Woman At Point Zero Analysis

The book Woman at Point Zero, by Nawal El Saadawi has generalized the social group of women as objects instead of human beings by the way they are portrayed in the novel. You see this perspective by the way Firdaus, one of the characters, experiences being a female in Egypt. You vision her experiencing being molested at a young age through her depiction of the story. By the way we see all females in general, you get the sense that all females experience sexual abuse and are forced to live under the control of men at this time and place. Women in the book are objectified by the way men treat them. For example, Firdaus has had the trouble of going through forceful actions like rape by men as close to her as her uncle. She is describing her uncle coming on to her in her childhood when she says “his lips would touch my face and press down on my mouth” (Page 22). This quote may interpret most men being sexually driven for rape and sexual abuse occurs several times throughout the book and is referenced …show more content…
As an example of a woman without power or independence, Firdaus reflects this role. In the book she comes across Fawzy who was a man who payed for Firdaus’ prostitution and rapes Sharifa afterwards. Firdaus is not only powerless to have had no option other than to prostitute herself, but was also shown as powerless due to Fawzy calling Firdaus his as a wife without the consent of Firdaus. He says “I shall marry her, Sharifa” (Page 58) which was overheard by Firdaus but not actually conversed with her. She had already been through non-consensual marriage when dealing with Sheikh Mahmoud after her uncle gave her away to him. This shows that women are objectified further enough to become potential property for men like Fawzy and