Nectar In A Sieve Industrialism

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Nectar In A Sieve: Industrialism Working the land with your bare hands is no easy task, yet some take extreme pride in working and living off the land. Nectar In A Sieve historically reveals the social strife, economic plunders, and cultural transformations experienced due to the birth of industrialism in early 20th century India through the recollection of an Indian woman's arduous life. Rukmani, the Indian woman, and her fellow villagers experience a plethora of hardships indirectly and directly caused by the slow but sure migration from working the land to working in the manufacturing industry. These hardships paired with a promise of employment and an escape from poverty woos the new generation of villagers to abandon cultural traditions …show more content…

Thumbi, Rukmani’s second son, attempts to explain his and Arjun’s decision to leave their family profession of tilling the land for industrialism prospects within the town. “If it were your land, or mine, I would work with you gladly. But what profit to labour for another and get so little in return? Far better to turn away for such injustice (Markandaya 50).” Nathan counters this statement later with, “What is it that calls you? Is it gold? Although we have none, remember that money is not everything (Markandaya 50).” This is one of the last attempts Nathan has to keep his son from leaving the land and his family. Later when Rukmani and Nathan find out Ira’s immoral way of earning money, prostitution, they try their best to prevent her from continuing but Ira does not obey. She declares that she will not let her siblings starve and soon bears a child from prostitution, “I held him, this child begotten in the street of an unknown man in a moment of easy desire, while the brightness of the future broke and fell about me like so many pieces of coloured glass (Markandaya 117).” As the novel progresses Rukmani recalls the painful scars the tannery had left her with, “Ira had ruined herself at the hands of the throngs that the tannery attracted... My sons had left because it frowned on them; one of them had been destroyed by its ruthlessness. And there were others its touch had scathed (Markandaya 23.57).” Through the eyes of Rukmani it is quite clear that the tannery has brought misery and cultural misfortune to the village. With the promise of financial stability and employment the tannery initially woos the new generation to abandon traditional customs and leave their families

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