nectar In A Sieve

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one. Rukmani is a mother of six sons and one daughter. Unfortunately she loses five from six sons alive or dead. Two of her sons go to work in town and three die. She also loses her dearest husband, Nathan toward the end of the novel too which makes Rukmani faces a lot of pain and suffering. Rukmani works from dawn to dusk for her family without a single complaint. She lives an trouble-free life in a rural village and she is the one who is pungent most when the industry starts enter the village. Markandaya put Rukmani in several difficulties such as a heavy rain that destroy all crops follow by a serious drought and the tannery also entering the village. She has to faced poverty, starvation, and divorce of her barren daughter, Ira, the deaths…show more content…
K. Narayan’s The Guide and Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve. Rosie and Rukmani from both novels are in the same age, the age of patriarchy society where women are inferior to men. They both stay in the social order that woman is nothing other than a doll to be put beside a man whether as a daughter, a wife, or a mother. The identity and personality of both women are totally suppressed by their father, husband, or sons. They cannot be themselves. Rukmani has to get marriage to a man that her family find for her. When she has children, she also devotes herself to them teaching and breeding them at her best. Yet Rukmani is lucky because she gets a good husband like Nathan. But for Rosie is different because the character of Nathan and Macro is different. Macro is only interested in sculptured figures on walls and stones but not in his wife. Macro is indifferent to Rosie while Nathan is full with understood toward his wife. Rosie and Rukmani are both educated women. Although Rukmani is not a graduated woman but she is able to read as she thought that she can set herself up as a reader and writer of letters so as to earn money when they are in town looking for their son. Rukmani and Rosie are both devotee for gods. Rosie’s devotion is expressed in the form of dance and Rukmani express her devotion in a form of strong believed in spiritual…show more content…
Narayan’s Rosie is a modern woman who is independent from all taboos and customs. While Markandaya’s Rukmani is the role model of typical Indian women. They both have quite a lot of differences such as the marriage life, role and their thought. Although Rosie is married women but she is never given birth to a child therefore she would never understand the enormous love that mother can give to a child like Rukmani does. The life style that the novelist portrays their character is different. Narayan represent Rosie as a modern woman in a small town. Rosie lives her life different from other. The way she gets marriage with her husband through a paper advertisement: “Wanted: an educated, good-looking girl to marry a rich bachelor of academic interests. No caste restrictions; good looks and university degree essential.” (Narayan, The Guide, 85) This might be the cause of unhappy marriage life between Rosie and Macro. As Macro finds his wife by put up a notice manifests the cold attitude of him toward a wife. Neither indifferent attitude nor non-respect manner toward Rosie makes she disappointed with her marital life. Unlike Rukmani who always receives respect and support from her husband and family which lead to her happy marital

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