World Lit Paper

World Lit Paper

Maryann Gardner   World Literature Paper

Discrimination against women has been a very occurring issue throughout numerous cultures within the world. Women have been looked at with shallow eyes especially in the Middle Eastern culture; they’ve been belittled by men who have claimed the dominating position against women. In “Woman at Point Zero” Firdaus, a young Egyptian woman became exposed to inequity at a young age and it truly damaged they way she lived her life perpetually. The conflict within Firdaus and the society she lived in never truly permitted her to reach independence or redemption from men, which was one desire she craved of all.

Early in “Woman at Point Zero”, we are shown Firdaus’ hatred for men due to superiority they have over herself and other women. “All my life I have been searching for something that would fill me with pride, make me feel superior to everyone else, including kings, princes and rulers. Each time I picked up a newspaper and found the picture of a man who was one of them, I would spit on it.” Doing so was the only manner of releasing her anger, any other way was truly unacceptable for women in that culture. Firdaus experienced her first realization that in her society men were treated much higher then woman when she was around her father. Her father would get catered to no matter what circumstance. He would never go to bed without dinner, even if his children did not eat. Miscarriages and death of children were common within the Muslim culture due to improper treatment at the time. Firdaus’ mother went through the event of losing one of her children and Firdaus’ father beat her as if it was her fault and would continue on his day as if it didn’t happen. Firdaus began attempts to revolt against men as early as her childhood years. While she watched in agony as her father ate the only food they had in the house, she attempted to...

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