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1. The Personality Traits of Firdaus
a. Highly Motivated and Smart
As a child, Firdaus is a smart student in her school. Before she enrolls her primary school, she often asks her uncle to take her to school in Cairo. Her desire
to study becomes a strong motivation although in that era girls are rarely or not allowed to go to school. But things are not easy for her; she has to stay at home
and still doing heavy household jobs. Until one day in the morning, she dares to ask her uncle to let she goes with him to Cairo for study.
When my uncle would clamber into the train, and bid me farewell, I would cry and beg him to take me with him to Cairo. But my uncle would ask,
‘What will you do in Cairo, Firdaus?’ And I would reply: ‘I will go to El Azhar and study like you. 16’
Firdaus is a child with a strong motivation to study. She believes that through study she can have a better living like what men have in her country. Her
motivation to learn more is supported by her uncle. Her uncle studies in El Azhar in Cairo. When she stays with her parents, her uncle often teaches her alphabet.
After Firdaus’ parents died, her uncle sends her to elementary school and takes her to Cairo 19. She realizes that she has a great motivation to study but her
parents never support her and force her to work at home. The only person who supports her is her uncle.
From the quotation above, it is clearly explained that Firdaus has her own self-motivation to study like what men usually deserve in her country. Her
bravery to ask her uncle to let her studies in Cairo has shown her strong motivation. Therefore, the speech above helps the writer to analyze that Firdaus is
a highly motivated girl.
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36 Firdaus grows smarter when she enters her primary school where she can
find many opportunities to learn more in the school library. Her knowledge goes broader when she starts to read about certain topics which are very strange to
some common students in her school at her age. But she has a different point of view to see something and make a conclusion by her own.
I read love stories and love poems. But I preferred books written about rulers. I read about a ruler whose female servants and concubines were as
numerous as his army, and about another whose only interests in life were wine, women, and whipping slaves. A third cared little for women, nut
enjoyed wars, killing, torturing men. Another of these rulers loved food, money, and hoarding riches without himself and his greatness that for him
no one else in the land existed 26-27. From the quotation above, it is clearly explained that Firdaus has reached to
what adult learners usually achieved. She has her own point of view in seeing certain sensitive issues which are rare for common children to learn about it. She
becomes a good reader of some books to which she is not supposed to learn before she reaches adulthood. After developing her own point of view, she comes
to her final conclusion which is very shocking compared to her friends’ knowledge. She becomes aware that men are dominant in each sector of life. They
seem to be some kind of rulers. What men want are collecting a lot of money, having sex, and building great power of their territories 27. All of these
assumptions have copied to her mind which seems to be hard for common children. But she is a smart child who can absorb much information from different
sources and analyze it through her logic. It is uncommon thing to see a child reading a hard content of books which
will have a certain impact to her life. But Firdaus is not an ordinary child who is
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37 only satisfied in learning about subjects in her school. Her curiosity develops well
when she realizes that the world is broader than she thinks about. She loves certain sensitive topics which need a good attention to read, analyze and make a
conclusion. Furthermore, she reaches a stage in understanding books that she reads.
Firdaus is a child with higher capabilities of learning than her friends. She loves to observe a new thing surrounds her. She loves to read newspapers and
magazines which are sent to her school library. Her habit of reading goes broader day by day. She starts to observe what men are like 27. Newspapers and
magazines are up-to-date information than books. From reading newspapers and magazines, Firdaus is able to know the latest information in her country.
From the quotation above and its analysis, it can be concluded that Firdaus is a smart child. Through her thoughts, it describes how smart she is with all of
her explanations about things surround her, about what men are like, and about how they can be rulers.
b. Has Poor Self-Esteem