Woman at Point Zero
By Ulperzent Zhanibek
Woman at Point Zero (Arabic: امرأة عند نقطة الصفر, Emra’a enda noktat el sifr) is a book written in 1975 in Arabic by Nawal El Saadawi. El Saadawi is an Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, author, and feminist whose writings and professional career was dedicated to political and sexual rights for women. Due to her outspoken views, El Saadawi continued to face frequent legal challenges from political and religious opponents, including accusations of apostasy. In 1968 she founded Health magazine, which was shut down by Egyptian authorities several years later, and in 1972 she was expelled from her professional position in the ministry of health because of her book Al-marʾah wa al-jins (Women and Sex), which was condemned by religious and political authorities. El Saadawi was jailed in September 1981, and during the two months of her imprisonment, she wrote Mudhakkirāt fī sijn al-nisāʾ (Memoirs from the Women’s Prison) on a roll of toilet paper using a smuggled cosmetic pencil.
As a psychiatrist, El Saadawi studied how prison-life affects females on a psychological level. In order to interview female prisoners, the author went to an Egyptian prison called Qanatir, and there she heard about one mysterious woman who has been imprisoned for murder. This woman is Firdaus who was not eating nor speaking and refusing all visitors. But one day she agreed to meet El Saadawi and tell her lifetime story. It was a day before Firdaus will face her death penalty. It was a day when El Saadawi found the main character for her book Woman at Point Zero.
“All my life I have been searching for something that would fill me with pride, make me feel superior to everyone else, including kings, princes, and rulers.”
Firdaus spent her life looking for freedom and power. She was born in a patriarchal, religious community. Her father was the first male figure in Firdaus’s life and the start of an endless cycle of abuse. Firdaus remembers her mother’s eyes that used to make her feel protected for a very short amount of time. Firdaus had a special friend, Mohammadian, with whom she used to play and experiment with sex. She used to get sexual pleasure from their experiments. But one day Firdaus was forced to get a female circumcision by her own mother and told to stop playing with Mohammadian. Several years after, Firdaus loses both of her parents and gets sent to live with her uncle. Her uncle is a very complicated male figure in Firdaus’s life. He sexualized Firdaus as a child but also represented the freedom that she wanted. He was a scholar who read what he wanted and studied wherever he wanted. They lived together in Cairo where Firdaus had a chance to finish a school. Her uncle got married and there was no room for Firdaus at his house anymore. So her uncle with his wife forced Firdaus to marry a 60 years old man. Her uncle received a large amount of money in exchange for Firdaus. This was the time when Firdaus understood that men are the ones who own her body and have power over her life.
After one bad beating, Firdaus runs away from her husband and meets a man named Bayoumi. At first, he was nice to Firdaus. But when she wanted to find a job and be more independent Bayoumi locks her up in an apartment. He started abusing Firdaus physically and let his friends have sex with her. Firdaus run away again. This time she met a woman who seemed to have power. This woman is Sharifa, a wealthy prostitute, that taught Firdaus how to become a high-class prostitute. Firdaus runs away from Sharifa, too, because others took control over her body and life. Finally, Firdaus becomes an independent, independent prostitute that gained some power through money. But it still was not enough to have complete freedom. One day she is told that she is not a respectable person.
“My work is not worthy of respect. Why then do you join in it with me?”
Lacking respect made her quit her current job and become an office worker. At her new job, Firdaus met a man, Ibrahim, that she fell in love with. This love and their relationship made Firdaus believe that this world is not as horrible as she thought. But she had to be disappointed again. Ibrahim married his boss’s daughter for wealth and power. Firdaus quits this job and becomes a prostitute again. Now she is a wealthy, popular woman who refuses some men to show how she has control over her own body. Then one pimp comes into Firdaus’s life that tries to take over her life. Firdaus kills him during the fight. After this, she meets an Arab prince that looked decent. The prince took her home and offered money. Firdaus refuses to have sex, rips up his money, and slaps him. Offended Prince calls the police and tells on Firdaus. That’s how she ended up in Egyptian prison, Qanatir, where she was sentenced to a death penalty. Firdaus says that she is excited to go somewhere new. And that men are not ready to listen to her truth.
Power is one of the main themes of the book. From Firdaus’s stories, we can see that power meant having freedom, having control over her own body, own choices, and her own life. She saw how her father had power over her and her mother. She saw how her uncle and her husband had power over her. She saw how Ibrahim and Bayoumi were more powerful than she is. Then Firdaus met Sharifa who gave her hope. Firdaus saw Sharifa as a wealthy and independent woman who had real power. Firdaus understood that money is the real power. Finally, Firdaus had a chance to refuse men, to say no, to have something that others desire. But pimp proves her wrong. Firdaus was still vulnerable. She is a woman who could be defamed because of just one man, pimp.
“Do you prefer oranges or tangerines?” – Choices
For Firdaus freedom meant having to make her own choices. As a child, she never had a chance to choose something or say no. She went through FGM. She had an arranged marriage. She read only what her uncle gave her. She ate when her father or husband chose to eat. She ate what was left after them. One day she was asked if she wanted oranges or tangerines. She didn’t know what she preferred. Because it was her first time being asked something like this. Then she realized that making her own choices is possible only if she will have freedom.
Vocabulary
FGM involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Sources
Saadaoui, Nawal El, and Sherif Hetata. Woman at Point Zero. Zed Press, 1985.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Nawal El Saadawi.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 23 Oct. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Nawal-El-Saadawi.
Nawal El Saadawi on Feminism, Fiction and the Illusion of Democracy, www.youtube.com/watch?v=djMfFU7DIB8&t=38s.
“Female Genital Mutilation.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation.