The Oppression of Woman in Nawal El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero and Toni Morrison’s Beloved: A Comparative Study

Noor Ahmed Hameed & Hind Mohammed Sami Al-Janabi,

University of Babylon, Babylon, Iraq & Department of Clinical Laboratories, University of Karbala, Karbala, Iraq

This paper examines the oppression experienced by the heroine Firdaus in two novels, both by men and other women, and the eventual temporary emancipation she achieves. Nawal El Saadawi is an internationally renowned writer, novelist, and fighter for women's rights, who was born in a village outside Cairo, Egypt. When she was practicing as a psychiatrist in the 1970's she had the opportunity to conduct some research into the neurosis of Egyptian women, to meet a woman who had been imprisoned for killing a man, and a woman who was to be executed by hanging. The woman had refused to speak to anyone until that point and had also refused to sign an appeal to the President so that her sentence could have been commuted to life imprisonment. The central theme of Morrison’s novels is the Black American experience; in an unjust society, her characters struggle to find themselves and their cultural identity. Her use of fantasy, her sinuous poetic style, and her rich interweaving of the mythic gave her stories great strength.

Keywords: Oppression, Slavery, Nawal Al Saadawi, Toni Morrison

 The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Ninth International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.LLLD.IR), 1-2 February 2024, Ahwaz.