Feminist analysis of ideologies in the works of literature covers in its scope ideas and movements that defend the equality of economic, political, and social rights for women in the society as they appear in these works. The analysis of the book Another evening at the club, therefore, has to view connotations that support the equality of women in the society. The story shows poor conditions of women who lack other means of employment apart from working as house girls in the rich men’s houses. Women working as house girls suffer mistreat from their employers. Their employers take advantage of their social status and allege a lot of wrong things around them. The demonstration of this occurs in the story when a man and his wife tell their servant that she has stolen a ring. In reality, the wife has dropped the ring behind a piece of furniture (Dobie 104). The young girl is taken away by the police simply to make her confess that she has stolen the ring. Instead of admitting the discovery of the ring, the man and the woman choose to watch the torture of the young maid. They have spread information all over the society that the young maid has stolen the ring. This scenario in the story is a perfect one for showing how females themselves contribute negatively to possible challenges that women have to overcome in order to implement feministic dreams in the society.
Feministic concern of the story is that so many ladies fear the way the society might think about their affairs. The husband does not want to tell people that they have found the ring. He does this intentionally to ensure that people do not start discussing the fact that his wife has been drunk and has dropped the ring. The man’s way of thinking is irrational. It is a clear indicator that in the Egyptian society,women should not take beer or be found drunk. In the story, Samia yields to her husband’s control and it results in her oppression. The husband refuses to apologize to the maid even when he knows that she is completely innocent. The husband has control over her and there is only a little she can do to change this (Gillespie 449). Rifaat successfully uses flashbacks to how women like Samia have suffered oppression in the past because of the nature of their society. Rifaat adopts the role of a Feminist to sensitize women against the unfair nature of the society.
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The practice of arranged marriages in this society is an unfair phenomenon. Women in this society are treated like property and marry men their parents wish them to. For example, Samia has only seen her husband for a year after her marriage. The only time she has seen him was when he came to look at her in order estimate her value in terms of dowry. The society in which the story setting occurs is utterly unfair to women and it results in unfairness and gender imbalance. Samia gets married to someone despite a large age gap between them. It shows that the nature of forced marriages in this society is an abuse of female preferences (Kunjakkan 239). The rights of the females are not taken into consideration by any chance. In fact, they are married to individuals who present the highest value of dowry or who wins the favor of the girl’s father. A society that marries young girls to old men of their fathers’ age has no respect for women. As a matter of fact, such traditions can only limit the future of such society. Sammia’s marriage to Abboud Bey who is a rich man in their community is an arranged one. It occurs when she has barely finished high school. It shows how the women’s dream for education and prosperous future is deterred by arranged marriages.
In the story Another evening at the Club, the author uses the storyline to explore a male narrow-minded society. Samia waits for her husband to return home from the club. In her marriage and in her daily life, she has no rights. Samia does all the time whatever her husband wants. Her opinion is even not considered and decisions concerning her life are made by her husband without any consultation with her. Rifaat has successfully exploited the irony that occurs in the storyline to expose women’s inferior role in the contemporary society. Feminism advocates that women should live lives by their own mind without any conflict or violation of their rights in marriage. Feminists seek to encourage females from forcing themselves into pleasing the society in irrational ways. Samia’s husband comes from a rich family and she sustains her life well with all the comfort that money can offer. However, her husband has a weakness of wanting to please other people (Dolan 17). The husband wants to have high status in the community and he is extremely afraid of what people might think. A feminist perspective at this point would suggest that the endeavors of females should be outright and not shaped by the opinion of others. It challenges women to be more industrious, so that they can make a better society where feminism is a respected aspect of women’s life.
The storyline of this short story uses the house help as a symbol of females whose rights are often violated by their employers and people surrounding them. Poor females suffer at the hands of their fellow reckless females. It has been used to show that females also constitute one of the major challenges of feminism. It is so evident that the house maid suffers innocently because of the husband. The wife blames the house help for her careless mistake that happened when she was drunk. It is against the rights of females proclaimed by feminism in terms that females should not be assaulted or suffer torture to make confession like it happens in the story.
Society in which the story occurs is a patriarch one. It means that a male has more respect and attention in marriage than a female. It occurs even when the male does not deserve it. It is seemingly futile to respect someone and follow every single syllable of his commands when the person is your husband and not the boss. The way this society is constructed creates a disadvantage for females. The rights of females are violated. During marriage, they are married to men their parents, namely their fathers, choose. In the story, it occurs that Samia’s father arranges their marriage. The priorities of Samia’s father and those of Samia cannot be the same in the context of preferences in life. He recommends his daughter to marry Abboud Bey. The view of the most valuable things in a female’s life may have been conflicting with those of the Samia’s father. He thinks that all a lady requires in her marriage is a rich, comfortable, and prestigious husband. The author uses this scenario to show ideal preferences of women in a marriage as they are in the ideal society. The society in which the story takes place has extremely narrow minds. Its representatives fail to recognize the role and rights of women in the society. The characters in this story tolerate unfair prescribed norms that are engrained in the Egyptian society. Therefore, their marriage and sexuality are abnormal.
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The setting of this story is Egypt. During this period, marriages have been arranged. It means that females do not have the right to choose their male partners. It was a few years ago that Samia laid eyes on the man at her father’s house for the first time. It was an unfair practice concerning women in this society (Lim 25). It did not also lead to happy marriages. There should have been a right to voice opinions of all the individuals involved. The exercise of arranged marriages was extremely common at this time and it did not give women any real rights. In the storyline, Samia is blamed by her husband for losing their marriage ring. The blame shifts to their maid who happens to be the only person who has recently attended the room. The irony occurs because the maid who is thought to have stolen the ring is not the one. They realize that Samia has dropped the ring too late.
In conclusion, women in any liberal society should be independent and strong individuals. Their role in building the society should be the same as that of men. Modern women should not stay at home and do house chores all day long. Therefore, there has been a need to liberate the Egyptian society in the time of the story setting. The society experiences tough times of gender bias and abuse of female rights. The study of Another evening at the club cannot occur without considering the role of females in the Egyptian society and their ideal roles. The opinion of Samia’s mother concerning the marriage is that it should provide her daughter with wealth, prestige, and pleasure. It shows how the society brainwashes women and they do not realize the importance of fighting for their rights.