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Haley Read
International Academy of Macomb
27 May 2015
Ms. Belzyt
Written Assignment
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Religion in Woman at Point Zero
In Egypt, religion plays a significant role in the government. The religion that is widely
accepted in Egypt allows men to abuse and degrade women because men are viewed superior to
women. Every day, women are abused and oppressed beyond recognition because of the role
religion plays in the government. This religion leaves beaten women helpless with nowhere to
go. In her novel Woman at Point Zero, Nawal El Saadawi tells about the life of a women in
Egypt named Firdaus and the struggles that religion puts her through. El Saadawis novel
highlights the times in Firdaus life when strong emotions are shown with the struggles of life
which are run by religion. Throughout the book, El Saadawi uses emotions Firdaus and her own
emotions such as sadness, anger, and shame in order critique the role of religion in Egypt.
El Saadawi uses sadness to point out the wrongness of the role of religion in Egypt.
Sadness is an emotion that can have major effects on people and El Saadawi uses these emotions
in order to communicate her message of critiquing religion to the reader. In the beginning of the
book, El Saadawi tells about how difficult Firdaus made it for her to converse about the hardship
of life. When El Saadawi gives up with trying to speak with Firdaus, she says, Compared to
[Firdaus], I was nothing but a small insect crawling upon the land amidst millions of other
insects, (El Saadawi 3). In this metaphor, El Saadawi compares herself to a small insect
amidst millions of other insects, because she is one small person in a land of millions of other
people and her life has been so easy in comparison to Firdaus live. This sadness that is brought
up through this metaphor makes the reader think about how small one person really is compared

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to the world. This portrays a feeling of sadness and loneliness and El Saadawi compares it to
Firdaus hard life. El Saadawi connects Firdaus hardship that she endures with a sad feeling of
loneliness to emphasize how hard Firdaus life has been because of religion. El Saadawi also
shows that the hardship of Firdaus life when El Saadawi tells about Firdaus story. When Firdaus
asks her mother about how she was born if she had no father, she, cut off a piece of flesh
from between [Firdaus] thighs. [She] cried all night, (12). Genital mutilation is very common
in countries like Egypt because religion allows women to be degraded to feel inferior to men. By
saying that Firdaus is crying all night, El Saadawi shows the emotions of pain and suffering
Firdaus was forced to endure because of religious beliefs. By placing this sentence directly after
telling about Firdaus being genitally mutilated, El Saadawi connects the pain and sadness caused
by the genital mutilation to the role of religion in Egypt. By displaying these negative emotions,
El Saadawi expresses the idea that it is not right to genitally mutilate women which directly
connects to the idea that the religion behind these actions are wrong and should not be done.
Mutilation is what religion has led to and El Saadawi portrays the wrongness of religion through
the feelings of sadness and pain brought forth by Firdaus.
Also through Firdaus feelings towards men, El Saadawi uses anger to point out flaws
with religion running the government in Egypt. By writing about Firdaus life, El Saadawi points
out flaws with the role of religion in Egypt. Anger is often an emotion associated with something
that went wrong. When Firdaus tells El Saadawi her life, she says, Each time I picked up a
newspaper and found the picture of a manI would spit on it, (9). The way Firdaus spits on the
picture displays anger and aggression towards men. This conveys that men have wronged her.
Throughout Firdaus story, it is expressed that men have wronged Firdaus because religion
allows them to. This anger shows that men have caused Firdaus grief which in turn reveals that

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religion has allowed men to wrong Firdaus and cause these emotions because religion in Egypt
believes that males are dominant over women. By doing so, El Saadawi critiques the role of
religion in Egypt. Firdaus story continues to show how El Saadawi uses Firdaus emotions in
order to criticize religion. When Firdaus continues to tell El Saadawi about her life, she explains,
Every single man I did get to know filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it
smashing down on his face. But because I am a women I never had the courage to lift my hand,
(10). The way Firdaus wants smash her hand on a mans face expresses more anger and
frustration with men. These strong emotions are known to be caused by wrongness that has been
done to Firdaus because religion allows it. El Saadawi adds to the critique of religion by the way
Firdaus says she never had the courage to lift her hand. By not having courage to lift her hand, El
Saadawi shows the oppression women endure and how women in Egyptian society are unable to
stand up for themselves due to their status in society. Their role in society was created by the
beliefs of religion. This frustration with not being able to stand up for herself is emphasized by
Firdaus wanting to smash her hand on a mans face. This expression of emotions is a way of
telling the world about the abuse that Firdaus and other women are put through because of
religious beliefs which is ultimately criticizing religion. In this way, El Saadawi critiques the fact
that religion runs the government in Egypt.
Lastly though her book, in order to critique religion, El Saadawi weaves her own
emotions in with Firdaus already emotional story. El Saadawi includes her own encounter with
Firdaus in order to show her own emotions towards religion in order to show its flaws. When El
Saadawi is done talking to Firdaus and is outside of the prison, she says, I felt ashamed of
myself, of my life, of my fears, and my lies,(114). El Saadawi uses repetition in her sentence to
emphasize the feeling of shame she felt. This shame is shown through the comparison of her easy

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life with Firdaus life. This comparison creates shame which is felt by El Saadawi for having
such an easy life. The expression of such negative emotions shows that Firdaus life is worsened
because of the beliefs of religion in Egyptian society in the way it oppresses women. This shame
shows that El Saadawi believes that the religion that has ran Firdaus life is unfair and wrong.
Again, through her own experience with Firdaus, El Saadawi expresses displeasure towards the
role of religion in Egypt. The very last sentence of the book reads, And at that moment I
realized that Firdaus had more courage than I,(114). El Saadawi communicates emotions of
shame and sadness she felt in recognizing of how Firdaus is a much better person than herself yet
Firdaus is put through so many negative situations through the existence of religion in the
government. Firdaus is being executed for defending herself from violent actions that religion
allows. This shows how the existence of religion in the government has impacted Firdaus life in
a negative manner.
El Saadawi critiques religion by using sadness, anger and shame in her novel. This is
significant because the oppression of women is a major problem in Egypt and many other
countries in the world. Women all over are trapped because their religion does not allow them to
coexist in society alongside their male companions. Through the use of Firdaus and her own
emotions, El Saadawi is implying that something must be done about the oppression of women
in Egypt and all over the world.

Word Count: 1305

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Work Cited
El Saadawi, Nawal. Woman at Point Zero. Trans. Sherif Hetata. New York: Zed Books Ltd,
1983. Print.