Nectar In A Sieve Imperialism

985 Words4 Pages
In general, dominance is described as the power and influence over others. This relates to imperialism because of the economic domination that imperialists commonly held over the imperialized countries. The idea of dominance relates to the story, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya in which a poor, Indian woman named Rukmani tells the story of her life in a country that is being majorly affected by imperialization and urbanization. Kenny, a British doctor in Rukmani’s village, have a very conflicting relationship with one another. The novel is written as an allegory because the storyline between Rukmani and Kenny is representative of the political and social relationships between the British and Indian people. Rukmani follows strict beliefs…show more content…
The British stripped the Indian people of their religious practices and their general culture. The British left the Indian people powerless. India’s younger generations have adopted the British ideology rather than the traditional Indian culture. This change in the amount of resistance against imperialism majorly strengthened the British in the domination of India. The Indian people were economically dominated by the British imperialists. The British Raj began in 1857, after the Sepoy Rebellion, and extended until 1947, the year that India gained its independence. The British educated Indian elites to become government leaders that focused on British practices. The British had a huge market for goods that the Indians had no other choice but to purchase from. India became dependent on the British and their presence in India. Nectar in a Sieve was written only a few years after India had gained its independence and the novel is focused on the time of the British Raj. In a heated conversation with her son, Rukmani says that her son should ask Kenny for help and explains the power of the British when in India, “White men have power” (52). Rukmani’s tone is direct, assertive, and clear. Her diction is very simple and uses only 4 words to get her point across. She specifically uses a simple sentence to be direct and that her statement is not arguable. Due to the fact that Rukmani stated that white men have power as a fact, one can infer that she believes it to be true because her experiences have shaped her perspective. The quote contributes to the theme of economic power and the ideology change that occurs during imperialism. This quote connects to the British Raj because both the literary and historical evidence supports that the British had power over the Indian people and the Indian people depended on the British in order to generally survive.
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