Rukmani Personification Quotes

In chapter 14, personification is used to help convey the emotions that Rukmani and her family are feeling. The rains had failed and their crops dried out, followed by series of events revolving around Rukmani’s family not being able to pay their rent. By the time the rains come, the crops have all died, and Rukmani’s family plant seeds immediately afterwards. In the narration, Rukmani says, “Hope, and fear. Twin forces that tugged at us first in one direction then in another, and which was the stronger no one could say.” (Markandaya 78) She uses the personification by describing hope and fear in doing things that a person would do, such as tugging at her family. She is saying that her family felt hope that perhaps nature and God would be merciful