Piriyanga Sambasevam - 1SN

Critical Response
Everythings arranged is a short story which is written by local writer Siew Yue
Killingley. I myself had enjoyed reading this, story as this story contains thrilling twists
and turns. This story talks about arranged marriage which is practiced by Indians. The
theme of the story can be said as love marriage versus arranged marriage. The
practicing of arranged marriages is highly respected by the Indian communities. This is
because they have a thought that arranged marriage can protect their family honor.
In this short story, the background of the culture of Indians is well portrayed. This
story shows that Indian families do not allow love marriage. This is because Indian
communities believe that marriage is a biggest honor for them. So, they want to protect
their family name from being spoilt. According to them, a girl or a guy should not fall in
love before marriage. In fact, this typical Indian culture has been shown in this story by
the writer. This culture is a beneficial one because it has its own moral values. This
concept is teaching us to avoid from involving in social problems such as premarital sex.
At the same time, this culture or concept also opposes the modern idea. This is
because, nowadays the youngsters are interested in finding their own spouse.
There are different types of characteristics being portrayed through several
characters in this short story. Rukumani is the protagonist of the story. She is studying at
the university and has fallen in love with a guy named Devanayagam. He is also from
the same community as Rukumani. Rukumani's parents are antagonists who are very
old-fashioned in their ideas about marriage. Arranged marriage is the only one type of

marriage which is accepted by them. They strongly believe that a man and a lady
cannot fall in love with each other before marriage. Because of their parents thoughts
their love end in failure. The antagonist and protagonist in this story have played their
role respectively to end the story in an interesting way.
In this story, the writer has given some moral values in the story to the readers.
One of the characteristics of Devanayagam which shows the moral value is obedient.
She listens to her parents advice even though she could not accept it. On the other
hand, this story teaches us to follow our own family culture. But some of the moral value
which is shown in this story is arguable. For instance, parents should give their children
an opportunity to find their own spouse. This is because, they are the one who are
going to live with their life partner. So, parents must be open minded in this thing.
As a conclusion, this story has brought up with a social problem by using
different types of characters and giving some moral values to the readers.