4.1.1 Independent
Firdaus is an independent woman. This character does not change from the beginning of the story until the end. There are some facts which show that Firdaus
is an independent woman. When she lives in her uncle‟s house, she washes and cleans the house. She irons her uncle‟s clothes and cooks for him. She does the
household jobs p. 20. She also prepares things before her uncle comes back from El Azhar, such as cooking food. When her uncle comes back from El Azhar they
will eat it together p. 20. Since she has to go to school, her uncle sends her to school. Another day, her uncle and his wife take her away from the house. They
put her in the boarding girls section of the school. She does not know the reason why they send her there. Thus, she stays at the boarding house p. 23.
After graduating, she goes back to her uncle‟s house. She hears her uncle and his wife talking about her. The wife says that they cannot wait for her to get a
job. Besides, there is no place for her to live in that house. Moreover, if she wants to continue her study, she says that the children have many needs. Her uncle tells
his wife that Firdaus can help his wife to cook food for them or clean the house, but his wife does not give the chance. Finally, they decide to get her married
Syeikh Mahmoud. Unfortunately, after marriage Sheikh treats her very badly seem like they are not a husband and wife.
When Firdaus becomes a prostitute, she earns money by herself. She can buy anything with her own money. She does not need other‟s help to do
something for her. In fact, she rejects a pimp who offers protection for her as a prostitute. It is because she feels that she is independent enough and she is able to
protect herself. „He said, “Every prostitute has a pimp to protect her from other pimps, and from the police. That‟s what I‟m going to do. But I can protect
myself”, I said”‟ p. 134. Based on Firdaus‟ conversation in rejecting the pimp‟s offer, she cannot depend her life on others. There is nobody she can believe and
there is nobody who can protect her. That is why she becomes an independent woman.
4.1.2 Optimistic
From the beginning until of the end of Firdaus‟ life, she always shown as an optimistic person. In facing her difficult life, Firdaus seems never to give up.
When she faces many bad things in her life, she tries to find another way and place to go that makes her still alive and safe. Hopes are always shown in her
face. She always thinks that there must be a place, a better place than her husband‟s house, her parents‟ house, her uncle‟s house for her to live normally.
She keeps trying to find a proper job with her certificate; she hopes she can have a better life. Therefore, Firdaus is an optimistic person and this character never
changed during her life. Every time there was an advertisement I applied for the job. I went to all
the ministries, departments, and company offices where there might be a vacancy. And finally, by dint of these efforts, I at last found a job with one
of the big industrial concerns. p. 79
She thinks that working in an office is better rather than being a prostitute, although she does not have much money and is considered as a lowest woman. By
being a prostitute she lives in an apartment and able to do anything with the money she has, compared to an office worker. In fact, she has to live in a small
house, a small room exactly where she rents from an old woman. She does not have the best facilities as she lives in her luxurious house. She has to walk for a
while when she needs go to the toilet. Additionally, she has to join in a queue every morning when she is going to take a bath p. 80. She realizes that being an
office worker is harder than a prostitute. She has to work hard, discipline, patient, and able to be considered as lowest woman. However, she thinks positively. She
keeps working in that job in order to have a normal life.
4.1.3 Revengeful
In the beginning of the story, Firdaus is described as a gentle woman. However, when she is adult, she is not a gentle woman anymore. Bad experiences
with men make Firdaus hate men very much. The most hurtful thing is that people whom she loves much hurt her; her father, her uncle, and other men whom she
falls in love p. 96. Those facts change Firdaus character from a gentle woman to a revengeful woman. She thinks that women are the victim of men‟s arrogance
and authority. They never think about women‟s heart, whether they are happy or not. They marry women just to get a free service. If they do not have money to
come to a prostitute, they come to their wives. If they do not have enough money to rent a servant to wash their clothes, clean the house, take care for the children,
and serve them whenever they want to make love; they have wives to do that p. 94. Every time she sees a picture of a man in the newspaper, she will spit on it.
She knows that she only spits on a piece of paper and a picture but she pretends that she spits on the real man in the picture. People who see it may think that she
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