37 being socialized and educated since their early age Haj-Yahia 3. Thus, the
superiority of men upon women’s position in Egypt happens ever since they are born. Most Egyptians think that the birth of a son will bring more happiness and
pride rather than the birth of a daughter. The belief of the less importance of women causes the negative sense toward women, that is women are less important
and priceless. Therefore, being a women is not a great thing and somehow shameful.
When one of his female children dead, my father would eat his supper, my mother would wash his legs, and then he would go to sleep, just as he did
every night. When the child was died was a boy, he would beat my mother, then have a supper, and lie down to sleep El-Saadawi 18.
It proves the Egyptians consider girls as unimportant and less valuable in a family. For them, it is better to have sons rather than daughters. When one of Firdaus
sisters dies, her father is not angry and feels nothing wrong about it. On the other side, if one of Firdaus brothers dies, he will get angry and beat his wife. In Egypt,
the death of a son means losing something worthy in life while the death of a daughter means nothing.
4.1.2 Egyptian Social Strata
There are three things indicating the social class to which a person belongs. They are individual’s financial resources, access to educational opportunities, and
participation in social institutions Kraus et.al 992. The indication of social stratification in Egyptian society is found in the novel. This can be seen from
Firdaus statement. She says: “Only my make-up, my hair, and my expensive shoes were upper class. With my secondary school certificate and suppressed desires I
belonged to the middle class. By birth I was lower class.” El-Saadawi 12 It can
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38 be concluded that there are three classes in Egypt. They are upper, middle, and
lower class. According to Lane, the higher and middle classes in Egypt are those who come from wealthy and well educated families 193. The passage describes
that the middle class in Egypt has more access to educational opportunities. Hence, they are well educated. The passage mentions that the high classes in Egypt are
those who are able to enjoy the luxurious and expensive things such as make-up and expensive shoes. According to Lane, only the wealthy Egyptians can enjoy
luxurious things 137. Hence, the upper classes of Egyptian are those who are wealthy.
Lane also mentions that the lower classes in Egypt consist of Fellaheen or agriculturists 199. In the novel, Firdaus father is only a poor farmer, who cannot
neither read nor write El-Saadawi 12. Since Firdaus father is a poor farmer, he is a member of the lower order because he is poor and uneducated.
However, the social class in which a person may belong to is given by his family line. Joseph Schumpeter states that a class of a person is given stemmed
from his clan or lineage 113. Since Firdaus father is the member of a lower class, Firdaus is born with her status as a lower class.
As social class is important in a society, it will determine the persons accessibility to power and position, their daily life manner, and the opportunities
they have Kraus et.al 992. If a person is included in a high order of social class, he or she will have more power and greater position in the society. The greater
position in a society, the more respect he or she will has. In the novel, Firdaus sees how her uncle treats her aunt.
She never washed my uncles feet, and he never beat her, or spoke to her in
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39 a loud voice. He was extremely polite, but treated her with the peculiar kind
of courtesy devoid of true respect, which men preserve for women. I sensed that his feeling was more one of fear than of love, and that she came from a
higher social class than his El-Saadawi 23.
This proves that the more respect an Egyptian may have depends on the social class a person is. Firdaus uncle respects his wife so much since she comes from a higher
social class rather than him. Because Firdaus belongs to the lower class, she fails to be respected by others.
Firdaus family is one example of many families in Egypt which belongs to the lower class. Lower social class is associated with low income and assumed as
the subordinate rank Kraus et.al 992. Because of their low economic condition, health care is something which is not necessary for them. This condition then
causes the high number of Egyptian children who suffer from serious diseases and these which lead them to their death at the end. Nawal El-Saadawi in her book The
Naked Face of Woman states that the number of dead children in the village in Arab
is very high because of the low economic condition and also its culture 266. This condition is also portrayed in the novel.
For, like most people, I had many brothers and sisters. They were like chicks that multiply in spring, shiver in winter and lose their feathers, and
then in summer are stricken with diarrhoea, waste away quickly and one by one creep into a corner and die El-Saadawi 18.
The quotation portrays that having many children is common in Egypt. Although they have many children, especially for the poor people, they do not give a
sufficient attention to them. Lane states that Egyptian mothers of the poor only give a little attention to their children, beyond supplying the absolute wants of nature
54. Thus, the childrens condition in Egypt is comparable with chicks when they finally suffer from sickness and die alone.
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40 Not only the lack of health care, the lower classes of Egypt even cannot
provide enough food for their family. Since they are very poor, food becomes something which is rare to find. Yet, food is the basic need that every human need
to live. Maslow states that physiological needs such as food are the basic need which is required for human survival qtd in Petri 302.
Since Firdaus family is poor, they sometimes have not enough food for each member of the family. Thus, they will sleep with empty stomach El-Saadawi
18. It describes the life of lower classes in Egypt which is very lacking. They sometimes have no food to enjoy by all of family members as what Firdaus
experiences. Due to the poorness of the family, the lower of Egyptian never enjoy
luxurious and glamorous things. Lane says that the earnings of the lower classes are very small and insufficient even to buy the cheapest necessaries 199. Since
they are very poor, for them clothes is something luxurious which is unaffordable. That is why Lane states that people can define the social class of Egypt from the
way they dress 52. In the novel it is described: I was frightened when I found myself looking at a little girl wearing a dress
that reached down no further than her knees, and a pair of shoes that hid her feet. I looked round the room. There was no one else in it apart from me. I
could not understand where this girl had sprung from, nor realize that she could only be me. For I was always dressed in a long gallabeya which
trailed along the ground, and no matter where I went it was always barefoot El-Saadawi 20.
This shows clearly the way of lower classes get dressed. Firdaus is a member of the lower class; she always wears gallabeya and is barefoot wherever she goes. Since
her unfamiliarity of luxurious and glamorous things in her whole life, Firdaus is even surprised and frightened when the first time she wears a pleasant dress and
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41 shoes. Thus, it can be imagined how the lower classes of Egypt life. From the
discussion above it then can be assumed that the Egyptian lower classes cannot afford for having an education, taking care of their health, having enough food, and
even wearing a proper dress. Those are the description of Egyptian society in the twentieth century as reflected in the novel Woman at Point Zero. It is clearly
described how the society condition at that time which is reflected in the novel.
4.2 Societys Treatments toward Women as Portrayed by the Character of Firdaus in the Novel
