Siew Yue Killingley was a Malaysian-British linguist born in 1940 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She received degrees from the University of Malaya and University of London. She taught linguistics in Malaysia and the UK. She founded the publishing company Grevatt & Grevatt and worked as a tutor in Chinese language and culture. She was multilingual and involved in various teaching and voluntary work until her death in 2004 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

2. Meet Siew Yue Killingley
Personal details:
Born Leong Siew Yue, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaya (now Malaysia),
17th December 1940.
• Married Dermot Killingley 1963
• First visited Britain and the
Republic of Ireland for six months
in 1965; lived in Britain since
1968.
• Died Newcastle upon Tyne, 8th
June, 2004.

3. Education:
• St Mary‟s School, Kuala Lumpur
1947-1957 Victoria Institution, Kuala
Lumpur 1957-59.
• University of Malaya 1960-66.
• School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London 1968-
70.

4. Languages:
• Bilingual in English and Cantonese; fluent in French and Mandarin; able
to read Old English, Middle English and Latin; some German, Sanskrit
and Hindi.
Degrees:
• BA (Hons) in English (Upper Second),
University of Malaya, 1963.
• MA (Linguistics), University of Malaya, 1966.
• PhD (Linguistics), University of London, 1972.
Performing Arts:
• Royal Academy of Dancing Certificate in Ballet in Education, Grade V
Honours, 1957.
• Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music Pianoforte Grade 3
(Merit), 1991; Flute Grade 8 (Merit), 1992.

5. Teaching:
• 1961-7: Taught English language, literature, phonetics, and linguistics at
various schools in Selangor, Malaysia and at the University of Malaya.
• 1970-2: Tutorial Assistant in Linguistics and Phonetics, School of English,
University of Newcastle.
• 1972-80: Lecturer in English (Senior lecturer 1979), St. Mary's College of
Education, Newcastle.
• 1987-8: Tutor in Community Interpreting and Bilingual Skills, College of Arts
and Technology (now Newcastle College).
• 1988-2002: Tutor in courses on linguistics, language and the community in the
Centre for Continuing Education (now Lifelong Learning), University of
Newcastle. This included course in Chinese Language and Culture, 1994-
2002.
• 2002-2004: Tutor in Chinese Language and Culture, Workers‟ Educational
Association.

6. Voluntary work
• Interpreting in Cantonese and
English at various times in
Newcastle and Northumberland.
• 1991-7: Editor of monthly British
Linguistic Newsletter and ex-officio
Committee Member of the
Linguistics Association of Great
Britain.
Publishing:
• 1981: Founded Grevatt & Grevatt,
non-commercial publishers.

7. SHORT STORY:
A QUESTION OF DOWRY

8. Plot Summary
• An Indian girl, Sivasothie was going to be engaged
& married to a young man, Thiruchelvam who was
chosen by the family.
• Thiruchelvam was a doctor.
• Sivasothie‟s parents were preparing dowry, a sum
of twenty thousand dollars to the bridegroom‟s
family.
• They even had a gold necklace as a personal
present to their daughter when she was going to
be wedded.

9. • Problem arose when Sivathosie‟s father,
Mr. Ramachandran told his wife that they
cannot afford to give the dowry and the
necklace.
• This is because the wife‟s piece of land
was disvalued to be sold & it was the only
way to pay the dowry.
• Mr. Ramachandran called the future son-
in-law to come to their house.

10. • Mr. Ramachandran told Thiruchelvam
the truth about the dowry matters.
• Knowing this, Thiruchelvam rejected the
marriage because the bride‟s family
could not afford to give the dowry as
promised.
• Sivasothie felt sad & hurt for she had to
forget the marriage & after all, she began
to like Thiruchelvam.

11. Literary Criticism
Cultural
AQoD
Gender Social

12. CULTURAL

13. Dowry
• In India, dowry or dahej is the payment in
cash or/and kind by the bride‟s family.
• Originated in upper caste families as
wedding gift.
• To help with marriage expenses and a form
of insurance in case her in-laws mistreated
her.

14. • Although dowry is legally prohibited in 1961, it
continually to be highly institutionalized.
• The groom usually demands a large sum of
money, farm, animals etc.
• Eg: In the story, Thiruchelvam‟s family
demanded twenty thousand dollars as the dowry
from the bride‟s family.
– E1: “Twenty thousand dollars is not to be scoffed at
– that‟s more than I can say what Thangathurai gave
his daughter when our son married her..” pg 31.

15. • However, they could not afford to pay the dowry and
the necklace for they had only a piece of disvalued
land which cost them less than the amount they
wanted it to be sold.
– E1: “Come now, wife!..Don‟t 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.
– “About the land, I‟m 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.” pg 32.

16. Arranged Marriage
• Indian generations are traditionally
engaged in an arranged marriage by
their elders.
• Marriage is not only necessity for girl but
a religious sacrament as well, since it
was believed that a female virgin could
never attain spiritual enlightenment in
this world.

17. • As we read through the story, the daughter is going to
be engaged to a doctor.
– E: “Sivasothie, you are a very lucky girl. You‟ll have a doctor
for your husband – and Mrs Muthu will have a fit from envy.”
pg 33.
• However, due to the incapability of the bride‟s family to
fulfill the dowry as promised, the wedding had be
called-off.
– E: “Thiruchelvam, having less faith in Mrs Ramachandran‟s
father, believed the news about the devalued land…Mr
Ramachandran had to let his wife and daughter know about
the changed situation.”

18. • Though it is not stated directly in the
short story that the marriage is
arranged, logically we know the
bridegroom and the bride seem to just
meet and barely know each other.
• In addition, if the marriage is based on
love, the man would defend the
marriage instead of rejecting it because
of the dowry.

19. SOCIAL

20. Social Class
Comparison between the Groom’s and the Bride’s Social Class
Thiruchelvam (The Groom) Sivasothie (The Bride)
Well educated (example) Unstated education
Stable income Unknown income source
Doctor Jobless
Upper class family Middle class family

21. GENDER:
FEMINISM

22. Patriarchal Power
• 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
girl‟s brothers instead of the mother.
• In general, man insists that a women‟s place is
only at home and she is satisfied by serving her
family and fulfilling the needs of her household
members.

23. • The short story itself contains a lot of
examples on man‟s power ruling over
women‟s.
• 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.”

24. • It is very important for the women to obey
the men in Indian‟s 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.

25. • Even if it is not her willingness to call-off
the wedding, she still respects her
husband, Mr Ramachandran‟s decision.
–E: “Well,‟ commented Mrs Ramachandran
stoically, „there‟s more than one doctor in
our community, and it‟s up to you,
Ramachandran, to do your duty as a
father.”

26. Bibliography
Fernando Llyod. (1968). 22 Malaysia Stories.
Singapore: Heinemann Asia.