possible to live? Life is so hard. You must be harder than life, Firdaus. Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life
itself” p. 57. Under Sharifa‟s guidance, she promises herself to be as strong as men at least. She does not want to be seen lower than them. She wants to abolish
woman‟s slavery created by men‟s control.
4.2 The Influence of Firdaus’ Experiences
This part discusses about the second question that is stated in the problem formulation. It deals with the influence of Firdaus‟ experiences with men which
influence her way in seeing men. During her life, Firdaus has many experiences with men and most of them are related to abuse. She believes that men control
everything in the country. Men consider women as second-class citizens and only good for sexual purposes and taking care of the family.
The concept of men‟s oppression, authority, control, and abuse is shaped and imprinted in her mind. Men are abusing since her childhood. It may happen
because her family belongs to lower class, thus people and its surrounding may live without any norms and values. However, a man is still the person who lives in
the top level of the household and the society. Shahan 1990 says that there are eight types of experiences; physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, virtual,
simulation gaming and subjective experiences para. 8. Some of them can be employed to analyze Firdaus‟ experiences which make her way in seeing man
change. Based on the story of the novel, she has physical, mental, emotional, and social experiences which most of them are dominated by men. Firdaus gets many
bad physical experiences from men. Sheikh Mahmoud and Bayoumi are men who
become the cruelest men than the others. Both of them hit her hardly. Bayoumi is her hideous husband. He hits her until her face and her body become swollen and
bruised. He even hits her until the blood runs from her nose and ear pp. 46-47. On the other hand, Bayoumi does the same thing. Unfortunately, he is the only
person who slaps her hardest p. 52. However, it leads her to hate men and that hatred leads her into being revengeful to men.
Mental experience that is meant here is about the combination of thought, perception, memory, emotion, willingness and imagination on men‟s authority.
The way men treat Firdaus creates a negative perception about them. What she has in her mind is that man is an abuser, an oppressor, a rapist, a corruptor, and
many more. Emotional feeling that can be said as her revenge to men cannot be transferred since she is afraid of men. Nevertheless, later she transfers it when she
kills a pimp. The other experience which she has is social experience. It is related to the society. The society where she lives considers that women are men‟s slaves.
Men are higher than women. Therefore, women have to do what the men say. In a certain time, it is contradicted the fact which she does not want to do that. She is
smart enough; even she gets an appreciation when she graduates in secondary school. She wishes she could have a better life by having that certificate from
school and good marks. She wishes she gets a proper job and works in an office. It makes her think optimistically about her life in the future where there is nobody
controls her life anymore. Firdaus sees men as an abuser, an oppressor, a rapist, and a corruptor. This
perception imprinted since they treat her badly. McLeod 2007 says that there are
