Personally, I believe that building the novel in a parallel structure helps the reader to question such repetition and engage more while reading, instead of reading shallowly. These passages show how gradually Firdaus reaches freedom for that the way she walks is completely different from one passage to another. On the other hand, other passages were not repeated literally yet the setting and the protagonist actions recur differently like the way she walks in street for the first time, and after she kills her pimp. In the novel, there are passages that are repeated literally like Firdaus encounter with Iqbal and Abraham.
Certain passages were repeated literally, yet Firdaus reacts differently to the situation mentioned as the story goes. However, on second thought, repeating these passages has a major significance in showing the character development. The structure of the novel: parallelismįrankly, it was the little bit annoying reading the novel and repeating certain passages frequently. Thus, Firdaus is a revolutionary character that found herself at point zero several times along her journey. However, when I looked it up, I found out that El Saadawi meant by the term zero as an indicator for revolution. From the first glance, one may think that the author refers to Firdaus as a woman at the starter point, or a woman that has lost it all and she got back to point zero. it is important to know that El Saadawi reported the story beautifully with a number of intended symbols that shaped the themes of the novel The novel’s titleĪctually, the title “Women at Point Zero” is a misleading title. Firdaus tells the author about each persona and her perspective on them. Indeed, the development of the story depends so much on the characters that Firdaus meets along her journey. She tells the author the struggles she has faced and informs her about all of the oppression that she was able to surpass from her life on the village to her stay in the city. The story of Woman at Point Zero revolves around the life of the protagonist Firdaus. Nevertheless, her story outlived her presence and was read worldwide. Unfortunately the teller of the story -and the protagonist of the novel- was executed a few days after her encounter with the author. The author claims that the novel is based on a real story that was told to her by a prisoner in Quanatir prison.
It was published in Arabic in 1975 and translated to English in 1983. Woman at Point Zero is a novella by Nawal El Saadawi.
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