The Price of Dignity Sushmita Narayan 9th Grade

Many people look down upon the poor. For these disdainful individuals, being poor means that you have to perform acts that would be reprimanded by others, therefore ruining your social image. It is possible, however, to disagree with anyone who thinks that. Hunger is a threat to dignity, but the definition of threat is a person or thing likely to cause damage or danger. The threat doesn’t always have to cause damage. In Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, Rukmani and Nathan do face a threat to dignity, but Puli and Rukmani, even though her dignity is at risk as well, save themselves.

Puli is a major reason that Rukmani and Nathan don’t have to resort to begging in the city or doing other acts that may cause them to lose their respect. At first, Puli helps them find the place where Murugan used to work. “Yet I myself will take you there, and if you prosper you can pay me,” (page. 83). This is Puli agreeing to help them. Instead of roaming around, hungry, for so long and not knowing where to find their son, the couple finally finds hope. After having their money and belongings stolen, Rukmani and Nathan are purely dependent on the food given to the destitute daily at the temple. Later in the book, Puli takes them to a quarry,...