Throughout Woman at Point Zero, Saadawi furthers the character development of the protagonist, Firdaus, by frequently repeating noteworthy phrases that grabs the reader’s attention. Though this seemingly overused literary technique may seem like lethargic writing, Saadawi’s purposeful reiteration of thematic concepts reveals a subtle attempt to depict Firdaus as a strong feminine character that is stuck in a vicious cycle of pain that is forced onto her by society. This underlying conflict helps illustrate the juxtaposition between Firdaus’ strong character and the oppression she faces, allowing Saadawi to delve into a deeper, more politically driven theme in her book. Saadawi’s frequent use of repetition expands on the central opposition between …show more content…
Through her use of repetition, Saadawi successfully depicts Firdaus as a woman who is stuck in this destructive cycle of being tricked into a temporary euphoria-like high before being shocked into depression by the cold reality of her oppression. On multiple occasions, Firdaus is seen coming to this erroneous revelation on how she can succeed in her society as a woman and experiencing temporary happiness before experiencing some type of trauma that renders her bitter and morose about the truth of her situation. The most notable example is Firdaus’ inability to find true love throughout her life. Towards the end of the book, Firdaus is seen failing at succeeding in a meaningless job in order to try and reach her deluded goal becoming a “respected” woman when she meets Ibrahim. Firdaus’ description of her interaction with Ibrahim creates a strong sense of déjà vu as Saadawi writes out …show more content…
For example, another instance of this destructive cycle is when Firdaus realizes that the women she regarded as strong and respectful female role models are nothing more than slaves to the oppression caused by men. When Firdaus moves in to live with her uncle, she is introduced to the wife, who is immediately depicted as a fearsome character, with a “voice [that] was soft not with gentleness, but with the softness born out of cruelty” (pg.29) and eyes that were “black with an extinguished vitality that left nothing but pools of dark, sleepy indifference.” (pg.29) The wife even manages to stand her ground against the uncle, whose “feeling for her was more one of fear than of love…” (pg.30) However, despite her initial depiction as a strong female character, the wife is seen being forcefully raped by the uncle later on, despite her pleas to stop “for the sake of the Prophet” because “this is sinful.” (pg.51) The same instance occurs with another supposed role model for Firdaus, Sharifa, who describes herself as “hard, terribly hard” with a “heart [that] is cruel, and my bite [that is] deadly.” (pg.72) Sharifa is later raped by Fawzy while also uttering the words “no, for the Prophet’s sake!” (pg.81) In both
In a nation brimming with discrimination, violence and fear, a multitudinous number of hearts will become malevolent and unemotional. However, people will rebel. In the eye-opening novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, the country of Afghanistan is exposed to possess cruel, treacherous and sexist law and people. The women are classified as something lower than human, and men have the jurisdiction over the women. At the same time, the most horrible treatment can bring out some of the best traits in victims, such as consideration, boldness, and protectiveness. Although, living in an inconsiderate world, women can still carry aspiration and benevolence. Mariam and Laila (the main characters of A Thousand Splendid Suns) are able to retain their consideration, boldness and protectiveness, as sufferers in their atrocious world.
Violence against women is not a new social issue and Pamela Copper-Whites’ book The Cry of Tamar does well in bringing this to light not only as a social issue but as a religious issues as well. Tamar’s story sheds light on the violence and degradation of women in the biblical times.
The narrator and her husband’s interactions shows her as submissive in terms of gender equality. Although John perceives the narrator as a child with no volunteer ideas, it is shown in her journal that this theory is not valid because she was shaped to comply by the society and the norm. The narrator’s inferiority negatively impacts her mental and physical health to the point she had to rip off the wallpaper to break free. Nevertheless, when read critically, the story also unveil the women’s suffrage movement and its struggle. Since this story was published, women are slowly breaking away from men’s suppression and gaining more rights. In short, society and culture define gender roles; however, the changing economic, social, and education environment open up a new path for women. Nowadays, women are given the chance to prove themselves and can act beyond their gender roles. However, the equality between genders has not been achieved yet. Therefore, women should continue to fight for their rights and freedoms until they are treated with respect and enjoy
The attempts the women tries so to be in vain till the end when it over boils. The women set herself free in the only way she knew how. Sometimes when people are in tight situation, or when their goals are being blocked, they react even when it doesn’t make sense. The women reacted to being closed up and oppressed and, to her family, it didn’t make
This novel is set in a time 300 years after a convulsion, a great war that was brought upon by men. It was men who were the diplomats and men who made the speeches about national pride and defenseand we died (pg. 301). The beginning of the novel starts out as a reflection and continues to be a reflection until the end, although the ways in which Tepper words happenings, put the reader in the moment so that he/she forgets they are reflecting and thinks that each happening is going on as you read, giving much more meaning to the piece. The reader is taken on a journey through the experiences of one girl from adolescence to adulthood, and as she comes to understand the way of life in Womens Country so do we the reader. Stavia (the main character) is reflecting everything that has made her who she is up to that point in her life. When Stavia was young the only worry she had to deal with was the coming and going of the male counterpart.
The story can be analyzed using feminist criticism perspective. Feminist criticism is “" the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women"” (Brizee & Tompkins). When reading a text one can find how women were treated in contemporary times. It can be expressed in many areas listed by Brizee & Tompkins. Moreover, Delahoyde also gave more details on the subject when he said “Feminist criticism concern itself with stereotypical representations of genders. It also may trace the history of relatively unknown or undervalued women writers, potentially earning them their rightful place within the literary canon, and helps create a climate in which women's creativity may be fully realized and appreciate.” Women had been undervalued and taken for granted. Many things they do are not as...
In the novel She and in the stories of The Arabian Nights, both Haggard and Haddawy explore the expanding gender roles of women within the nineteenth century. At a time that focused on the New Woman Question, traditional gender roles were shifted to produce greater rights and responsibilities for women. Both Ayesha, from Haggard’s novel She, and Shahrazad, from Haddawy’s translation of The Arabian Nights, transgress the traditional roles of women as they are being portrayed as strong and educated females, unwilling to yield to men’s commands. While She (Ayesha) takes her power to the extreme (i.e. embodying the femme fatale), Shahrazad offers a counterpart to She (i.e. she is strong yet selfless and concerned with the welfare of others). Thus, from the two characters emerge the idea of a woman who does not abide by the constraints of nineteenth century gender roles and, instead, symbolizes the New Woman.
Throughout Woman at Point Zero, Nawal El Saadawi presents Firdaus to be on the ongoing search to increase and justify her self-worth. Firdaus learns how to attain her self-worth in different ways from different people, however each contributor of self-worth was dependent on money. Firdaus discovers the value of education from her uncle, appearance from Sharifa and her most profound moment on her own. Throughout Firdaus’ life her uncle’s money allows for education, her solicited money affords an upper class disguise but the ultimate distinction of her self-worth occurs when she finally overcomes that value of money.
Firdaus begins to describe her childhood first being poor and raised in a farming neighborhood. Where she was confused from her father beating her mother, while practicing the Islamic religion that is against such actions. Even though these incidents happened throughout her childhood, she still described herself as a happy young girl. She would enjoy playing with her friend Mohammadain “bride and bridgegroom” where he would stimulate her genital area allowing her to feel pleasure. Soon her mother would stop allowing her to go into the field and instead made her do housework instead. Thereafter, whe...
Lastly, the deceased wife in “An Alpine Idyll” was a prime example of negative treatment of women in this book. She passed away in the winter, therefore her body was not able to be laid to rest until the season came to an end. Instead of respectfully placing his beloved into a pine box to await the end of the season, the husband decided to prop her up against the shed wall. If this was not impudent enough, he then decided to “hang a lantern” from her mouth. From these actions, it is clear to see that this man lacks any kind of respect for his
In order for us to deal with how a consideration of femininity can effect our understanding of a literary text, we must also be able to grasp the notion of `feminism' and `Feminist Literary Theory'. A dictionary definition of `feminism' is: `the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of the equality of the sexes.' Although this leans towards feminism in the historical sense of the word, it still provides the grounds, or foundations, from which feminist literary theories were created. Feminists argue against the stereotyping and social construction of female norms, seeing them as created by men in order to establish their own sense of power. It is thought that while males suggest that gender is sex and not actually a construct, the female role will become much more passive, stereotyped and controlled.
In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...
Rubin mentions in her article how “women are for men to dispose of” (Rubin 74), as they “are given in marriage, taken in battle, traded, bought, and sold” (Rubin 74). She explains how the result of females who conform to the ideal structure of the “perfect” women in being quiet and obedient to male figures only lead to a life of mistreatment and misery. Carter presents this submissive and innocent female character in her story by first introducing her father who “lost [her] to a The Beast at cards (51). This demonstrates the power that men have over women, where the girl’s voice and opinion in the transaction is considered insignificant and useless. The female body in this text is represented as an object, whose worth is dependent on her appearance. She is simply passed around and sold to pay off debt and earn rewards by obliging to the “master’s sole desire” (Carter 58) of “seeing [her] unclothed” (58). The Beast’s desires demonstrate the lack of respect and power given to the female character and it emphasizes how women are only seen for their appearance and sexual features. Hence, the female character in the story lives not for herself, but for the male
Woman at Point Zero, written by Nawal El Saadawi, effectively rebels and defies the tyrannical administrative and male-controlled structures that are meant to oppress women in Egypt. This novel does this by telling of Firdaus’s bold life, the blatant dissatisfaction with the way her culture attempts to reduce the importance of women by objectifying them to nothing more than domestic servants, and the glorification of things that go against their customary values. Through her struggles, she becomes her own woman, and ultimately dying for her belief that she is inferior to no man in the process. This discontentment and glorification are made very evident throughout this novel as she disregards the cultural standards that Egyptian society expects her to uphold; and seem to be intertwined within Firdaus’s story on almost every single page.
Women at Point Zero is a book written by Nawal El Saadawi where she focuses on the main character Firdaus and shares her story in a way that allows reader to get an idea of the patriarchal structures of Egyptian society. Her life story shows readers the obvious discontentment women have with the way society views them, and the glorification of things that go against normal societal structures. This book does an excellent job of portraying the patriarchal society and how women are dominated by men. However, it truly reinforces the stereotype that western culture has of Middle Eastern men as being animalistic beings ravaging defenseless women and the role of Islam.