Nectar In A Sieve Essay Essay, Research Paper

Nectar in a Sieve is a novel that takes you on an adventure through the rapidly changing country of India. Throughout this novel, you meet a series of characters that all relate to each other in some way, yet are vastly different to one another. Although all of the characters had distinctive backgrounds and appealing personalities, I found Irwaddy to be the most interesting individual in this book. Her captivating beauty and her secretive personality surrounded me and enthralled me to keep on reading more in the novel to discover what would eventually happen to this character. First impressions about Irwaddy, challenges that she faced, her concluding fate, and other factors brought me to the conclusion that she was the most interesting character to read about.

In the novel, Nectar in a Sieve, Irwaddy left me with a strong first impression about herself. We are first introduced to Irwaddy when her mother, Ruku, gave birth to her and she became the first of many children. Irwaddy gave me the impression of a beautiful infant that was delicate and gentle. She was never a trouble in her family when she was in her youth and charmed the many who came to visit her. I believed, from the few sections introducing this youngster, that Irwaddy was going to grow up to become successful, happily married, and to live a life that many in India have only dreamt about. When she became a child wife at the age of fourteen, I believed that she had met the person who will make her blissfully happy for the rest of her life. She seemed enthusiastic at her wedding to move on with her life and to someday have children of her own. In a way, the first impression I got of Irwaddy, up until her wedding day, opened me up to think about my life and if I will be as fortunate as she was.

Throughout the novel, Nectar in a Sieve, the character Irwaddy experiences several challenges and dilemmas to which shape her future and her personality. At the age of fourteen when she had just been wed to her husband, she experienced some trouble to conceive a child. Her mother, Ruku, had the same troubles when she was first wed and went to a white doctor, Kenny, to help fix the situation. Unfortunately, just as Kenny was brought to help Irwaddy?s problem, her husband brought her back to her mother?s home and told Ruku that he cannot stay with her any longer, for he needs a wife who can produce children to help build a successful life and Irwaddy had not been triumphant in her efforts. As devastated as she was, Irwaddy still kept up with her life, yet she became sullen and stayed secretive.

For example, she would leave early in the morning for town and arrive back at her mother?s home very late at night. Nobody knew exactly what she was doing with her life until she arrived home very early one morning and was accidently attacked by her mother. On her body there were bangles, a sari, and had a pocket full of rupees. Ruku and her husband were suspicious where this money had come from, and realized shortly after that their daughter might have turned into a prostitute. As curious as they were, they never confronted Irwaddy on her occupation. In another section of the book, you become aware that Irwaddy is pregnant with a child she is not sure of who the father is. As time progresses, she ultimately gives birth to her baby who she finds out is albino. This stirred up gossip within the town, that Irwaddy had given birth to an albino child whom she does not know who the father might be. She was faced with humiliation and embarrassment whenever she would walk in the streets of the town, for everyone knew who she was and what her background consisted of. Although Irwaddy was faced with these challenges and conflicts, she became a stronger woman and lastly controlled her fate by the end of this novel.

The concluding fate of Irwaddy in the novel Nectar in a Sieve gave me even more reason to believe that she was the most interesting character of this book. After devastating news concerning her family?s plot of land and harvest, Ruku and her husband decide to set off to another town to find their other son who was supposedly successful in his new surroundings. Irwaddy has the ultimate decision to leave the town she had raised her child and was finally accepted as one of their own, not an outcast-or live with her brother who was slowly becoming successful with the help of their family acquaintance, Kenny. She finally decides that she would rather live in her town with her brother than leave with her parents. This showed me how much Irwaddy had changed since the challenges that she faced throughout the novel. At a point in her life, I bet that she wished that she could escape from this town and start a new life where her past existence was erased. Nobody had to know who she was and what complications her life consisted of. But she chose what she thought the right decision, even though that might have not been her wish. She has proven to me that she is a worthy, noble person.

In conclusion, the novel Nectar in a Sieve, I found Irwaddy to be the most interesting character throughout the book. She taught me how a person so noble and intelligent may go through several challenges on her way towards happiness, but as long as you stay on the right road the entire time you?ll make it to the top eventually. Irwaddy taught me about India because she was changing several times throughout the book, which has happened numerous times in the country of India. As Irwaddy went from a child wife to a prostitute and then to a mother, you see transitions where at each time she becomes stronger and makes a foundation for herself. Throughout the times in India, the country goes from rule under the Mogul Empire, to British rule, and finally independence. Each time India went through one of these eras of time, the country became stronger and stronger until it was proven to stand alone. Irwaddy, after several years of challenges and dips in the road, was finally able to be independent and stand at the top of the mountain alone.