A Question of Dowry

SIEW YUE KILLINGLEY

TSL 3102 Literature In English

PISMP BAHASA INGGERIS SK (1) January Intake 2013

Ahmad Aizat bin Hasnullah 28445 Nur Alia binti Harun 28345

SUMMARY
The youngest daughter of the Ramachandran family, Sivasothie is getting married to Thiruchelvam, a young doctor of her family's choice.

For the wedding, the Ramachandrans has promised to give twenty thousand dollars of cash as the dowry for the groom's family.
The conflict starts when the land which they planned to sell of to gain money for the dowry is now devalued, due to overflowing of water into the land. No one would want to buy a sodden land. When Thiruchelvam hears this, he calls the wedding off immediately, because the Ramachandrans is not able to give the dowry as promised.

LITERARY CRITICISM
FEMINISM THEORY

CULTURAL THEORY

FEMINISM THEORY

Feminism theory
Feminism can be defined as gender inequalities and strives for equal rights for woman.

Man is on top of the family pyramid In Indian beliefs, a marriage is arranged by the father and if he died his role will be taken by a girls brothers instead of the mother. In general, man insists that a womens place is only at home and she

is satisfied by serving her family and fulfilling the needs of her

household members.

play a major role in choosing the bridegroom

Sivasothie, you are a very lucky girl. Youll have a doctor for your husband. Pg.33
young women in Indian society are also mistreated due to dowry.
Unless

we were to drain it, no one would buy it

at out sum.pg.32

 The short story itself contains a lot of examples on mans power ruling over womens.

It is the women who are responsible for the household and take as an
example, in this story, Mrs Ramachandran has worked hard for the festive and preparation for the engagement.

E: Mrs Ramachandran flew here and there, as fast as her

160 pounds would allow her, and helped with her commanding suggestions.

 It is very important for the women to obey the men in Indians tradition. Mrs Ramachandran has been mentioned to be a respectful and obedient wife. E: She went out dutifully, for she managed her husband

well obeying him in the little things with such readiness that he thought himself as lord of everything as well.

 Even if it is not her willingness to call-off the wedding, she still respects her husband, Mr Ramachandrans decision. E: Well, commented Mrs Ramachandran stoically, theres

more than one doctor in our community, and its up to

you, Ramachandran, to do your duty as a father.

CULTURAL THEORY

In A Question of Dowry
Focuses in the Indian culture Two cultural issues present
Dowry Arranged Marriage

Dowry
an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage Oxford Dictionary Dowry first started as a wedding gift among the upper caste (upper class) families Later on, it is given to help with the marriage expenses to the grooms family It is also given as a form of insurance in the case that her in-laws would mistreat her Although dowry is legally prohibited in 1961 under Indian Civil Law, but it is still largely practised among the people Some of the common items asked by the grooms family for the dowry includes jewelleries, large sum of money, farm animals and furniture.

In the story
Thiruchelvams (the groom) family demanded twenty thousand dollars as the dowry from the Ramachandrans (the bride) family

Twenty thousand dollars is not to be scoffed at thats more than I can say for what Thangathurai gave his daughter when our son married her pg 31, paragraph 2, line 4

 Unfortunately, the Ramachandrans could not afford to pay both the dowry and the necklace. The piece of land which they had planned to sell off to get money for the dowry (the cash and the necklace) is now disvalued and they could not get the amount of money they wanted.

Come now, wife! ... Dont you remember? We have only one piece of land left from your dowry we sold the other two for our third and fourth sons weddings. pg 32, paragraph 3, line 1 About the land, Im afraid it is impossible to sell it at a quarter of its former price. You see, water has been seeping out from some well for about ten years and so the land is now too marshy for house-holding. Unless we were to drain it, no one would buy it at our sum pg 32, paragraph 5, line 1

 When Thiruchelvam hears the news, he called off the wedding as the bride could not give the dowry as they previously agreed

Thiruchelvam, having less faith in Mrs Ramachandrans

father, believed the news about the devalued land. pg 34, paragraph 3, line 5

After Thiruchelvam had left for his dispensary, Mr Ramachandran had to let his wife and daughter know about the changed situation. pg 34, paragraph 4, line 1

Arranged Marriage
Arranged marriages have been part of the Indian culture since the fourth century In the Hindu faith, marriage is a sacramental union one is considered incomplete and unholy if they do not marry Because of this beliefs, many families begin the preparations for the marriage of their children well in advance The males family are usually responsible in arranging the marriage. find the match (with the help of matchmakers), arrange a meeting with the girls family to discuss the dowry, time and location of the wedding.

In the story
It is not stated in the story that the marriage is an arranged marriage. But logically the readers could sense that the bride and the groom barely knows each other.

Well, a man had to have a wife, so why not have one with a reasonable dowry? pg 34, paragraph 2, line 4
In this extract, it is obvious that Thiruchelvams family chose Sivasothie to be his wife because the family offers the best price for their dowry It only makes sense that Thiruchelvam calls off the wedding just because the Ramachandrans could not give them the dowry they had agreed on previously.

THE END