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Kenny
Irawaddy is Rukmani’s eldest child and only daughter. When Irawaddy is born, Rukmani is disappointed because Nathan needs sons who can help him work the land. However, she and Nathan grow fond of their firstborn. Irawaddy has the most developed character of all Rukmani’s children; her prominence in the narrative shows the extent to which the family defies traditional norms, even as they represent ordinary peasant life. Like her mother, Irawaddy marries at a young age, but her husband eventually renounces her for her failure to bear a child; Irawaddy accepts this humiliation, as well as the likelihood that she’ll spend her life as a childless spinster, with the stoic resignation she’s learned from Rukmani. When the family is starving during a period of famine, Irawaddy secretly works as a prostitute in order to buy milk for her youngest brother, Kuti, and eventually gives birth to an illegitimate child. Irawaddy’s son, who is albino and an outcast in the village, is a reminder of Irawaddy’s social transgressions. The novel characterizes Irawaddy’s actions as brave and honorable, and Irawaddy maintains her calm and dignity, as well as her close relationship with her mother, even in the face of social stigma. Her narrative is a revolutionary depiction of female sexuality and the difficulties facing women who don’t conform to social norms.
Irawaddy Quotes in Nectar in a Sieve
The Nectar in a Sieve quotes below are all either spoken by Irawaddy or refer to Irawaddy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
She nodded slightly, making no comment, yet I knew how bruised she must be by the imminent parting. My spirit ached with pity for her, I longed to be able to comfort her, to convince her that in a few months’ time her new home would be the most significant part of her life, the rest only a preparation […] but before this joy must come the stress of parting […].
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Chapter 11
Quotes
None more so than Ira: the transformation in her was as astonishing as it was inexplicable. I had feared she might dislike the child, but now it was as if he were her own. She lost her dreary air, her face became animated, the bloom of youth came back to her.
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It is true, one gets used to anything. I had got used to the noise and smell of the tannery; they no longer affected me. I had seen the slow, calm beauty of our village wilt in the blast from town, and I grieved no more; so now I accepted the future and Ira’s lot in it, and thrust it from me; only sometimes when I was weak, or in sleep while my will lay dormant, I found myself rebellious, protesting, rejecting and no longer calm.
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Chapter 16
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She was no longer a child, to be cowed or forced into submission, but a grown woman with a definite purpose and an invincible determination […] It was as simple as that we forbade, she insisted, we lost. So we got used to her comings and goings, as we had got used to so much else.
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Irawaddy Quotes in Nectar in a Sieve
The Nectar in a Sieve quotes below are all either spoken by Irawaddy or refer to Irawaddy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
She nodded slightly, making no comment, yet I knew how bruised she must be by the imminent parting. My spirit ached with pity for her, I longed to be able to comfort her, to convince her that in a few months’ time her new home would be the most significant part of her life, the rest only a preparation […] but before this joy must come the stress of parting […].
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
None more so than Ira: the transformation in her was as astonishing as it was inexplicable. I had feared she might dislike the child, but now it was as if he were her own. She lost her dreary air, her face became animated, the bloom of youth came back to her.
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Explanation and Analysis:
It is true, one gets used to anything. I had got used to the noise and smell of the tannery; they no longer affected me. I had seen the slow, calm beauty of our village wilt in the blast from town, and I grieved no more; so now I accepted the future and Ira’s lot in it, and thrust it from me; only sometimes when I was weak, or in sleep while my will lay dormant, I found myself rebellious, protesting, rejecting and no longer calm.
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Chapter 16
Quotes
She was no longer a child, to be cowed or forced into submission, but a grown woman with a definite purpose and an invincible determination […] It was as simple as that we forbade, she insisted, we lost. So we got used to her comings and goings, as we had got used to so much else.
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