Woman at
Point Zero
by Nawal El
Saadawi
By: Aída Terán, Ana
Gabriela Apolo, Sebastián
Alvarado, Juan Francisco
Beltrán, Nicolás Saá and
Adriana Montalvo
Nawal El Saadawi’s
LIFE
CONTEXT
Historical Context
Egypt is located in northern Africa. It is a the place where
the Islamic religion was born.
In the past, this region was the most prosperous and disputed
land.
Many wars wreck havoc upon the country which is
presentlyu unstable
A strong political and religious ideal rule over the whole
territory
Religion and its effect
Islamic religion became an excuse to create social inequality
Missunderstanding of the Coran to oppress different groups
and justify actions is seen on a daily basis
Society is closed minded out of fear and seek refuge in
religion and power
Work in Egypt
In many different countries letting woman work has been a
symbol of empowerment and genre equality but not in Egypt
In Egypt, women have been given the most degrading jobs
and are not considered of value inside the company
Most Women do not have the chance to become someone
and prove their value
Nawal El Saadawi is a Egyptian feminist,
sociologist, medic and writer conserning
Arab women´s problems.
Nawal El Saadawi was born in 1931 in a
small village situated outside of Cairo called
Kafr Tahla.
She was raised in a large family with eight
brothers and sisters.
El Saadawi described her mom as “a
potential revolutionary whose ambition was
buried in her marriage”.
As a child, Nawal El Saadawi suffered a lot of tough
experiences. When she was six years old she had a female
circumcision.
“When I was six, the daya came along holding a razor,
pulled of my clitoris from between my thighs and cut it off ”.
Being raised from an Egyptian middle-class family, she was
expected to become a child bride, but she refused.
“When I was a child it was normal that girls in my village
would marry at 10 or 11”.
In 1955 she graduated from the University of Cairo Medical
School.
Her first book, Memoirs of a Women Doctor, was published in
1958 in Cairo.
In between 1963 and 1972, El Saadawi worked for the
Egyptian government as Director General for Public Health
Education.
In this period of time, she also studied at Columbia
University where she received her Master´s Degree in Public
Health.
From 1973 to 1978 she worked at the High Insttitute of
Literature and Science. During this period of time she wrote
the books for which she became famous.
Women at Point Zero was published in 1973.
In 1981, her critiques towards
the Egyptian
government, where Anwar Sadat was president, made her be
charged for crimes against the state and because of this went
to prison for three months.
In 1982 she created the Arab Women´s Solidarity
Association.
In 1993 she went to the US because the received death
threats from religious groups.
What is the Feminist Theory?
Feminism Criticism usually looks at the patriarchal features
of a novel or any other cultural representation.
The Feminist Theory is normally applied to works of art
since these are the ones that usually portray women and men
in a way where male dominance predominates.
Feminist Criticism from the first and second wave were
extremely focused on the representation of women in
literature.
The Feminist Theory mainly aims to:
- Avoid sexism in literature
- Raise awareness of the sexual politics represented
through language
and style.
The Novel Through Feminist Lens
In order to analyse a book from a Feminist Lens one
needs to answer some questions, like the following:
- How is the relationship between men
and women portrayed?
- What are the power relationships
between men and women (or characters
assuming male/female roles)?
- How are male and female roles
defined?
- What constitutes masculinity and
femininity?
Applying Feminist Criticism to
Woman at Point Zero
How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
- The story narrates the life of a prostitute in Egypt, a
patriarchal society, therefore women a type of economically
dependence towards men is developed.
- Firdaus, her mother and uncle’s wife were maltreated by men and
sometimes were sexually abused. Thereby women appear
submissive with respect to men.
How are male and female roles defined?
- Female roles are represented within Eastern stereotypes since
women are marginalized from the economic, politic and even social
world. For example Firdaus dream was to go to school and college,
which she was not able to do due to her gender
Applying Feminist Criticism to
Woman at Point Zero
How are male and female roles defined?
- Men are represented as powerful people and as the head of the
family. In this novel men are the ones who provide to the family,
like Firdaus father and uncle, who were the ones who worked.
Nevertheless women their wives were not able to enjoy this money
as much as men did, since usually men ate the best food etc.
What constitutes femininity and masculinity?
Masculinity: Show superiority towards women and do not
appreciate them as much
Femininity: Show sub ordinance in respect to men, keep a women’s
problems and complains to herself. Always put a men’s desire
should always be in first place.
Critical Reception
Publication
Woman at Point Zero was banned at the
time of its publication (1975).
Nawal El Saadawi was fired from her
position as Egypt’s director of public
health after Woman at Point Zero’s
publication.
She became a political prisoner.
Still, her work has been incredibly
praised internationally for the analysis
and “representations of the sociopolitical oppressions experienced by
‘Arab, Muslim women’”
(Weatherston).
Reception
“The interpretation of Woman at Point Zero and analysis of
universal patriarchal oppression is troubling for a number of
reasons”(Weatherston).
Many critics have pointed out that the novel cannot be simply
used as a referential for women’s oppression documentation.
Although it does contain similarities between Firdaus and Nawal
El Saawadi, she has stated that this is indeed a novel.
Therefore, factors such subjectivity should not be ignored.
Reception
Although Saawadi’s representation of women through the novel
can be understood as the representation of all Arab and Islamic
women, this would be assuming that “women living under the
same cultural conditions share identical experiences of those
conditions” (Weatherston), which is not true.
For example, Firdaus, her step-aunt, and Sharifa are all women
under the same cultural context and they share different
experiences.
Western Reception
It was very rarely to have books translated in english written by
Arab women. However El- Saadawi’s books were published in
english and they become very recognized.
“They argue that she is acclaimed not so much because she
champions women's rights, but because she tells western readers
what they want to hear.” (Amireh)
“The West welcomes her feminist critique of Arab culture because
it confirms the existing stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims as
backward, mysogynist, and violently oppressive” (Amireh)
“We need to encourage a vigorous critical discussion about Arabic
literature and culture in the West - one that does not limit itself to
the academy. The debate should go beyond 'appreciative' criticism
that condescendingly praises Arab women writers for 'daring' to put
pen to paper.”(Amireh)
Arab Women Criticism
Arab women are not happy with the west only knowing ElSaadawi literature because they not represent arab creative
writting neither arab society stereotypes.
“El- Saadawi writes scientific research which is good. But she
writes bad novels and it is unfair that the West thinks that
what she writes represents Arab women's creative writing."
“I agree that el-Saadawi is popular in the West partly because
her works have played into Western prejudices. But I don't
think this fact should be merely used to dismiss her
achievement.”
Works Cited
Khaleeli, Homa. "Nawal El Saadawi: Egypt's Radical Feminist." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 16 Apr. 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/15/nawal-el-saadawiegyptian-feminist
McBride, Jennifer. "Nawal El Saadawi." Nawal El Saadawi. N.p., n.d. Web. 24
Apr. 2014. <http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/saadawi.html>.
Amal Amireh. Al Jadid,Vol. 2, No. 10 (August 1996)
Rosemary Weatherston. "When Sleeping Dictionaries Awaken: The Re/turn
of the Native Woman Informant."N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Matko, Kendra. "Woman at Point Zero." Woman at Point Zero. N.p., n.d. Web.
24 Feb. 2014.