Frankie Rodriguez

Dr. Arnold
INTL-3111-01
Politics and Culture Essay: FREEDOM
Choices are acts of making decisions when faced with two or more possibilities,
with principles of free will containing religious, legal, ethical and cultural implications.
However, not everyone has the ability to make choices unrestricted or grasp the idea of
acting without the constraint of necessity or fate. Through the examination of the short
story Another Evening at the Club by Alifa Rifaat and Kurt Wimmers dystopian film
Equilibrium, I will expose the corresponding similarities of two main characters who fall
to the control of others in power resulting with having their futures and decisions
predetermined. Additionally, I will provide verification of the loss of freedom through the
characters and character traits as well as ambitions provided by the two main characters.
Finally illustrating a modern yet realistic example of the failure to stop individual
autonomy.
To properly correlate similarities and dissimilarities between the characters
struggle to find their own voice to demonstrate freedom, first I will provide background
to each main character. Beginning with the film, John Preston, a high-ranking
enforcement officer for a totalitarian government set in the near future of 2072. Requiring
all citizens to suppress emotions to inspire obedience. The government requires all
citizens to inject daily doses of Prozium which helps suppress any emotions, when
emotions are expressed by citizens illegally they are referred to as sense offenders.
John Preston sets the law down by providing assistance in destroying all emotionally
stimulating material- art, literature, and music. However, there are people who choose to
ignore participation in the obedient movement, the resistance. John Preston soon finds

himself having emotions after lacking to take his daily dose of Prozium, leading to the
corruption of the strange dystopian environment. John Preston aids the resistance by
destroying the factories that create the emotion-stopping drug Prozium. Preston
oversees the effective transformation with emotional gratification.
Trailing is background of the second character, in Another Evening at the Club,
protagonist Samia a young innocent woman whose father finds her a husband through an
arranged marriage who can provide her a lavish lifestyle. Abboud Bey, Samias newly
found husband provides comfort, prestige living and pleasure, however it comes at a cost,
the cost of freedom. Samia lives under the control of her husband, providing illustrations
of obedience to deliver a status to society. However, Samia is faced with a problem, one
of very few. Samia received an emerald ring from her husband and lost it during a
drunken escapade, scared to tell the truth she blames her housemaid, Gazia. Samias
choice causes a rippling effect to many characters in the story showing a compelling
theme consisting of the lack of freedom.
Both stories offer compelling insights to the lack of individuality both characters
strive for, however due to circumstances freedom is incomprehensible. Although both
result in different outcomes in successfully finding individuality and freedom they
experience similar difficulties. Furthermore, both characters begin their journey with no
knowledge of knowing the fate of their future and how it can be determined by their own
actions and thoughts. John Preston desires the ability to feel his emotions after gaining a
small insight to what they offer, except due to the position he holds he must keep his
emotions and ideas suppressed or he will be killed. His involvement in the government
restricts him from fulfilling individuality, defining and providing a predetermined future

instead of having freedom of making his own choices. Samia is also faced with a similar
objective in her life, forced to be unrecognized as a voice of individuality because of her
gender. Egyptian society is organized on the principle that men and women simply have
different natures, talents, and inherent tendencies, thus rules set from Egyptian laws
prohibit Samia from having opinions or freedom. Together both characters experience
situations in which they are forced to conformity due to lawful repercussions.
A modern day example of freedom in comparison is to illustrate time in the
United States when slavery was present. Slavery in the United States is a great insight to
how both characters John Preston and Samia were treated in their stories. Freedom was
taken from thousand of people, forced to do things, loosing all sense of individually.
Slaves were not allowed to have any voice at all, if individually occurred punishment
would be their outcome. Both characters experienced similar problems, all parties exhibit
punishment from a controlling party. John Preston faces a threat of being killed by his
leaders if he does not obey rules, Samia faces punishment from her controlling husband if
shes does not obey her husbands rules of culture.
Both John and Samia live in worlds where their freedom is their only desire yet
culturally they are not allowed to follow desires of individuality. The struggles include an
internal desire of freewill, again illustrated through both characters. Control is instilled in
both characters, control over someone is difficult to achieve unless they are weak. Both
Characters were able to control because they were introduced to the concept before they
grasped the concept of freewill. Freewill and individuality was achieved by one
characters struggle, John Preston. John was able to achieve individuality because he
broke the mold he was forced to fill. Illustrated in the film when he destroyed the plants

that manufactured the drugs that controlled everyone. However, Samia was unable to
prove her strive to find free will, she fell to the conformity to her husband. Illustrated in
the short story in the end when she says to her husband as you like. Why not. Samia
will never find her freedom that she deserves.
Freedom is a concept that not everyone will experience in a lifetime, however
freedom should not be a choice to individuals but rather a concept that is inherently
allowed to all.

Work Cited
Pierson, George. "Marie Or, Slavery in the United States." Marie Or, Slavery in the
United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2015.
Rifaat, Alifa. "Another Evening at the Club." Trans. Denys Johnson-Davies. Reading the
World. Second ed. Logan, Iowa: Perfection Learning Corporation, 2012. 339-406. Print.
"Equilibrium (2002) - IMDb." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The Internet Movie
Database, n.d. Web. 8 May 2015.

http://family.jrank.org/pages/439/Egypt-Gender-Family.html
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/marie-or-slavery-united-states