luck for her. After her graduation, she is forced to get married to an old Sheik who treats her dreadfully. She finally escapes from her husband house and meets the
next man who firstly offers her help, but finally sells her as a prostitute. Firdaus then meet Sharifa a woman prostitute who introduces her to the real prostitution
world. It brings her to the life as a prostitute. In prostitution, Firdaus finds her value and honor. She feels prostitution is the best way to gain a better living in her
society. She uses prostitution to take revenge toward every oppression , pain, and unfair treatment she experienced. Her acquaintance with unfair treatment, abuses,
and rape has changed her to be a brave-determined woman who is confidence, and autonomous.
It is stated that Woman at Point Zero is a powerful Egyptian novel relaying the life story of a woman awaiting death row in a Cairo prison for
murdering a pimp. Her crime is one she confesses to with no shame. Moreover, New York Times Book Review states that” Nawal El Saadawi writes with
directness and passion, transforming the systematic brutalization of peasants and of women in to powerful allegory.”
B. Approach of the Study
In order to be able to answer the question in the problem formulation, an approach need to be applied in this study. In this study, the writer uses
psychological approach because personality change is closely related to psychological field. By using the psychological approach the writer is able to
analyze the characteristic of the main character in Woman at Point Zero, such as her way of thinking, her behavior, and her appearance. Furthermore, through
psychological approach the writer can analyze the change in Firdaus‟ personality as her reaction to her society. From that reason the writer applies psychologcal
approach in this study. Willbern 1989 as cited by Atkins in Contemporary Literary Theory
explains psychological approach or psychoanalysis that is proposed by Freud as a theory of human development. It deals with human origins of psyche, family,
society, and culture. pp. 158-159. The approach can be used to identify the pattern of human personality and behavior. Through this approac
h, the character‟s thought, personality and behavior can be analyzed. Moreover, this approach
enables the writer to relate the change in personality to the society and culture situation where the story takes place. Therefore, Psychological approach is
applied in this study to analyze Firdaus thought, personality, and behavior and their relation with the society depicted in the novel.
C.
Method of The Study
This study is a library research. Therefore, the data in this study was gathered from books, journals, encyclopedias, and articles. The primary source of
the data is the novel Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadawi. Meanwhile, the secondary sources are some books and articles, which support the discussion of
this study. Those books present the theories about literature, society and culture, and personality change.
Furthermore, the writer employed some steps in completing this study. The first step is reading the novel. Firstly, for the very beginning the writer read
the novel Woman at Point Zero without pausing. After reading the novel the
writer determined the topic which was going to be the focus in analyzing the novel. The writer was interested to discuss the change
of the main character‟s personality as a reaction to Egyptian society portrayed in the novel.
The next step was formulating the questions underlying the study. Based on the topic of the study, the writer formulated two research questions. The first
question is how is Firdaus‟ personality in the novel described? The second question is how does Firdaus‟ personality change as a reaction to Egyptian society
as portrayed in the novel? After formulating the problems, the step was continued to the analysis. In
this process, the writer reread the novel to find the data as the evidences in order to be able to answer the questions formulated in the problem formulation. The
writer also searched for some supporting theories by reading some literature books as well as psychological books and books about society and culture.
Moreover, some articles and journals from the internet also help the writer to give additional information related to the study.
After the analysis, the writer continued to the last step, which was concluding the result of the analysis. Moreover, the writer also provided the
teaching materials related to this study in the appendices.
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
