Background
Context
World literature section
Preparation for Interactive Oral
1. In what ways do time and place matter in this work?
“Men impose deception on women and punish them for being deceived, force them down to the lowest level and punish them for falling so low, bind them in marriage and then chastise them with menial service for life, or insults, or blows.”
- In order to understand this, you must understand the time in which Firdaus was living in. This was seen normal and she wanted to escape, and the only way she could think of living a “middle class life”, was to become a prostitute.
- Different expectations of girls
- Culture is different
- Favoured always over men, this is a different story now in Egypt and although there are still some issues with the way women are treated, it is nothing compared to how it was in the 1970’s.
- Her school is the only place that Firdaus can feel safe, yet even though she was awarded her secondary certificate, this wasn’t enough for her to even be considered to get a job.
2. What was easy to understand and what was difficult in relation to the social and cultural context and issues?
- Mothers can circumcise their own children.
- I also found it very disturbing that in order to have “a middle class haircut” and all their privileges that the middle class can enjoy, you have to do something that would be considered as degrading and frowned upon in our society.
- Also that Firdaus was married to someone that was perhaps 50 years older than she was. This would also be looked upon as odd in our society and the fact that her uncle was able to hand over his niece to this man is horrible to imagine.
- It makes us realise how different locations in the world can behave in such different ways and the boundaries for what is acceptable are lowered in certain areas.
- How badly she wanted to die, to end everything and to become stronger
- I found it easy to believe that she hated all men, so much so that she killed one, in her eyes I think she views them as all the same
- I found it easy to hate the men she was with and what the men would allow themselves to do to these innocent girls
- I also found it easier to grasp the story, as it continued, it was as if you kind of expected it to happen and this was a very good literary technique
- Firdaus realizes that she’s still a woman, even if she has money and power, and she is still under the control of men. Even with the newfound freedom of a prostitute, what men want matters more
“I now knew that all of us were prostitutes who sold themselves at varying prices, and that an expensive prostitute was better than a cheap one.”
“I have triumphed over both life and death because I no longer desire to live, nor do I any longer fear to die.”
“Who said to kill does not require gentleness?”
“She replied that it was precisely men well versed in religion who beat their wives. The precepts of religion permitted such punishment. A virtuous woman was not supposed to complain about her husband. Her duty was perfect obedience. ”
3. What connections did you find between issues in the work and your own culture and experience?
- The uncle gets really worried when his wife suggests Firdaus marries an older man but he is convinced by the fact that because he is older, he is more suitable because he is more mature than the younger men. I find this true in my culture as loads of teenagers want to go out with people older than them because they are more mature.
- In UK 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act makes it illegal to discriminate against women in work, education and training. This is another act pushed through by the women’s movement. This was only just achieved at the same point. Discrimination against women was still happening in the UK (my own social and cultural context) and although, not to the same extent, there are still prostitutes in the UK today and there is still prejudice against women. This is a universal scope; girls all over the world are being deprived of education and rights.
- Everyone dies and it’s your life to choose how to live, but to a certain extent you are meant to do what everyone thinks is best for you. You are expected certain things of you and this is from many cultures. Are you really allowed to be free in your choices, can you really live however you want? Are there certain barriers – money, freedom, education… etc. and this is a really big issue all over the world.
“Everybody has to die, Firdaus. I will die, and you will die. The important thing is how to live until you die.”
“They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman.”
I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.”
“You poor, deluded woman...do you believe there is any such thing as love?...You're living an illusion. Do you believe the words of love they whisper in the ears of penniless women like us?”
4. What aspects of technique are interesting in the work?
The subject matter is what I think stands out the most. The content and context in which the novel contains is so shocking and as the language is quite blunt – we are more made to feel like we are being told information, it doesn’t tell you how to feel but with the actions and storyline, itself, makes you wonder how a human could possibly live in this way and find it natural. It makes some very feminist ideas. As the novel was being written, Nawal El Saadawi had assumed the role of feminist activist in a period characterized by an abrupt turning away from the political, social, and economic goals of the earlier decade. Firdaus claims at the end of the novel,
“It is my truth that frightens them” (Woman at Point Zero, p. 102).
- El Saadawi seems to be instilling the urgency of Firdaus’s statement with her own newfound calling, with the warning tone of a prophet.
- She is free to do what she wants, and free not to do it.”
- “Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life itself.”
Reflective Statement – First Draft
Nawal El Saadawi’s Women at Point Zero is a novel that’s meaning is timeless. In this world, there will always be conflict and there will always be vast differences in culture. It’s perplexing to try and understand why some people are placed in such outrageous situations, like Firdaus, yet it is important to try and comprehend the culture before judging completely.
One of the most shocking points of the novel was when Firdaus described her circumcision performed by her mother. The thought that her mother would allow her to be stripped of her femininity struck me as an awful act that should be prohibited. During the interactive oral, some of my peers suggested that if were to try and prevent it, these women would be abandoned and seen as unmarriable, as this is a something that happens as part of their tradition. This helped me to further my knowledge on Egyptian culture and opened my mind to a fresh view, because although I still view this act as unjust, I can appreciate the tradition and culture behind it.
I thought it was interesting to challenge the biased lens through which I was viewing the links between my culture and Firdaus’s. I found it remarkable to read how Saadawi projected the idea of money as Firdaus appeared a stronger person and it dramatically changed her position in Egyptian society. I found this to be a universal topic as money defines the limits of how one is able to progress in life and I thought it appropriate that Firdaus realised that money does not make you freer. It is ironic that she ever felt higher in society as she had to continue work as a prostitute – showing that freedom is part of ones outlook on the world.
The ideas of barriers always preventing one from being free and feeling free is difficult for Firdaus and she thought the only way she would be able to feel free, is through dying. Her quest for identity brought her to this point and this is why I find it to be most tragic that her society drove her to this point. It made me question; what exactly drove her to the point where she knew she couldn’t live in the world any longer and what kept making her hope something in her society would change?
1. In what ways do time and place matter in this work?
“Men impose deception on women and punish them for being deceived, force them down to the lowest level and punish them for falling so low, bind them in marriage and then chastise them with menial service for life, or insults, or blows.”
- In order to understand this, you must understand the time in which Firdaus was living in. This was seen normal and she wanted to escape, and the only way she could think of living a “middle class life”, was to become a prostitute.
- Different expectations of girls
- Culture is different
- Favoured always over men, this is a different story now in Egypt and although there are still some issues with the way women are treated, it is nothing compared to how it was in the 1970’s.
- Her school is the only place that Firdaus can feel safe, yet even though she was awarded her secondary certificate, this wasn’t enough for her to even be considered to get a job.
2. What was easy to understand and what was difficult in relation to the social and cultural context and issues?
- Mothers can circumcise their own children.
- I also found it very disturbing that in order to have “a middle class haircut” and all their privileges that the middle class can enjoy, you have to do something that would be considered as degrading and frowned upon in our society.
- Also that Firdaus was married to someone that was perhaps 50 years older than she was. This would also be looked upon as odd in our society and the fact that her uncle was able to hand over his niece to this man is horrible to imagine.
- It makes us realise how different locations in the world can behave in such different ways and the boundaries for what is acceptable are lowered in certain areas.
- How badly she wanted to die, to end everything and to become stronger
- I found it easy to believe that she hated all men, so much so that she killed one, in her eyes I think she views them as all the same
- I found it easy to hate the men she was with and what the men would allow themselves to do to these innocent girls
- I also found it easier to grasp the story, as it continued, it was as if you kind of expected it to happen and this was a very good literary technique
- Firdaus realizes that she’s still a woman, even if she has money and power, and she is still under the control of men. Even with the newfound freedom of a prostitute, what men want matters more
“I now knew that all of us were prostitutes who sold themselves at varying prices, and that an expensive prostitute was better than a cheap one.”
“I have triumphed over both life and death because I no longer desire to live, nor do I any longer fear to die.”
“Who said to kill does not require gentleness?”
“She replied that it was precisely men well versed in religion who beat their wives. The precepts of religion permitted such punishment. A virtuous woman was not supposed to complain about her husband. Her duty was perfect obedience. ”
3. What connections did you find between issues in the work and your own culture and experience?
- The uncle gets really worried when his wife suggests Firdaus marries an older man but he is convinced by the fact that because he is older, he is more suitable because he is more mature than the younger men. I find this true in my culture as loads of teenagers want to go out with people older than them because they are more mature.
- In UK 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act makes it illegal to discriminate against women in work, education and training. This is another act pushed through by the women’s movement. This was only just achieved at the same point. Discrimination against women was still happening in the UK (my own social and cultural context) and although, not to the same extent, there are still prostitutes in the UK today and there is still prejudice against women. This is a universal scope; girls all over the world are being deprived of education and rights.
- Everyone dies and it’s your life to choose how to live, but to a certain extent you are meant to do what everyone thinks is best for you. You are expected certain things of you and this is from many cultures. Are you really allowed to be free in your choices, can you really live however you want? Are there certain barriers – money, freedom, education… etc. and this is a really big issue all over the world.
“Everybody has to die, Firdaus. I will die, and you will die. The important thing is how to live until you die.”
“They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman.”
I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.”
“You poor, deluded woman...do you believe there is any such thing as love?...You're living an illusion. Do you believe the words of love they whisper in the ears of penniless women like us?”
4. What aspects of technique are interesting in the work?
The subject matter is what I think stands out the most. The content and context in which the novel contains is so shocking and as the language is quite blunt – we are more made to feel like we are being told information, it doesn’t tell you how to feel but with the actions and storyline, itself, makes you wonder how a human could possibly live in this way and find it natural. It makes some very feminist ideas. As the novel was being written, Nawal El Saadawi had assumed the role of feminist activist in a period characterized by an abrupt turning away from the political, social, and economic goals of the earlier decade. Firdaus claims at the end of the novel,
“It is my truth that frightens them” (Woman at Point Zero, p. 102).
- El Saadawi seems to be instilling the urgency of Firdaus’s statement with her own newfound calling, with the warning tone of a prophet.
- She is free to do what she wants, and free not to do it.”
- “Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life itself.”
Reflective Statement – First Draft
Nawal El Saadawi’s Women at Point Zero is a novel that’s meaning is timeless. In this world, there will always be conflict and there will always be vast differences in culture. It’s perplexing to try and understand why some people are placed in such outrageous situations, like Firdaus, yet it is important to try and comprehend the culture before judging completely.
One of the most shocking points of the novel was when Firdaus described her circumcision performed by her mother. The thought that her mother would allow her to be stripped of her femininity struck me as an awful act that should be prohibited. During the interactive oral, some of my peers suggested that if were to try and prevent it, these women would be abandoned and seen as unmarriable, as this is a something that happens as part of their tradition. This helped me to further my knowledge on Egyptian culture and opened my mind to a fresh view, because although I still view this act as unjust, I can appreciate the tradition and culture behind it.
I thought it was interesting to challenge the biased lens through which I was viewing the links between my culture and Firdaus’s. I found it remarkable to read how Saadawi projected the idea of money as Firdaus appeared a stronger person and it dramatically changed her position in Egyptian society. I found this to be a universal topic as money defines the limits of how one is able to progress in life and I thought it appropriate that Firdaus realised that money does not make you freer. It is ironic that she ever felt higher in society as she had to continue work as a prostitute – showing that freedom is part of ones outlook on the world.
The ideas of barriers always preventing one from being free and feeling free is difficult for Firdaus and she thought the only way she would be able to feel free, is through dying. Her quest for identity brought her to this point and this is why I find it to be most tragic that her society drove her to this point. It made me question; what exactly drove her to the point where she knew she couldn’t live in the world any longer and what kept making her hope something in her society would change?