Nectar in a Sieve: A Life of Despair

Abstract

Kamala Markandaya has curved an extrusive place in Indian English literature as one of the leading woman. She won both name and fame all over the world with the publication of her first novel Nectar in a Sieve, in 1954. This present paper aims at studying the novel Nectar in a Sieve that deals with poverty, hunger and exploitation. The novel is written in a first person narrative in reminiscent mood. Rukmani is the protagonist-narrator of the story. Rukmani recalls her tale in a placid trance. The novel is a pitiful demonstration of the courage and endurance of a simple peasant woman. Rukmani loses everything during her wanderings and returns home. Markandaya portrays a richly delineated character in Rukmini, whose qualities intensify the gist of the ideological concerns that she incorporates in her.