FIRDAUS’ REJECTIONS TOWARD TRADITIONAL VALUES ATTACHED TO ARABIAN WOMAN IN NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S WOMAN AT POINT ZERO
A THESIS
By: Natalia Happy Historiana Student Number
: 00.80.0067
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME FACULTY OF LETTERS SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY SEMARANG 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES OF TITLE........................................................................................
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PAGES OF APPROVAL ..............................................................................
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................. xii ABSTRAK.................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................
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1.1 Background of the Study ................................................................
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1.2 Scope of the Study..........................................................................
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1.3 Problem Formulation ......................................................................
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1.4 Objective of the Study ....................................................................
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1.5 Significance of the Study ................................................................
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1.6 Definition of Terms ........................................................................
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1.6.1. Arabian Woman....................................................................
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1.6.2. Islam.....................................................................................
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1.6.3. Male Dominated Society .......................................................
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1.6.3.1. Male Domination.......................................................
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1.6.3.2. Male Dominate Society .............................................
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1.6.4. Patriarchy..............................................................................
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1.6.5. Qur’an...................................................................................
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1.6.6. Traditional Values................................................................. 10
CHAPTER II. THEORITICAL REVIEW ................................................... 11 2.1. Man and Woman Based on the Point of View of The Old Testament and Al’ Quran ............................................... 12 2.2. The Patriarchal Society .............................................................. 15 2.2.1. The Arabia and Its Society .................................................. 15 2.2.2. The Culture of Islam and Qur’an in the Patriarchal Society of Arabia in Perceiving Woman ................................................ 19 CHAPTER III. METHOD OF THE STUDY................................................. 33 3.1. Field of the Study .......................................................................... 33 3.2. Material ......................................................................................... 33 3.3. Method of Data Collection............................................................. 34 3.3.1. Method of Research .............................................................. 34 3.3.2. Approach .............................................................................. 35 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 38 4.1 The Subordination of Egyptian Woman in “Woman at Point Zero” 38 4.1.1. As a Child and an Adolescent................................................ 39 4.1.2. As a Wife.............................................................................. 46 4.1.3. As a Mother .......................................................................... 51 4.1.4. As a Citizen and an Employee............................................... 52 4.1.5. As a Prostitute....................................................................... 57 4.2 Firdaus’s Rejections Toward the Traditional Values of Her Culture 61 4.2.1. Firdaus’s rejection toward her family and society When she grew up.................................................................. 63
4.2.2. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward Sheikh Mahmoud (Firdaus’ husband) ................................................................. 66 4.2.3. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward Bayoumi ................................... 68 4.2.4. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward Sharifa Salah el Dine................. 69 4.2.5. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward The Policeman .......................... 70 4.2.6. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward The Company and Its People ..... 70 4.2.7. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward Marzouk .................................... 71 4.2.8.. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward The Pri nce of Arab ................... 72 4.2.9. Firdaus’s Rejection Toward The Law .................................... 73 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION...................................................................... 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................ 77 APPENDICES ............................................................................................. 81 Articles About Nawal El Saadawi .............................................................. 81 Section 1. Woman at Point Zero: Nawal El Saadawi by Sherifa Zuhur .... 81 A. The Literary Work ...................................................................... 81 B. Synopsis .................................................................................... 81 C. Other Works in English by Nawal El Saadawi ............................ 83 Section 2. Events in the History at the Time the Novel Takes Places ...... 86 A. Events in Twentieth-Century Egypt ............................................ 86 B. Women in Modern Egypt History ............................................. 91 B. 1. Women and Feminism in Egypt.......................................... 91 Section 3. The Novel in Focus ................................................................ 98 A. Characters List ............................................................................ 98
B. Plot Summary ............................................................................ 99 C. Gendered Exploitation ................................................................ 104 D. Female Circumcision .................................................................. 105 E. National Exploitation/ the World Context ................................... 106 F. Reception of the Work ................................................................ 107 Section 4. Events in the History at the Time the Novel was written ......... 109
ABSTRACT The novel Woman at Point Zero has made Nawal El Saadawi an internationallyrenowned writer, psychiatrist, and women’s health activist. In spite of arousing controversy, Woman at Point Zero was her best known novel in English, and was widely read as an example of Arab feminist literature in both the Arab and the West. Woman at Point Zero presents in the life story of a woman who is waiting for an execution in the Qanatir prison in Egypt because she has killed her pimp. This paper deals with the women’s problems in the patriarchal society, and the novel Woman at Point Zero is the object of the study. The way the positions of woman in the patriarchal society are presented and encountered, and the way woman of Arabian society, who portrayed by Firdaus rejects the patriarchal values discussed in this paper. Woman at Point Zero presents the position of the woman of patriarchal society in the Arabia Country where a woman has to face the man-made traditional values which are attached to them and views her as a second-class citizen. As a woman, Firdaus experiences genital circumcision, limited access to education, sexual abused from the men (her uncle, husband, friend, pimp, lover; the policeman, and the Prince of Arabia), physical abused from the men who are supposed to protect her as a woman who is weak. Dramatically, she cannot do anything although she wants to fight the system. She can only run away into the street, the safest place she knows. The last, she has to pay a high price, imprisoned for killing one of the men who made the rules. She prefers to die rather than to send an appeal to the president to be pardoned.
ABSTRAK
Novel Woman at Point Zero ditulis oleh Nawal El Saadawi, seorang pengarang internasional yang terkenal, seorang psykiatrist, dan juga seorang aktivis dalam kesejahteraan wanita. Novel ini telah menimbulkan kontroversi dan meskipun menimbulkan kontroversi, novel ini adalah novel yang terbaik dan terkenal dalam bahasa Inggris dan telah banyak dibaca sebagai contoh karya sastra dari seorang sastrawan dari Arab, di negara Arab maupun di negara Barat. Novel tersebut disajikan dalam bentuk kisah hidup seorang wanita di Penjara Qanatir dan sedang menunggu untuk dieksekusi hukuman mati karena telah membunuh mucikarinya. Topik dalam skripsi ini berkaitan dengan persoalan tentang kedudukan wanita di dalam masyarakat patriarkat, dan novel Woman At Point Zero yang merupakan sasaran pembahasannya. Bagaimana kedudukan wanita dalam masyarakat patriarkat tersebut digambarkan dan dijabarkan serta bagaiman hubungannya dengan masyarakat Arab yang sebagian besar masyarakatnya beragama Islam, akan dibahas lebih lanjut dan mendalam dalam studi ini. Dalam novelnya Woman at Point Zero ini, Nawal El Saadawi mengemukakan tentang posisi wanita di dalam masyarakat patriarkat di negara Arab. Seorang wanita harus menanggung beban karena nilai – nilai tradisional yang mengikat mereka dan menganggapnya sebagai ras kelas rendah sebagai seorang wanita. Sebagai seorang wanita yang hidup di dalam lingkungan patriakal, Firdaus harus mengalami sunat untuk anak perempuan, tidak dapat
meneruskan ke pendidikan yang lebih tinggi, kekerasan sekual (dari pamannya, suaminya, temannya, kekasihnya, germonya, polisi dan juga oleh Pangeran dari Arab), dia juga mengalami kekerasan fisik dari semua laki – laki yang dia harapkan dapat melindunginya. Hal yang dapat dia lakukan untuk dapat bertahan hidup adalah dengan melarikan diri ke jalanan, suatu tempat yang paling aman untuk dirinya. Sampai pada akhirnya, dia harus membayar dengan mahal atas perbuatannya, dengan dijebloskan ke dalam penjara, karena telah membunuh seorang laki – laki yang juga telah turut andil dalam membuat peraturan. Firdaus lebih baik memilih untuk mati dari pada mengirimkan sebuah permintaan kepada presiden untuk diberi pengampunan atau diberi kebebasan untuk tetap hidup.
