HANGOVERS OF FEMALE ABUSE: A FEMINIST DISCOURSE OF NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S WOMAN AT POINT ZERO

Ocholi V. Idakwo¹, Steve A. Ogunpitan²* and Innocent E. Chiluwa³*

         

¹Doctoral Student, Covenant University Ota/Principal Lecturer, The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Nigeria, ocholi.idakwo@stu.cu.edu.ng, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0504-1162

²Assoc. Prof. Lagos State University, stephen.ogunpitan@lasu.edu.ng

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6429-594X

³Prof. Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, innocent.chiluwa@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4420-9709

*Corresponding Author

 

 

Abstract

The location of the woman in post colonial Africa is littered with numerous uncertainties and abuses. Just as her culture subjects her unduly to the caprices of domineering male elements, suffocating foreign influences often situate her disadvantageously as the other being. Engaging Joshua Pederson’s radical interpretation of trauma and T. Ritu’s reflections on postcolonial feminism, this study examines Nawal El Saadawi’s portrayal of the female protagonist in the novel, Woman at Point Zero (1983) as a marginalized individual who launches a fierce attack against the patriarchal tradition that had persistently debased her female identity. It takes an expository look at the futile efforts made by the protagonist to redeem herself from social oppressions and assert her femininity. Instead of triumphing over the vissititudes of patriarchy, she is hurtled down the social ladder to a zero ebb where she is reduced to a ‘beast’ of burden and a sex slave. With this, she drifts to the precipice of psychotic dysfunction, spurns the usual yearning for social respect and transmutes literally into an unapproachable enigma who defies the death sentence that was hurriedly passed on her in an unjust judicial pronouncement. The study examines how the narrative uses Firdaus’ new location to chart a pathway for the restoration of her female dignity. Her impending execution in the hand of the hangman is revealed as the anticipated climax of the injustice suffered by women because the crime that she is purported to have committed is an undoubted act for the defence and preservation of her female dignity. The study therefore indicates the need for African indigineous societies to remove the dehumanizing aspects of their cultures that have, over time abused and exploited women and other vulnerable groups.

Keywords: Culture, Femininity, Identity, Patriachal, Psychotic