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.
Part 1, Chapters 7-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
A monsoon that strikes Rukmani’s village rages for many days, and when it finally abates, the fields are ruined, and most houses are damaged or gone. She and Nathan go to the village to use some of their savings to buy supplies, but the town is too damaged, and all the merchants are closed. They survive a few more days until the waters go down more and try again; this time, they are more successful. Their regular merchants have no rice to sell them, and Biswas, a merchant and moneylender, overcharges them for the rice he provides. As they return home to feast, they encounter Kenny, who shouts that there will be no redemption from this devastation for months. Soon, the waters recede, the villagers gather fish, and life returns to normal.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
The tannery opens and expands, taking more land from the village. Kali adores the changes, but Rukmani hates them—she prefers quiet to bustling town life. Janaki and her husband soon lose business and leave to find somewhere else to live and work. Meanwhile, Rukmani has her first encounter with one of the Muslim women whom she sees around town. The woman invites her into her home and removes her veil. Rukmani never returns because she feels stifled by the closed doors and the veils; she prefers an open-field life.
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary
While doing housework, Rukmani sees Ira and her husband coming toward their home. The husband returns Ira to her family because she has been unable to bear him a child within their first year of marriage. After Ira returns home, two of Rukmani’s sons work at the tannery to improve their family’s living conditions. Though Nathan and Rukmani do not like it because it shows an acceptance that they will never own their land, they cannot deny their lives improve with their two sons’ incomes.
Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary
Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, occurs, and Rukmani’s family celebrates like they could never afford to before. Her children buy fireworks, and the family enjoys setting them off together before the bonfire in the center of town. All but Selvam and Ira attend. Nathan acts youthful and carefree at the bonfire, enjoying the lively evening. He is still joyful after he and Rukmani return home, and they make love.
Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary
While Nathan leaves town, Rukmani visits Kenny to ask for his assistance with Ira’s infertility. He offers to help without guarantees, then jokes that she will bear a child before her daughter. Next, she visits Ira’s husband to ask him to take her back; he refuses because he already has a new wife. Rukmani worries about Ira’s future, but Old Granny is confident that the girl can still live a happy life alone, like her. Rukmani becomes pregnant again despite her increased age and gives birth to Kuti, a happy baby who improves Ira’s mood.
Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary
Nathan and Rukmani go to the tannery to eat lunch with their children when the fields require little work. One day, when they approach the tannery, guards are posted outside. They say that there is trouble inside and nobody will come out for the midday meal. When the children come home, they explain that the workers are fighting for higher pay, and the bosses took away their midday meal because of it. The disagreement soon grows into a strike. After one week of striking, the owners tell the workers to return to work or be replaced. Most employees return, but Rukmani’s sons and several others do not.
Soon, new men come to the town looking for workers. Instead of working in town, the men will work on the distant island of Ceylon. Despite Rukmani’s protestations, her sons choose to go. Nathan spends the next day consoling her and assuring her that her children will be well and that the harvest this year will be bountiful. Later, Rukmani talks to Kenny, revealing that they both have wondered what it would be like to spend romantic time together.
Part 1, Chapters 7-12 Analysis
Chapter 7 opens with the monsoon flooding Nathan and Rukmani’s rice crops, so they face hardship while they wait for more rice to grow. The monsoon presents rain as a symbol. Figuratively, it foreshadows the challenges and hardships their family will face in these chapters, which are as overwhelming as the storm. For example, Ira’s husband brings her back to the family with the explanation, “You gave me your daughter in marriage, I have brought her back to you. She is a barren woman” (50). Ira faces the societal shame of being infertile in a culture that expects the family line to continue through its sons. Her infertility creates a tone of desperation and fear. Ira fears what their neighbors will say when they discover her husband has returned her, and Rukmani, who has been in this same situation and bore children thanks to Kenny’s infertility treatments, considers taking Ira to him as well. This choice causes internal conflict for Rukmani. She wants to do what is best for her daughter, and the ability to bear children will help secure her future; however, the other villagers discovering that she sought out fertility treatment would bring further shame to her family. This situation highlights the limited options for women in this society and the role of shame in reinforcing gender roles. In later chapters, Markandaya illuminates the dangers of this shame and secrecy as they leave Rukmani’s family vulnerable to manipulation from others.
These chapters introduce the tannery, one of the novel’s major symbols and the foundation for two key themes: The Clash Between Tradition and Progress and The Impact of Modernization on Rural Life. The tannery opens its doors, and Kali proclaims, “[the] tannery is a boon to us. Have I not said so since it began? We are no longer a village, either, but a growing town. Does it not do you good to think about it” (46). Kali sees progress and hopes for the future. On the other hand, Rukmani brings to light the challenges and ways that their rural life is changing—her main counterpoints being:
For it is even as I said, and our money buys less and less. As for living in a town—if town this is—why, there is nothing I would fly from sooner if I could go back to the sweet quiet of village life. Now it is all noise and crowds everywhere, and rude young hooligans idling in the streets and dirty bazaars and uncouth behavior, and no man thinks of another but schemes only for his money (46).
Despite progressive improvements, Markandaya uses Rukmani to present an opposing perspective. Some people cannot partake in the professed advantages of commercial advancements because they cannot afford to keep up with the changing society. As such, this type of investment benefits some at the expense of others; the tannery’s owners and some merchants become wealthier while the rest of the village must make do with less. While Rukmani’s sons initially benefit from their tannery jobs, the strike in Chapter 12 reinforces that the workers are underpaid and ultimately have no security; the owners simply replace the striking workers, leaving them without a way to demand better treatment. The author puts the tannery in the center of town, at the heart of the village. It sets the wages, which increases prices; it employs the most people in town, taking children away from agricultural life; and as the tannery grows, it tears down houses and farms. This literal demolition of local structures in favor of the new company illustrates how progress can overtake rural life. The tannery symbolizes modernization, which erodes the agrarian lifestyle and traditions that have kept the town functioning for years. Ultimately, Rukmani’s sons must leave the village to find other work in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), reflecting the long-lasting damage of unfettered modernization.
