Bibliography
Course Hero. "Nectar in a Sieve Study Guide." Course Hero. 6 Feb. 2018. Web. 31 May 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Nectar-in-a-Sieve/>.
In text
(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2018, February 6). Nectar in a Sieve Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved May 31, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Nectar-in-a-Sieve/
In text
(Course Hero, 2018)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Nectar in a Sieve Study Guide." February 6, 2018. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Nectar-in-a-Sieve/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "Nectar in a Sieve Study Guide," February 6, 2018, accessed May 31, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Nectar-in-a-Sieve/.
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| Rukmani | Rukmani is a hardworking peasant who remains optimistic about her future despite many hardships. Read More |
| Nathan | Nathan is an impoverished rice farmer who works himself to death trying to support his family. Read More |
| Irawaddy | Irawaddy, also called Ira, is Rukmani's eldest daughter, who becomes a prostitute and gives birth to an albino son. Read More |
| Kennington | Kennington, also called Kenny, is a white, Western doctor who has made it his life's mission to offer help to Indian peasants like Rukmani. Read More |
| Kunthi | Kunthi is a conniving woman who turns to prostitution and blackmail in order to survive. Read More |
| Ammu | Ammu is Rukmani's son Murugan's wife, who abandons him two years before Rukmani tries to find him in the city. |
| Arjun | Arjun is Rukmani's eldest son, dismissed from the tannery for leading a labor strike. |
| Birla | Birla is the doctor Murugan once worked for. She treats Rukmani and Nathan generously when they try to find Murugan in the city. |
| Biswas | Biswas is the oily moneylender who takes advantage of villagers during the famine. |
| Carter | The carter, who drives the bullock cart that takes Rukmani and Nathan from their village to the city, continues to use his bullock even though the animal has a raw and infected shoulder from the yoke. |
| Das | Das, who is Birla's servant, generously offers Rukmani and Nathan a meal and shelter for the night when they are lost in the city. |
| Das's wife | Das's wife, who is Birla's servant, generously offers Rukmani and Nathan a meal and shelter for the night when they are lost in the city. |
| Durgan | Durgan is the milkman, who lives in Rukmani and Nathan's village. |
| Foreman | The foreman is in charge of giving out sacks and collecting rocks at the quarry, where Rukmani and Nathan work when they are stranded in the city. |
| Hanuman | Hanuman is the rice seller who runs out of supplies during the first monsoon. |
| Janaki | Janaki is Rukmani's kind neighbor, who befriends her when she arrives but moves away when the tannery puts the family's market out of business. |
| Kali | Kali, talkative and prone to exaggeration, is one of Rukmani's female neighbors who helps her adjust to village life. |
| Kannan | Kannan is the village tanner who loses his livelihood when the new tannery comes to town. |
| Kuti | Kuti is the youngest of Rukmani's sons, who starves to death at age five. |
| Murugan | Murugan is Rukmani's son who leaves the village to work as a servant in the city. Later he abandons his wife and leaves her and his child to starve. |
| Old Granny | Old Granny is the village matchmaker who gives her last rupee to Rukmani before starving to death. |
| Old man | An old man, who is sleeping in a doorway in the city, tells Rukmani and Nathan they can find food and shelter in the temple. |
| Overseer | The overseer runs the tannery for the white owner. |
| Padmini | Padmini is one of Rukmani's three sisters. |
| Perumal | Perumal is Janaki's husband and the village shopkeeper who the tannery puts out of business. |
| Puli | Puli is the leprous beggar Rukmani adopts after he helps her survive in the city. |
| Raja | Raja is Rukmani's third son, murdered by guards after trying to steal a calfskin from the tannery. |
| Rukmani's eldest brother | Rukmani's eldest brother introduces her, at a young age, to the idea that their father may not be as rich and powerful as she supposes. |
| Rukmani's father | Rukmani's father is a headman, or ruler, in the village where she grows up, though he loses prestige and status by the time she is ready to marry. |
| Rukmani's mother | Rukmani's mother is a kind woman who introduces her to Kennington, which leads to Rukmani being able to bear sons. |
| Rukmani's son-in-law | Rukmani's son-in-law divorces her daughter, Irawaddy, five years into their marriage because she hasn't conceived yet. |
| Sacrabani | Sacrabani is Irawaddy's albino son, conceived during her time as a prostitute. |
| Shanta | Shanta is one of Rukmani's three sisters. |
| Sivaji | Sivaji is the kindhearted money collector who acts on behalf of Nathan's landlord. |
| Selvam | Selvam is Rukmani's fifth son, who vows to care for Irawaddy and her child after Rukmani and Nathan move to the city. |
| Tannery official #1 | Tannery official #1 is cruel and insensitive to Rukmani when he comes to make sure she will not make a claim for compensation after her son Raja is killed by tannery guards for trying to steal a calfskin. |
| Tannery official #2 | Tannery official #2 is kinder and more sensitive to Rukmani when he comes to make sure she will not make a claim for compensation after her son Raja is killed by tannery guards for trying to steal a calfskin. |
| Thambi | Thambi is Rukmani's second son, dismissed from the tannery after helping lead a labor strike. |
| Thangam | Thangam is one of Rukmani's three sisters. |
| Woman in the grocery store | Though many Muslim families move to Rukmani's village, she only ever meets the woman in the grocery store, who smiles at Rukmani. |
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