The Sacrifices Needed for Surviva - a Necter in a Seivel

The Sacrifices needed for Survival

At least one time in everyone’s life, they have given up something in order to benefit someone else. Although we don’t realize it, humans are constantly making sacrifices for the benefit of people around them. It can be as simple as giving up your day at the mall to help a friend study, or something more risky such as, stealing food in order to keep a family member alive. There are many families where the key to survival is taking risks and making sacrifices. In the book Nectar In a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya, Rukmani’s family makes many sacrifices to help their family stay alive.

A very obvious family sacrifice is when Ira’s baby is in need of food and Ira takes a job as a prostitute in order to keep him alive. “With her earnings Irawaddy was able to buy rice and salt and milk for the child, who was too weak for anything else. After the roots and leavings we had existed on, I was grateful enough for the food, but of what she bought, Nathan would not touch a morsel” (104). Ira knew that Sacrabani would not survive if she sat around and did nothing. Instead, she took it upon herself to get money, even if it meant prostituting. Although she was able to buy rice, salt, and milk for the baby, it was not without the disapproval from Nathan. She knew that her parents would not approve of her way of life, but it was a risk she had to take in order to keep Sacrabani alive as long as possible.

Another example of risks and sacrifices that the family takes is when Raja went out as usual but was never seen again, for he was killed because he had attempted to steal food or money for his family. “He had been caught; they said, something about money (93). Raja was blatently caught stealing and the risk was too great. Unfortunetly this was a risky sacrifice that ended up