Literary criticism is defined as the attempt to explain a literary work

through theory. Similar in the short story A Question of Dowry written by Siew
Yue Killingly, there few theories that can be used to analysis the story. The most
prominent literary criticism that can be used to explain the short story is
feminism criticism.
Feminism is can be defined as gender inequalities and strives for equal rights
for woman. In the Indian society the women do not have any freedom and rights
to decide their own future life partner. The families play a major role in choosing
the bridegroom for their daughter. Moreover, arranged marriage is a tradition
that have being followed strictly by the Indians. For example, Mr.Ramachandran
and Mrs. Ramachandran choose a bridegroom name Thiruchelvam for their
daughter Sivasothie. They did not ask her opinion about the bridegroom and said
Sivasothie, you are a very lucky girl. Youll have a doctor for your husband.
Sivasothie agrees to the marriage because she has to follow whatever her family
have decide for her life as she has no rights to voice out her opinion. This shows
that young women in the Indian society do not have freedom to choose their own
life partner and also to decide their own future life.
Apart from that, young women in Indian society are also mistreated due to
dowry. Dowry plays a major role in an Indian wedding. Dowry is a traditional
practice where the father of the bride gives a part of his properties to his
daughter and son in law as the gift of the wedding. This practice turn to be a
cruel action because if the brides family fail to give the dowry that demand by
the bridegrooms family, then the wedding will be cancel off. In some cases
brides are tortured by their husband and in- laws after the marriage because the
brides families failed to prepare the dowry that demanded by them. For
example, Thiruchelvam cancelled the wedding when Mr.Ramachandran told him
that