Woman at Point Zero

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Woman at Point Zero was a book written in 1975 by Nawal el-Saadawi. It is set in contemporary Egypt.

A paperback edition was issued in London by Zed Books in 1984 with ISBN 0-86232-110-7.

[edit] Plot summary

A psychiatrist is asked to examine the mental health of a female inmate, who was prosecuted for killing her former pimp; she has been granted parole but she has refused it every single time it has been granted to her. Reluctantly, the inmate, who is named Firdaus, tells the psychiatrist her life story.

Firdaus was born into a farming community. Along with 96% of Egyptian women, she is forced to undergo female genital mutilation as a pre-adolescent. The pain subsides but she never regains clitoral sensitivity. Throughout the novel, Fidarus experiences incomplete sensations; a void, where there was once pleasure. Repetation of this theme signifies it’s importance.

After the death of her mother and father, Firdaus is sent to her uncle's home in Cairo where she attends secondary school and is later given in marriage to a man who repulses her. To punish her for her ungratefulness, she is repeatedly raped. She escapes from her husband becoming a prostitute on the streets of Cairo.

Over time, she is drafted into the harem of a female friend. Another acquaintance of Firdaus tells her that her living is not respectable, so she leaves it all behind and takes a job at a government agency. She falls in love with a co-worker, who does not return her feelings, as he wishes to climb the proverbial social ladder. He marries the daughter of the agency's president instead. Crushed, Firdaus goes back to prostitution, and is threatened by police action by a local pimp. He eventually drafts her as one of his women.

He is cruel to her, and many times, he locks her in the bordello for hours and even days. One day, he started to beat her up; she picked up a knife and stabbed him. She made her escape and lived on the lam. A high-profile Arabian prince offers her money in exchange for sex. As soon as the transaction is over, she tells him that she killed a man. He doesn't believe her, and she scares him to the point that he is convinced. He has her arrested, and she is sentenced to death.