4 Nawal El-Saadawi’s famous novel, Woman at Point Zero reflects such
realities. This book was published in 1983. In this novel, Saadawi portrays the main character as a female who struggles for her freedom and revolts against the
societys rule. Woman at Point Zero tells about a woman named Firdaus. She is a woman who comes from a poor family who realizes that she is being differentiated
from men. She struggles to get her freedom on many ways. She desires to get a high education and she becomes a prostitute to prove that she is independent and
has a power over her own body. At the end of the story, Firdaus is sentenced to death because she kills a pimp who tries to take over her life. She refuses to sign an
appeal to the President that her sentence to death is commuted to imprisonment for life.
Woman at Point Zero , a novel by Nawal El-Saadawi, is one example of
Egyptian novel which criticizes unfair treatments to women in Egypt. This novel tells about a women’s struggle in an Islamic country to get her freedom which she
has never gotten. She fights against the society and the view that women’s position is lower than men. This is the voice of a woman in an Islamic country who asks for
her right. This novel is ironic, very strong and gives an inspiration to the reader. The reader will feel sad, curious and proud at the same time. Because of the
uniqueness of the novel, it is very interesting to discuss.
1.2 Problem Formulation
The problem of the study of woman’s struggle for freedom in Egypt as portrayed by the character of Firdaus in Nawal El-Saadawis Woman at Point Zero
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5 will be formulated as follows:
1. How is Egyptian society portrayed in the novel Woman at Point Zero?
2. How does the society treat women as portrayed by the character of
Firdaus in the novel? 3.
Why does Firdaus struggle to get her freedom?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The purpose of the study is to know about women in Egypt as portrayed by Firdaus in the novel. By observing her life, we can know how the society treats
women in Egypt and find out Firdaus’ motivation in getting her freedom.
1.4 Benefits of the Study
By analyzing the novel Woman at Point Zero, we will find out a woman searching for freedom in Egypt. The main character of the novel, Firdaus, revolts
against the society to get her freedom that she has never had before. However, this study is not only important for women, but also for men. By reading this study, I
hope the readers will see womans freedom from a different angle and concern more to the issue of gender discrimination is such an Islamic country. Hopefully,
this study will raise our awareness toward womens right and womens harrashment issues.
1.5 Definition of Terms
In this section, there are some definitions of terms provided in order to
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6 make the readers understand the content of the study better. Some of those terms
are: 1.5.1 Freedom
According to Bay, freedom means self expressions. It refers to a persons capacity, opportunity, and motivation to express himself freely 15. In this study,
freedom means Firdaus capacity, opportunity, and motivation to express herself freely.
In this study, freedom means a woman’s capacity, opportunity, and motivation to express herself freely from men’s power and domination.
1.5.2 Egypt Websters Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language
defines Egypt as a republic of North East Africa; 386,186 square miles, of which about
12,000 square miles are cultivated; capital, Cairo; divided into Lower Egypt, the Nile Delta, and Upper Egypt, the Nile Valley between a point of few miles south of
Cairo and the Sudan 404. Egypt is the setting on where the story in the novel is located.
1.5.3 Society Folliet defines society as a system, which are stable and organized of
relations among people which share a common end view which are considered as good 6.
1.5.4 Womens right Guenena and Wassef in their book Unfulfilled Promises: Womens Rights in
Egypt define womens right as the right of women that is equal toward men within
family, law, political participation, work place, education, and access to services
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7 3.
1.5.5 Koran Shorther Encyclopaedia of Islam
defines Koran as the sacred book of the Muhammadans, contains the collected revelations of Muhammad in definite
written form 273. 1.5.6 Islamic Law
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World defines Islamic law
Sharia as a comprehensive law which combines a Muslims duties to God and to society, incorporating regulations governing prayer and fasting as well as family,
penal, and international law 245. 1.5.7 Motivation
Motivation drives humans behavior and action. According to Maslow, motivation is a concept that we use when we describe the forces acting on or within
an organism to initiate and direct behavior qtd in Petri 3. This means that motivation is a concept forces a person causing a goal directed behavior. Everyone
has motivation inside their selves. This motivation enables a person to raise a power inside him. When he struggles to do or to get something, this motivation
appears to help him and guide him to get the desired goal. Therefore, this study will reveal Firdaus motivation in searching for freedom. The motivation upon her
searching for freedom is going to be analyzed.
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8
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
