Nectar in a Sieve | Themes

Nectar in a Sieve Themes

Change

Rukmani experiences the changes typical of a young woman in her time. She marries a man she does not know, becomes a mother, and, as she has more children, learns to share limited resources with more people.

Other changes, however, prove more difficult to accept. When the tannery comes to her town, she is deeply resistant to its effects on the village and its people. She comments, "Change I had known before, and it had been gradual. . . . But the change that now came into my life, into all our lives, blasting its way into our village, seemed wrought in the twinkling of an eye." To her, the tannery is destructive to their peaceful way of life, causes prices to increase, and encourages people to choose wayward paths. Although she eventually takes her husband's advice to be flexible, she does so only because she has little choice.