out the conflicts between a traditional agricultural culture and a burgeoning industrial society that's wealth in resources hasn't been utilized for their own advantage and the importance of traditional cultural practices, people's reluctance to change, and the impact of economic change.
             Nectar in a Sieve also unravels the bonds between family traditions and the desires the children wish to obtain in a growing and changing time in India. In an extended family, strong family ties often discourage members from leaving the family unit. Nathan and Ruku, for example, tried to dissuade their sons Arjun and Thambi from going to Ceylon, even though their land and meager resources could not support them. As with most Indian peasant fathers, Nathan wanted his sons to stay and work the land, but they were reluctant to do so because they recognized that the family's situation would not improve and their opportunities were better elsewhere, as shown in this quote, "But when one day he told me he was going to work in the Tannery I was acutely dismayed. It was going to be neither the lands or the letters which is to claim him..."(Markandaya, p 55) This provides an example of how changing, industrialized economies alter extended family structures that tend to exist in agricultural, peasant economies, therefore destroying a piece of their society. The sons of Ruku may have also did this because they wanted to have a higher rank or status in their society, thus breaking the caste system; they were born in an agricultural caste but "moved up" into an industrial or business caste, as shown in this quote, " You are young, I attempted to dissuade him. Besides you are not of the caste of tanners. What will our relations say?"(Markandaya, p 55) All these examples of social reform due to colonialism has helped me better understand the impact Britain had on India because of the personal accounts exerted by the book....