History 3C Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya PDF

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This was an assignment handed in at the end of the final. Helped boost my grade to an A. This is covering the book Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya. For Professor Mujal. ...

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History 3C December, 4, 2015 Mujal Nectar in a Sieve, The Importance of Family Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya is a narrative novel that focuses on the story of one woman living in a harsh situation in rural India during a time of great change. As the work of literature was written in the mid 1900s, the story describes the effect that modernization and industrialization had on the agricultural families of India. During this time, many valued traditions of the Indian culture had been ignored by the people in order to keep up with the vast changes occurring. Many farmers had lost their land and many had died of starvation due to unsafe harvests and the inflation of prices on goods. The story follows Rukmani and how her family faces adversity with the different activities she and her family had to execute in order to survive in this eerie time period. What Kamala Markandaya is trying to explain is that the Indians had to suffer through various hardships because of British colonialism. Markandaya used the novel to really teach the importance of family unity through explaining the importance of traditional values, harshness of the family’s living situation, and transformation. There are different values of the Indian tradition that are handed down to an Indian couple that are expected to be cherished and continued through a family. The biggest tradition is that the parents have an arranged marriage for their children by choosing whom their children marry. Upon the discussion with another child’s parents, they choose who is going to get married to one another. In the story, Rukmani’s and Nathan’s parents decided that they were a good fit together and ended up getting married. After the marriage, more of these values are expected to

be carried through as the decisions are made and the ways things are ran within the family. As the male is the main authority for the family as a whole, the woman has to abide to what the man has to say and basically allow him to make the critical decisions of the family as a whole. This also means that the man has the responsibility to support the family and be an exceptional example for the children to teach them how to work the fields and be knowledgeable for the future. “Two more mouths to feed,” she complained. “Only one of my three sons had the sense to go back. I do not know what is to become of us, for the land cannot sustain us all. So much for reading and writing,” she said, accusing me with eye and finger. (Markandaya 69) Kali, a wife of the neighboring farmer in the village, has scolded Rukmani about her family not being able to contribute to the lands. Even though that Rukmani had educated her kids to learn how to farm. Whether or not Kali is presenting a false dichotomy about her family taking up too many resources, Markandaya incorporates this section into the novel to explain the intensity of the Indian traditions. Kali suspected that Rukmani’s family has not been doing their job of keeping the family educated with rural capabilities. Confrontations like this added pressure onto Indian families and it was hard to go through adversity like this which was why family unity was needed in order to persevere. The living situation of the mid twentieth century in India was really tough due to the British taking up a lot of the territory in the nation. The family of Nathan and Rukmani had their wealth and social status in a downward spiral as it was hard to gather together a sustainable living conditions. It was even hard for Nathan to follow the traditions of Indian culture especially when he couldn’t provide for his wife. After Rukmani takes a certain medicine to have a son, she has five sons in a short amount of time totalling to six children. The amount of children they had was a really big factor into why they couldn’t really sustain themselves in the farmland. Rukmani

gets depressed with her lack of money but then realizes something that changed her overall attitude throughout the remainder of the story. “What is it that calls you?” I said. “Is it gold? Although we have none, remember that money isn’t everything.” “It is an important part of living,” he answered me patiently, “and work is another. There is nothing for us here, for have neither the means to buy land nor to rent it.” (Markandaya 77) Rukmani has finally resigned herself to centering her life by only living in poverty. She realizes that money is not everything and that there is more to living a life than just money. From this dialogue, we know she enjoys living on the land, and she gets happiness by being able to take care of it. Her sons, by contrast show no such gratefulness for the land as their mere goals are to just make cash. This point of the novel does not only show the lack of motives within the family but shows the maturity Rukmani expresses by not being materialistic. Markandaya utilizes this tough situation to allude to the sadness of the lack of family unity as shown in the narrative. With all the events gone through in the plot of the story, the characters are only bound to change at some point. Character development is evident in this novel because of the hardships that the characters have experienced. The establishment of maturity comes when Ira, the daughter of the family stops acting as if she were a child. It becomes vivid that she feels burdened by what it means to be a woman in this society. Her life will change because her parents will make all the decisions upon her. The restrictions of not choosing her own clothes, behavior, movement, become more severe until she becomes married. Ira finally realizes the reason for all these restrictions from her parents but notices that it is merely because of idea of following tradition. In a way, Ira feels that things like this are unnecessary and she feels that she is trapped in a bubble that lacks social qualities. Later in the story when she gets married and her husband abandons her, she falls into a very hard depression. Her transformation is then seen

when she becomes happy again because she starts devoting her life to her son. This is another example of family unity becoming a very positive aspect in life as facing through another adverse situation, it is evident that success is still not forgotten as an option. Family unity is very important and Markandaya really emphasizes that through her narrative work. She implies that family unity helps everyone feel that they are important and that it can foster creativity and provide a very rewarding and enlightening experience. A way I can relate to such unity is recently when my parents had to go to Korea for three weeks and I had to stay with my brother for the period of time. Not being really close with my brother, I looked at the situation in agony and really didn’t look forward to living with him. As time passed, I realized that I should start getting to know him and everything started to become a lot better. I started becoming more happy and comfortable by being unified with my brother because he is apart of my family. I really learned that being personally distant with a family member is not ideal and I feel that this book really reflects that. It teaches that being with family could solve a lot of problems because the line of communication can really help any tough situation. The author reaches a conclusion in the novel where Rukmani’s husband Nathan passes and she reflects on how she pieced together her life. Although it was hard to let Nathan’s passing go, the family peacefully rejoices. I agree with this conclusion because I feel that the happy ending gives the story a very vivid reason why family unity is a big aspect in life. The story goes through many series of events where tragedies happen one after another but they can be persevered through the unification of the people.

History 3C December 4, 2015 Mujal When Heaven and Earth Changed Places The book When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip is a novel that teaches the value of morality. Le Ly Hayslip’s memoir of the Vietnam War is a book that

promotes peace and unity among all types of people. The book is spoken from an Asian perspective but pierces the minds of all races as it targets any man and woman who cares about the well-being of the world. Nearing the end of the book, I thought that Le Ly Hayslip wanted to create a message to say that victims aren’t just any random person but are individual human beings with their own feelings and own lives. This novel relives a tragic war and the central thesis is that history is measured by its wars and body counts and in a way, is saying that one side is always going to seem like the villain. Ultimately, in the novel When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, Hayslip explains that nobody is evil by depicting sides and experiencing tragedies. Le Ly had to lived in a very small village in the middle of Vietnam called Ky La. Her village was on the border of the north and south parts of Vietnam which made her feel really unsafe. During the time, there was constant tension in the area because of the bad relations the north and south had. Le Ly and her friends worked as lookouts for the northern Vietcong which made living life even more dangerous. Eventually being captured, tortured, and raped, Le Ly had to move to another city that was filled with Americans. After spending life communicating with the Americans that have been helping Le Ly’s family out, Le Ly had a very big compromise to settle. While she was exiled and by the Vietcong and invaded by the Americans, Le Ly had to make a big decision on where her loyalties lie. Her ethnicity is Vietnamese but the Americans are also her friends. As she leans towards favoring the Americans, her Buddhist background makes her realize that her roots are still from Vietnam and that it is the right thing to be prideful of one’s nation. “Like they say, Mot cau mhin, chin car lanh.” (Hayslip 342) The vietnamese translates to, “One word of forgiveness brings back nine gentle favors.” Le Ly recognizes that her village is rooted in Buddhism and no matter what has been against her she

must cherish her religion and ethnicity. In other words, even though she got raped and exiled as a child, forgiveness is the moral choice. Her roots in her tradition help her find the guidance and methods in order to make sense of the war and what the war does to affect her family. Forgiveness is a very big life lesson for her as she depicts both the Vietnamese and the Americans as equals. Le Ly is also saying that everyone is human and that the only way to overcome the terrifying horrors of war is to find peace through forgiveness. She also hints that the reason why so many countries are unified today is because of forgiveness and forgetting the past. A way where I can relate to the experiences of Le Ly Hayslip is when I was in high school. When I started high school as a freshman, there was a bully that kept picking on me who was also a grade higher than me. While doing things such as calling me names and hitting me through the hallways, I completely despised him for a really long time. At one point during high school, I hadn’t been seen the bully in a long time because he stopped bullying in general but I still despised him due to the fact that he did horrible things when I was a freshman. As my friends started to hang out with him, I actually got really angry but I got to know the bully better and soon, I wouldn’t identify him as a bully, rather a friend. “No,” my father replied sadly, “don’t hate Chin- and don’t hate Ba for marrying him. Hate the war for doing what it did to them both.” (Hayslip 172). I learned that this bully was actually bullied all throughout middle school which was the reason why he got really angry in high school. The relation to this quote and my high school situation is that unfortunate things don’t happen for no reason. I couldn’t blame the bully but what I could’ve blamed was the people who influenced him in doing so; the same way the war influenced Chin and Ba to Le Ly’s disliking. In the novel, it explains that wars, not people, are the enemy and in my life, it was the violent environment that the bully grew up in that was

the opponent. The conclusion the author reaches is that Le Ly returns to Vietnam in 1986 after leaving the country because of her dangerous situation for the United States. Le Ly had to abandon a big portion of her family to be safe from the Vietnamese government due to her father not abiding by the Vietcong’s orders. The return to Vietnam was something very explicit in detail because it showed a reunion after many tragedies. Le Ly was really nervous when reuniting with her family and felt anxious about putting her family into more danger as she returned due to the thought that the government might do something sketchy. I agree with this conclusion because it shows the devotion of Le Ly and her roots and her returning back to her homeland is another sign of forgiveness that strengthens the message....