Blog #15-In conclusion...

I really enjoyed this class. I loved the novels that we read this semester, especially The Secret Life of Bees, which was the best book that I have read this year. I am also planning to watch the film of the novel, which is going to be in theaters this fall. One of the many things that I will remember from the class is the multi genre reserach project. I enjoyed doing research about the topic of Firdaus and El Saadawi. Unlike the boring, regular research paper, this research project helped me learn a great deal about these two characters. It was my first time doing this kind of research, which I look forward to doing more in the future. I wished that other English professors would assign this kind of project rather than just plain text papers. However, I am glad to meet Ms. Sturgeon as my professor, who had introduced this project to me. Thank you so much and have a great summer!

Blog #14-Research on Women Prisoners (Part 2)

"I decided to meet the woman named Dakarai. However, she refused to see me. Actually, she refused to see anyone. So, I decided to meet another prisoner who can describe to me what kind of person Dakarai really was. The prisoner that I met was named Kanika. She was also a friend of Dakarai. She had first met her two weeks ago. However, during the short period of time, she had learned so much from her. She told me that Dakarai had taught her to be firm and strong no matter what happens and to always keep her head up high. Kanika could not believe how Dakarai could be so strong after experiencing countless mistreatments from every man whom she had met. Kanika realized that she was not the only person in the world to deal with difficulties in her life. She described Dakarai as her teacher, friend, and mother. She never felt comfort in her life as she did when she met Dakarai. She also feels discouraged because Dakarai is not by her side to give her comfort anymore once she is put to death.

After hearing from both of the prisoners’ perspectives of Dakarai, I was not afraid of her anymore. Before, I was afraid to meet Dakarai because of the fact that she had killed someone, known to be her pimp. Dakarai seemed to be a sweet woman, who was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I am excited to meet this woman named Dakarai and I cannot wait to hear her story. I hope that she agrees to see me tomorrow, since tomorrow is her last day to live… "

-El Saadawi

Blog #13-Research on Women Prisoners (Part 1)

"This is the first woman that I met in prison. Her name was Akila. According to Akila, she was sent to prison because she did not abide by her husband’s rules. He wanted her to have sex with him every night, and she obeyed his words for three years after they were married. However, she was tired of doing something that she did not want. However, she was afraid of speaking up because she knew that she would be beaten to death. One night, after hard day at work, she refused to have sex with him. She knew that this was against the marriage rule in Muslim, but she did not care anymore because she did not wanted to live like a sex slave to her husband. When she refused, her husband got mad at her and started to beat her up. After many hours of abuse, he called the police and she was locked up. She was sentenced to three years in jail because she did not fulfill the needs of her husband. This is a typical case in Cairo, Egypt. It happens all the time to women and sometimes, men. She told me that she had encountered numerous incidents where they treat women like dirt and men like lion. After telling me her story, she told me that she had met someone who had helped her see her problems in a different light. Her name was Dakarai, which means 'happy' in Egyptian. (This character became what is known as “Firdaus” in the novel, Woman at Point Zero.) She described her as caring, passionate, ambitious friend. She would give her advice in everything that troubled her. She had known her for a month and she is very sad that Dakarai, or Firdaus, is placed in death penalty. She would never be able to see her again, the only person Akila considered as a friend."

-El Saadawi

Blog #12-The Truth

It is known to be that the novel Woman at Point Zero was actually both fiction and non-fiction. According to the author, El Saadawi, the character that she came up with, named Firdaus, was actually a real character that she met in the Quanatir Prison in 1973. El Saadawi was working on her research on Women and Neurosis in Egypt when she met and interviewed a woman who came to be known as Firdaus (a name El Saadawi made up). In some ways, El Saadawi and Firdaus are foil characters. They both were oppressed by the society because of the fact that they were women. El Saadawi served four years in prison because of her political views. Firdaus on the other hand, was sent to jail because she had killed her pimp, who was going to take control of her. Firdaus had dealt so many hardships dealing with repression from men in her life that El Saadawi decided to make a novel out of her life story. In addition to Firdaus’s story, El Saadawi incorporated her life story as well, which coincidentally came to be similar. In the time the novel was written, they were never treated equally as men. Women were considered to be slaves to men. They had to satisfy the men in the house, whether it was their husband, uncle, or whomever. This is illustrated in the novel as well. Firdaus’s father beat his wife when one of his sons died and also beat Firdaus and other girls in the house. Not only that, but her father never went to bed with empty stomach; but her mom and the rest of the children did (Woman at point Zero, 18). This is how the society was and might still be, as of today.

Blog #11-Quotes/explanation from the novel

Uncle sees the fear because his wife is in a higher class than he is. In addition, Uncle's sister, or Firdaus's aunt, is paying for his schooling (p.23).
The theme of the novel is hierarchy because Firdaus mentions the power she wants to gain that men has; she wants to be as strong as she can be. She is living in an era, or the society, where men are pushing women down, so that they can be dominant over them. In page 28, Firdaus describes all men as evil and all the same. Patriotism goes hand in hand with religion (Allah). In page 33, Firdaus is scared because she is alone and does not know what to do. In page 37, Uncle's wife calls him, "Your holiness." She respects him as a king, or something higher than that. She seems to be exaggerating a bit. In page 87, Firdaus says, "I hope for nothing, I want for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free." It seems that Firdaus found out what she wanted to do with her life.

Blog #10-Introducing the characters

In the beginning of the novel, Nawal El Saadwai, or the psychiatrist, is one of the main characters. In addition, Firdaus is also a main character, who is introduced and most mentioned in the novel. The psychiatrist was interested in a case study so she started researching neuroses of women prisoners, this is how she came to meet Firdaus, who was also a prisoner at that time. She was convicted as a murderer, who would be sentenced to death. She was very anti-social and she did not care about anything because her death was approching to her very soon, which was the next day. Her uncle is introduced in the begining and throughout the novel. He is very religious and he is a Muslim. However, despite his strong religious belief, he molests her and touches her. Whenever he hears someone approching, he would wuthdraw his hand. This tells me that he knows it is wrong to do such a thing, but does it anyway because he feels like it. Firdaus does not seem to take any action regarding this because he is her uncle and he is providing her education, so she thinks it is okay because he is much older than her and is more 'mature." Her uncle not only lives with Firdaus but also lives with his wife and this is not acceptable.

Blog #9- Woman at Point Zero

El Saddawi is such an amazing author/ psychiatrist because she seemed to be interested in a subject that other people want to hide and not want to talk about. She was interested in the prisoners and their reason for being there. She did not give up on Firdaus, who was not willing to see her, because she knew she was a psychiatrist and did not wanted to talk about her story. However, because of her determination to meet her was so strong, it led her to finally agree to meet her. Then the journey begins from there.

I believe that meeting the "right people" is one of the most important tasks in life. Meeting that one person can completely change one's life, either good or bad. In this novel, the psychiatrist met Firdaus, which seemed to broaden her spectrum of what life is and can do to a human being. Everyone has problems in their life, and Firdaus was one of the many, who has several problems in her life. She does not know who her dad is, and when she asked her mom about it, her mom punished her by performing a female circumcision on her. I believed that she should not have been punished for asking such a question like that. Of course, she wants to know who her dad is, because it is her dad. There is nothing wrong about asking such a question. Not only that, but she is being sexually harassed by her one and only uncle. He would try to sneak in his hands to touch her legs and when he would hear someone approaching, he would withdraw his hand. She must have gone through so much emotional pain from that because she cannot defend herself by telling someone about it because he is older than her and should know better. However, it is so frustrating to admit the fact that adults sometimes do not know better and act immature compared to their age:[