Money

Muppala Ranganayakamma

Short answer questions

1) What did the prospective son -in-law desire in the story "money"?
The prospective son-in-law desired to have one crore rupees as dowry or a share
in his prospective father- in- laws property, whichever was more. But when his
father-in-law told that property will worth ten rupees more, then he wanted
one crore and ten rupees as dowry.

2) What does the expression "Dowry donor “mean and why is "one crore as dowry
“not a surprise?

The expression "Dowry donor" means the person who is giving or donating the
dowry. Here in this story, the "Dowry donor" is prospective father-in-law. Giving
one crore as a dowry was not a surprise because the prospective father-in -law
was very rich to give away one crore of rupees in dowry,which means he would
have been worth tens of crores or hundreds of crores. Hence to part with one
crore as a dowry was not a big deal and hence not a surprise.

3.)"Education has no value apart from the mere weight" means

c)Being mere degree-holders sans moral values

4.)What was the clever gentleman's advice to the son-in-law?

The prospective son-in-law was confused about whether to take one crore rupees

as dowry or a share in father-in-laws property. He wanted to take property

which was ten rupees more when compared to dowry. Then the clever gentleman

advised him that if he takes a share in the property, his prospective wife would

inherit the property whereas if he take dowry it will be fully his own. So he

advised him to accept the dowry even if it is ten rupees less, as asking for a

share in property may not be an intelligent thought for a man.

5. Mention the final deal between the father-in-law and son-in-law?

The final deal was one crore and ten rupees , in the form of ten paisa coins in

gunny bags with one extra bag in case of any deficient amount and the key of the

shed where money was stored was handed to the son-in-law before the wedding

as the prospective son in law wanted the key immediately. He was worried that his

prospective wife might lose the key during the wedding day.

6. What did the son-in-law do soon after the wedding ceremony and was he aware

of the wheel of time?

Immediately after the wedding ceremony, the son-in-law got up from the wooden

plank and rushed towards the shed in his fine wedding clothes and started counting

money. He was not aware of the wheel of time. He was only concerned about

money and started counting the money immediately after his wedding ceremony.

From that moment, he only lived in the world of coins and the real world

disappeared from his sight. Sunrises, moon rises, full moons, new moons, seasons,

years and all of nature vanished before him in the lustre of coins .The wheel of time

moved on and he was not aware of it.

7. Why was the son-in-law angry with the father-in-law?

The son-in-law was angry with the father-in-law because when he finished

counting the last sack of coin, he found that , forty paise was less and one extra bag

was also not there as per his father-in-law’s promise. He was angry for this

betrayal and wanted to teach his father-in-law a lesson. He wanted to make him

touch his feet and apologise for his mistake.

8. The two women who approached son -in-law was his wife (elder woman over

forty-five)and (a young woman)her daughter

9. Why did the woman in the story blamed herself when she met the groom after a
long gap of 24 years?

The woman in the story blamed herself because she realised that half the fault was

hers. She couldn’t understand , how she agreed that time, to marry a man, who

demanded dowry for living with her. At that time she was happy that her parents

gave a large dowry for her sake but could not think beyond that in ignorance. After

the marriage was over, then she realized her mistake.

10. How was the greedy son-in-law punished?

The greedy son-in-law has been punished with the loss of his life-time. He had

wasted one-third of his life on account of money. He was not living his life to the

full. He lived in a world of coins and the real world disappeared from his sight.

11. Greedy people are obsessed with the calculation of property-True

12. What according to author is the connection between property and dowry?

According to the author, if parents have some property, daughters must get a

share of [Link] unfortunately do not give share to daughters. Instead they give little

money in the name of dowry, where the dowry is an unjust division of property.

That is the connection between property and dowry.

13. The mania for money cannot buy love and happiness.

14. In reality dowry problem is a property problem

Paragraph answers

1) What According to the wife was her husband’s loss?

According to the wife, her husband had lost a life time. He lost twenty four years of

his life by counting the sack of coins all because of his greed for money. He started

counting coins immediately after his marriage ceremony and whenever his wife

came to meet him he would be engrossed in counting. So his wife lost interest on

him as she realized her mistake and she married a noble man who came into her
life without asking for any dowry and they had a baby girl who is now a young

graduate. Her first husband has lost his precious twenty four years of his life only

because of his greed for dowry.

2) Describe the meeting between son-in-law and his wife and the wife’s daughter.

When the son-in-law was counting the last sack of coins he found that forty paise

was missing and he was angry at his father in law who had cheated him. Then he

saw two woman, one above forty five years and the other a young woman who

resembled her mother, watching him in wonder. He recognizes the older woman,

his wife and is asking her if she is his wife and she tells yes but she tells that she had

refused to live with him. But he is not remembering that and instead he is asking

her to call her father whom he believed has cheated him by giving forty paise less

than the offered dowry. Even though she is telling that it would have been a

counting mistake or the workers might have pilfered that amount he is not

agreeing and wanted to meet her father. When the wife says that her father had

died five years back the son-in-law is angry as he is worried about who is going to

repay him for the mistake.

3. The greedy son-in-law in the story holds a mirror to the modern grooms who

demand dowry. Discuss

The greedy son-in-law is a mirror to the modern grooms who demand dowry.

Even after having a good education, the son-in-law demanded dowry for living

with the girl who was equally educated like him. Even his parents and well wishers

are supporting him with regard to dowry. Parents were ready to give the dowry, as

in those times, they did not give property share to the daughters. There was

discrimination towards daughters and used to give little dowry to daughters in the

name of property.

Even though times have changed , in this modern era also dowry system is still

continuing like a tradition. Today marriages are arranged on the basis of property

only. Education of the girl doesn’t matter for today’s modern groom. If the girl

holds property then she gets married. Education has not brought any change to the
thinking and behaviour of modern grooms. The higher a boy is educated and holds a

good job, the more he demands dowry. Thus the greedy son-in-law holds a mirror

to the modern grooms who demand dowry.

Previous university questions from this chapter

1. Mention the exact amount of dowry demanded by the bridegroom(May/June

2019)(2m)

The exact amount of dowry demanded by the bridegroom was one crore and ten

rupees.

2. Give the details of final deal between father-in-law and son-in-law regarding

dowry(May/June 2019)(5 mark question)

The final deal was one crore and ten rupees , in the form of ten paisa coins in

gunny bags As the prospective son-in-law was worried about as there were so

many bags of ten paise coins, the prospective father-in-law offered him with one

extra bag, in case if amount is less than assured and the key of the shed where

money was kept was handed to the son-in-law before the wedding as the

prospective son-in-law wanted the key immediately. He was worried that his

prospective wife might lose the key during the wedding .

Prepared by

Naresha B.m

Lecturer of English.