Another Evening at the Club

The second story I would like to comment on is "Another Evening at the

Club". This story is about keeping up appearances in a particular social
status. The girl’s father is a clerk in the Court of Appeals and the family is
of lower social status than the girl’s husband, Abboud Bey. Abboud is an
Inspector of Interrogation and holds a high social status. He is concerned
with what everyone else thinks. "…he had reminded her that she was
marrying someone with a brilliant career in front of him and that one of the
most important things in life was the opinion of others, particularly one’s
equals and seniors." (Page 383) After their marriage the girl loses an
emerald ring. Not knowing what to do she waits until her husband comes
home. He, in turn, accuses the servant girl of taking the ring and calls the
police. The next day, the wife finds the emerald stuck between the leg of
the dresser and the wall. In order to keep their social status and not make
fools of themselves, Abboud takes the ring to sell it. "-or would you like me
to tell everyone: ‘Look, folks, the fact is that the wife got a bit tiddly on a
couple sips of beer and the ring took off on it’s own and hid itself behind
the dressing table’?" (Page 385) Here, the wife is portrayed as an innocent
character. She knows nothing about keeping up a social status. She
seemed to fear her husband and at the same time she wanted to make the
situation right. Right for her would be admitting the mistake and freeing
the servant girl, but righting the situation for her husband means doing
whatever he can to make sure no one else knows about it.