Key Facts
full title ·
Nectar in a Sieve
author · Kamala Markandaya
type of work · Novel
genre · Social novel; pastoral novel (novel of the countryside); naturalist
novel; love story; parable
language · English
time and place written · England in the early 1950s
date of first publication · 1954
publisher · The John Day Company
narrator · Rukmani narrates her story as reminiscence approximately ten years
after the events she describes.
point of view · Rukmani tells the story of her life in the first person, narrating her
own direct observations, motivations, and feelings and describing other
characters through her own eyes.
tone · Rukmani's voice in the novel is direct, simple, clear, and
unrelentingly honest, even when she recounts painful and shameful
events.
tense · The story is told in the past tense, except for the opening lines and
occasional commentary, in which Rukmani uses the present tense to establish
herself as an older woman looking back on her life.
setting (time) · A span of about thirty years in the first half of the twentieth
century
setting (place) · An unspecified small village and large city in a rice-growing region of
India
protagonist · Rukmani
major conflict · On the surface, this is a story about the struggle between life and
death for the very poor in an unjust society, but the novel's transcendent
struggle is between the forces of good and evil in a human life, characterized
by generosity and greed, compassion and selfishness, and joy and
sorrow.
rising action · Rukmani turns to Kenny for help with her infertility without telling
Nathan, allows wrath to overtake her when Kunthi threatens to expose her to
Nathan, and puts her family at risk of starvation during the famine to satisfy
Kunthi's extortion demands.
climax · The night Rukmani loses herself to a rage so intense that she tries to
kill her daughter, mistaking her for Kunthi, is the moment when there can be no
turning back for her in the choice between good and evil.
falling action · Rukmani finds peace by telling Nathan the truth, and she grows in love,
compassion, and generosity despite the death of their sons, the loss of their
land, and the degradations they face in the city.
themes · Hunger as threat to dignity; knowledge as power; the strength of truth;
the importance of fertility
motifs · Drumbeats; confronting the stranger
symbols · Rice; bullocks; the sari
foreshadowing · Rukmani's restriction of Ira's freedoms to protect her from the tannery
workers foreshadows the troubles Rukmani's sons will have with them.
· Ira's marriage that is “too good to be true” foreshadows future
troubles with her fertility and security.
· Kunthi's prostitution foreshadows Ira's similar choice.
