"Money" by Muppala Ranganayakamma - A summary

Money

                                                               -     Muppala Ranganayakamma

‘Money’ is a short story written by Muppala Ranganayakamma who is a well-known Marxist writer best known for her work “Ramayana Vishavruksham”. This story, originally written in Telugu is a translation into English by N. Usha. It targets the social evil of dowry and shows how human relationships lose their sanctity owing to human greed for money.

The writer critically looks at the social issue of dowry through this story. She highlights the degenerating human relationships as the greed for money increases. The narrator experiences surprises after surprises as the would-be son-in-law meets his prospective father-in-law to negotiate dowry with him. The prospective father-in-law agrees to give one crore in dowry which was a surprise. Even more surprising was that the well-educated man asked for a dowry and the well-educated woman agreed to give a dowry! The son-in-law becomes greedier still when he comes to know about his prospective father-in-law’s property. He is in confusion whether to take a dowry or a share in the property. A clever gentleman warns him against the property as it will be inherited directly by his wife. In that case, dowry will be a better option. Then the son-in-law agrees to accept the dowry of a crore and ten rupees. Thus, the alliance is fixed.

The son-in-law is very eager to lay his hands on the money. The father-in-law says that he had preserved the ten-paise coins in gunny bags. Immediately after the wedding, the bridegroom rushes to the shed where the gunny bags had been kept. He starts counting as he does not trust the weighing machines. The moment he began counting the money, the world of coins absorbed him so much that he had lost touch with the real world. However, the wheel of time moved on. As he came to count the last sack of coins, twenty-four years had passed by. He found out that the total amount had a shortage of forty paise. He started to shiver with rage. By then, he saw two women who had come to check on him; they were his wife and her daughter. He was astonished to see them, yet his preoccupation with the difference in the money overpowered him. He was not ready to hear all about the lost time and the precious time.

In the meanwhile, the wife told him how he had been lost in counting the money. He forgot about his wife and duties. She couldn’t help but married a nobleman without dowry, gave birth to a baby girl after two years. The time just passed by.   Now, her daughter had completed her graduation. The wife tells the man how she despised dowry. She regrets that if no one had given him dowry, he would have led a normal life. The daughter condemns the man and the system of dowry. The mother tells her daughter that there is connection between property and dowry. If dowry is abolished, dowry transactions turn into property transactions. The story concludes on a pessimistic note about dowry.

Short Answer Questions

1.   What did the prospective son-in-law desire in the story “Money?”

Ans: He desired for a dowry of a crore rupees.

2.   What does the expression “Dowry donor” mean and why is “ 1 Crore as dowry” not a surprise?

Ans: The “dowry-donor” refers to the father-in-law or one who gives away dowry to the groom. 1 Crore as dowry is not a surprise since the dowry-donor would have been worth tens of crores or hundreds of crores!

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

Ans: C. Being mere degree holders sans moral values.

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

Ans: His advice was to take dowry because a share in the property would be inherited by his wife.

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

Ans: The deal was a crore and ten rupees.

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

Ans: Soon after the wedding, the bridegroom rushed towards the shed where the money had been kept and started counting the money. He was not as aware or the wheel of time.

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

Ans: As the son-in-law counted the last sack of coins, he found out a difference of forty paise less. So, he became angry.

8.   The two women who approached the son-in-law were his wife and her daughter.

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

Ans: The woman blames herself because she had agreed to live with that man who demanded money to live with him.

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

Ans: It was the precious life of 24 years he had lost which was punishment itself.

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

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

Ans: The connection is, if parents have some property, daughters must get a share of it. But they do not give a share to daughters, Instead, they give a little money in the name of dowry.

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

14.        In reality, the dowry problem is a property problem.

Paragraph Answers

1.   What, according to the wife, was her husband’s loss?

Ans: The story “Money” by Muppala Ranganayakamma portrays how a man struck by the greed of money loses the very essence of his life. This is also a critique of increasing human tendency to foster evil systems like dowry in a progressive and educated society. Here in the story the man driven by a desire for money offers to marry for a crore of rupees. When he learns that the girl gets a share in the property also, he demands for a crore and ten rupees. These extra ten rupees were part of a share in the property for the girl. The man was eager to count the coins to make sure the count was right but not before the wedding. Immediately after the wedding ceremony was over, the bridegroom rushed towards the shed and started to count the money. His focus was only on the money and forgot all about the rest of the things. The wheel of time moved on. When he counted the last sack of coins, twenty four years had passed by. He noticed that the assured money counted forty paise less. He shivered with rage. Exactly by then he saw two women there; one looked like his wife and the other resembled his wife.

He tried to recall his past but suddenly thought about the difference in the money. The wife told him what had taken place in those past 24 years. She had tried to talk with him several times but the husband was engrossed in counting. She lost interest in him, married a noble man without dowry. A baby girl was born two years later. Though her father suffered loss in business and lost all his property, it did not affect her because she never depended on it. She and her husband worked and lived on their income. She now hates this greedy tells him that if no one had given him a dowry, he would have led a normal life. She says that he had lost the best of his life on account of money. In fact, he was lost in the real sense!