Pub 3

Asiah Smikle

Pub 3

Egalitarianism is the doctrine that all people are equal and deserve to have equal rights and opportunity. When hearing the definition of Egalitarianism the first thing that may come to mind is one of the most famous speeches by Martin Luther King called the “ I Have A Dream” speech. King was a major advocate for human rights and equal treatments, no matter your gender, color of your skin, what religion you are, or where you came from. Many say America is a free country, because of the right we are granted from birth.. Some fail to realize, freedom is never given, we earn it in some way shape or form. King believes “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the-oppressed”. Woman have come quite a long way when it comes to being granted equal rights. Thanks to thousands of woman activist who fought for equal rights we are were we are at today. Kate Chopin in her Short story “The Storm” brings lights to woman and their sexual desires without a judgemental view, contradicting the traditional notions about woman and sexuality that were deemed improper aspects of women’s lives.

Kate Chopin was known as a writer ahead of her generation because the stories she was writing were stories that included certain behaviors of woman that weren’t socially acceptable. In “ The Storm” a woman named Calixta is married and has a son. “The storm” is used as a metaphor to Calixta’s sexual desire. As the storm is coming her desire grows more and more. Chopin juxtaposes these two events, the storm and her sexual arousal, when she writes that Calixta, “ felt very warm . . . she unfastened her white saque at the throat. It began to grow dark and suddenly realizing the situation she got up and hurriedly went about closing windows and doors" (Chopin, The Storm). The gathering storm serves as a metaphor for Calixta's growing affection, suggesting that both the tension in the air and the sexual tension within Calixta are beginning to manifest themselves in a physical sense. At first, the obvious desire between Calixta and Alcée is sublimated into a nervous tension, and the effort to restrain their physical longing for the sake of social mores is paramount. Calixta states, "If this keeps up, Dieu sait if the levees goin' to stan' it," which is acknowledging of the growing force of their passion and the weakening of their resistance before that passion (Chopin, The Storm). During that day and age women should only love their spouse and cheating wasn’t acceptable. Chopin held a non-judgemental attitude by holding back from moralizing about the importance of marriage. The fact that no where in the story did she punish Calixta for her actions, as well as acknowledging the existence of sexual desire in women, Chopin wrote  "The Storm" with a strong feminist tone and calls the very institution of marriage into question.

Egalitarianism is something we really see in the US, but in certain countries that doesn’t apply. In Saudi Arabia women for so long until this day are very dependent on their spouse. In fact “Some husbands won’t allow their wives and daughters to take rewarding job because they might have contact with men in the course of their work” (Murphy, Laws of Men). In Saudi Arabian society the male “guardian” over the female has full control over her life. Us woman in the United States find that to be odd, but for Saudi Arabian women that is reality. Men are even able to put their hands on women with no consequences. Woman and men are seen as two totally different ranks in society. The men in this culture are absolutely given more rights, and opportunity than Arabian women. Researchers have seen efforts made to help Saudi Arabian women receive more rights and freedom. “Saudi Arabia issued its first drivers license to 10 women on [June 4th] as the kingdom prepared to lift the world’s only ban one female drivers in three weeks” (The Associated Press). What sounds absurd to women all over the world is just a Saudi Arabian woman’s harsh reality. Egalitarianism is something that people in the United States see as regular, but in other countries women are still fighting to be given equal treatment as the men in their societies.

Egalitarianism is something that although in some parts of the globe is not practiced, as a world we are working towards that. In the U.S. we are all born with the same right and are suppose to be given equal opportunity as the next man standing. In the era of Chopin things were different, much like the culture of those we see in Saudi Arabia still today. There will be a time that no matter where we are in this world everyone will be seen as equal, no matter of any circumstances. Like king said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Murphy, Caryle. “Laws of Men: In Saudi Arabia, Women Are Still Assigned Male 'Guardians'.” Public Radio International, www.pri.org/stories/2014-12-09/laws-men-saudi-arabia-women-are-still-assigned-male-guardians.

Press, The Associated. “First Saudi Women Receive Their Driver's Licenses.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 June 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/06/04/saudi-arabia-women-begin-getting-drivers-licenses/670768002/.