The Marginalization and Invisibility: A Study of Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve and A Silence of Desire

Authors

  • Dr. Rekha Rani Author

Keywords:

Marginalized, postcolonial theory, subaltern studies, and suffering psychology.

Abstract

Kamala Markandaya has made noteworthy contributions to Indian English literature. Her representation of female suffering and its psychological implications, as well as the interwoven themes of gendered suffering, tradition, and modernity in postcolonial India, is noteworthy. The present study aims to compare the two novels, Nectar in a Sieve (1954) and A Silence of Desire (1960), focusing on two of the women protagonists and chronicling their experiences of marginalization, as well as their emotional resilience and inner struggles. Select social, economic, and psychological 
interfaces of poverty and family structures will be invoked. The present study attempts to record the struggles of the protagonists as acts of subversion. The study will also shed light on social change and its impact on social networks, interrelations, the dichotomy between reason and belief, and the various facets of silence, including its role as both oppression and a means of voice. Her texts, paired with some critical frameworks, elucidate Markandaya's understanding of the marginalized, positions of the oppressed, and the forgotten as a result of patriarchal systems, as well as the literature of the 
disenfranchised.  

Author Biography

  • Dr. Rekha Rani

    Associate Professor

References

Markandaya, K. (1954). Nectar in a sieve. Signet Classics.

Markandaya, K. (1960). A silence of desire. Jaico Publishing House.

Mohanty, C. T. (1984). Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. Boundary 2, 12(3), 333–358.

Showalter, E. (1977). A literature of their own: British women novelists from Brontë to Lessing. Princeton University Press.

Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press.

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Published

22-04-2026

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2026): First Issue

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Rekha Rani (Author)

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How to Cite

The Marginalization and Invisibility: A Study of Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve and A Silence of Desire. (2026). International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 1(1), 5-7. https://scirojournals.com/ijllc/article/view/14