To understand Imperialism, history must only look to the suffering many generations endured. For hundreds of years, Europeans marched across the world conquering and forcefully colonizing. Imperialism is depicted through people suffering under brutal rule by Europeans. For example, the Belgian monarch, King Leopold II, sadistically maimed children for minor offenses such as taking a break from hard labor. Countless other regions, including the Congo, Nigeria, the Americas, and India, were conquered and torn apart by destructive imperializers. Despite much cruelty by the imperializers, ultimately the imperialized often reaped some benefits, leaving their relationship extremely complex. …show more content…
The association between Rukmani and Kenny mirrors the relationship between Britain and India, and the characters even symbolize the countries themselves, with Rukmani representing the oppressed India and Kenny standing for Britain. Rukmani and Kenny’s connection embodies the two countries’ social, economic, and political conflicts with each other. First, the British believed that they were superior compared to the Indians, similar as to how Kenny’s behavior demonstrates his understanding of being better than Rukmani and other Indians. Additionally, Kenny and Rukmani’s behavior towards each other begins to deepen as they start to tell each other not only business matters but also private matters, just as the British started to hack away at India’s issues and began to solve them. Finally, when Rukmani’s family requires aide, Kenny helps them by offering a job to her son. Comparatively, the British brought over a new language to help the Indians better communicate with each other and their rulers. Ultimately, even though Britain and India struggled with each other over social, political, and economic situations, they sometimes were able to overcome these altercations. Though Indians suffered, the country was ultimately left with beneficial changes after Britain’s Imperial rule. Rukmani and Kenny underwent similar changes, such as Kenny’s acceptance of Indians and helping Rukmani’s family prosper even though sometimes his actions were harsh. Nectar in a Sieve demonstrates that even though Imperialism was enacted cruelly and left people to suffer, there were often a few positive changes that put the imperialized countries and people on a new path to the