42 pages • 1 hour read
Kamala MarkandayaNectar in a Sieve
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1954A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Rice
Throughout the novel, rice appears regularly. It is the primary crop the village farmers grow, it is a source of currency the people use, and everyone plans around how they imagine the rice harvest will go—a higher yield makes for a better year. Symbolically, rice serves two purposes in the narrative. First, it represents the villagers’ quality of life. When the harvest is good, Rukmani portions out what they need for themselves and sells the surplus. They can make extraneous purchases and live more comfortably than they normally do. When the harvest is poor, Rukmani and her family eat less and must ration their food. Their quality of life decreases because they cannot afford the bare essentials.
Rice also represents Rukmani’s and Nathan’s hopes for the future. They dream of a day when they can own land—they put aside funds from their rice crops to buy the land from its owner so they do not have to pay rent and can be free from the system holding them down. Bountiful harvests mean the two can plan to rise from the poverty that controls their lives. However, one of the challenges of Poverty and Survival in a Changing World is that elements beyond the character’s control affect their economic status, no matter how carefully they plan for hardships. This is symbolized when their rice crops are ruined by monsoons or drought; as their crops die, so does their chance at a more prosperous future.
Rain
One element the characters cannot control is the weather. The amount of rain their crops require is a careful balance—too little rain and the crops will not grow, but too much rain and the crops will rot and die. While Rukmani, Nathan, and other farming characters can control the growing process to a certain extent, they will never be able to control the weather. To that end, rain (droughts and monsoons) symbolizes the natural, uncontrollable influences on an individual’s life that affect their ability to succeed. This contrasts with the tannery, which is a manmade symbol of progress that impacts the locals’ lives intentionally.
Markandaya uses rain to explore the connections between her characters’ lives and drive some of their actions. When natural hardships arise, each character must decide how to move forward. Rukmani prioritizes her family and rations the crops and money until the next harvest. Other characters, such as Kunthi, give into baser survival instincts and extort rice from others to ensure their survival. The presence or lack of rain develops characters, drives the plot, and plays on themes such as Poverty and Survival in a Changing World. Though they appear uncaring, it is because they act as they deem appropriate to survive their ever-changing circumstances, which don’t impact everyone equally. Though everyone is affected by the weather or natural disasters, those benefiting from modernization aren’t harmed as much as those living in poverty.
The Tannery
The tannery’s construction causes one of the initial conflicts in the narrative. Some characters, like Kali, choose to embrace the tannery as the symbol of progress that it is. Others, such as Rukmani, see the tannery’s progress as a loss of tradition and the values that hold their village together. The tannery is both a symbol and a motif, representing industrialization and The Impact of Modernization on Rural Life. The tannery’s presence affects everyone, whether they embrace it or not. They cannot stop the tannery from changing their village, just like they cannot prevent the impacts of progress on their day-to-day lives.
Further, Markandaya explores how individuals respond to progress and how such modernization costs lives and livelihoods. Rukmani loses several children to the tannery—two are forced to work abroad after they lose their jobs, and one dies when its guards kill him for trespassing. Instead of empathizing with the family for their lost child, tannery representatives must first protect the interests of capital. As such, they assert that the institution is not responsible for their son’s death since he was there illegally. Like some social and industrial progress, the tannery often risks communal well-being in favor of profit.
