Firdaus: Guilty of Self Destruction
Nawal El Saadawis's Woman at Point Zero is short but intense novel revealing with details the struggle of Firdaus throughout her life and how the racism against gender as well as the harsh lifestyle of Cairo in the late sixties and early seventies are represented. By depicting the struggle of the main character as she goes through abusive male experiences and comes to the conclusion that there is no point in living in a World like the one she inhabited, one can understand how the role of women was extremely limited. Even though Firdaus was guilty of murdering her pimp, listening to her side of the story makes one realize that not only did she do it in order to protect herself, but also the fact that even the worst of criminals should deserve the chance to be heard. "I do not really feel she is a murderer. If you looked into her face, her eyes, you would never believe that so gentle a woman could commit murderer."(pgs.1-2) Saadawi's novel, like other works, does contain a reasonable amount of bias. The author was the assistant of Public Prosecutor and took an interest in Firdaus for the sole purpose of research. Saadawi herself was arrested in 1981 and that fact proves such fascination with a woman who was guilty in crime.
Firdaus' eyes were described throughout the novel as an important component to decipher her personality. Even though she did not find a stable partner in the novel, she did experience two times a sensation she described as love. It was after an unsuccessful marriage with a man who ill-treated her that she realized that since women were doomed to live in the World of prostitution, she could very well at least become selective and earn a decent amount in order to provide a living. The actions of probing and cutting deep are not referred to as immediate death, but a slow and painful one. With a small quantity of food per day instead of sharing, he ate it by himself leaving his children to starve while watching. Housewives usually got married in the first place for convenience rather than love otherwise there would not be such a violent treatment from the male part towards them. Those two factors will then decide one's choice of a future. Quite different form others, instead of associating love with the heart; she described it in a detailed, yet senseless manner using her eyes. She was strong, courageous, and even though her profession was not respectable she only committed murderer in self defense. Firdaus'description was that love was rather rational and almost insensitive. In an interesting manner feelings seemed to be an unimportant issue.
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Woman Zero,
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probing cutting deep,
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