One of the main themes in Nectar in a Sieve is the importance of food, and how hunger is a threat to dignity. For instance, the protagonist's son leaves to find a better life, and another one resorts to stealing and is killed for it. Her daughter chooses prostitution over starvation, and the father is so shamed that he refuses to eat the food she earned by selling herself. Without food, her family was falling apart.
This affects the protagonist's dignity as well. She almost kills someone because she thought that she was going to steal the last of their rice. She observes that starvation causes people to shove and fight each other like animals. The protagonist believes that the industrialization of the village and other man made factors has lead to the food crisis. Without food or fertile lands, hunger tears families apart and turns the villagers into thieves, prostitutes, murderers, and animals.
