Everything’s Arranged and A Question of Dowry

            In the old days, dowry is used as insurance for the bride if anything bad is to happen to the bridegroom. However, the concept of dowry has changed from its real purposes. Dowries are looked as a payment or a bribe to the bridegroom rather than the traditional purposes.

            Firstly, we look at the story “Everything’s Arranged”. This story shows that a dowry can be used as a bribe to the bridegroom. In order to shut the rumor about Rukumani having an affair with the Chinese boy, Johnny, Rukumani’s father increased the dowry from $10,000 to $20,000 in order for the marriage to be continued. In this story, we can see that the concept of dowry is not fairly treated.

Then, we go to the next story, “A Question of Dowry”. In this story, the dowry is seen as a requirement for marriage. The wedding will be canceled if the bride’s family cannot provide the dowry. The wedding between Sivasothie and Thiruchelvam is canceled because Mr.Ramachandran’s family cannot fulfill the dowry requested. This is because Mr.Ramachandran has no more land to sell for buying a gold necklace as a dowry.

As a conclusion, we can say that dowry is not fairly treated in both of the short stories. The dowries are portrayed as a bribe or as a payment for the wedding to be held. We need to know the true purposes of dowries so we would not mistreated the dowries in the future.