The position that we choose for our presentation is “Dowry is unfairly treated in both stories”. There are several reasons that we had pointed out in order to strengthen our stand. First of all, dowry is given from the woman’s family to the groom’s family so that they will be able to take good care of the woman in the future of her life with her husband. It is not a compulsory. Yet, when the time progresses, dowry is treated as a compulsory task for the woman’s side of family to prepare as stated in both stories mentioned above.
We also conclude that the concept of dowry in these stories is being treated as bribery yet not a gift. It is a practice of offering money in order to gain an illicit advantage. This can be found in line, “There would be no final term for Rukumani. It was decided that the increase of $20,000 in dowry was worth the risk of family disgrace.” (Everything’s Arranged). From here, dowry turns into bribery so that the family makes sure the groom’s family will still accept the marriage proposal even the bride does not make ups to a certain requirement that groom’s family expected. It is more like a human trading process rather than a marriage.
Besides that, the levels of education are also an important element of deciding the dowry’s claim. We can notice that Sivasothie in “A Question of Dowry” is married to a doctor and so the dowry is higher than the dowry given by her sister-in-law who is a SPM graduate only. Furthermore, in the story, “Everything’s Arranged”, Rukumani’s dowry for the groom’s family had been increased because she will not finish her Bachelor of Arts and Science in University. Once again, human’s value is treated as goods. In conclusion, dowry is unfairly treated in both of the stories. The original concept of giving the dowry has changed follow by the time advancing.
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