CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of four parts. The first part discusses some theories which support the analysis. They are theories of character, characterization,
experience, Egyptian, and trauma. The second part discusses the cultural background in Egypt. The third part presents some studies done by the former
researchers. The fourth part is the theoretical framework. It describes how the theories are applied in the analysis.
2.1 Review of Related Studies
There are four researchers who have discussed the same novel Woman at Point Zero. The first researcher is Ong Yoelia 2004 who focuses on the
feminism aspect in Egypt which influences the major character in the novel. She digs out more about feminism and makes a relation to the reasons why the major
character does not refuse the death sentence. The second is Riska Pareka 2008 who focuses on motivation of the major character in becoming a prostitute in
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadawi compared to Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. She tries to compare and find the same reasons which support the major
character in two novels to be a prostitute, not to be an obedient wife or other jobs. The third is Rigen Pratitisari 2004 who focuses on Firdaus’ motivation in
becoming a prostitute. Actually, the point of this study is almost the same as Riska Pareka’s study. Thing that makes it different is that Rigen does not compare with
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other novels. She really focuses on Woman at Point Zero. The fourth is Dewi Maharani Purba 2006 who focuses on analyzing the motivation of the major
character in accepting the death sentence. This study discusses a different thing that is the influence of Firdaus’
experiences with men which change her way of seeing men. It talks much about Firdaus’ experiences with men which most of them are bad. These make Firdaus
change her perception about men. In the beginning she thinks that women have to be obedient to men’s rule, but then she thinks that it does not have to be like that.
She rebels the culture where men are the head of everything. She shows that a woman has a power as a man has. As the result, she kills a pimp and then she is
sentenced to death. However, she receives it without rebellion because she thinks that it is better to die because of killing a man than living under a man’s control.
2.2 Review of Related Theories
This part will review some theories employed in this study. They are theories
of character
and characterization,
experience, and
perception. Additionally, this part will also review the socio-historical background of Egypt.
2.2.1 Character 2.2.1.1 Definition of Character
Abrams 1981 defines the word character into “two kinds” p. 81. First, he defines character as “a literary genre: a short, usually witty, sketch in prose of a
distinctive type of person”. Second, he defines character as “the persons, in a dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that
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