The Voice of Resistance: Subaltern Voice, Embodied Defiance, and Feminist Consciousness in Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi

Subhash Chandra Bose Y

Nawal El Saadawi; Feminist Theory; Postcolonial Feminism; Intersectionality; Subaltern Voice; Gender Performativity; Resistance; Patriarchy; Existential Freedom; Women’s Writing.

This paper presents an advanced feminist and postcolonial analysis of Woman at Point Zero (1975) by Nawal El Saadawi, examining the text through the intersecting lenses of feminist waves, existentialism, and contemporary feminist theory. The narrative of Firdaus, a woman sentenced to death, is interpreted as a radical articulation of resistance that challenges the epistemological, social, and institutional foundations of patriarchy. Moving beyond conventional feminist readings, this study incorporates the theoretical contributions of Judith Butler, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and bell hooks to explore issues of performativity, subalternity, and intersectionality. The paper argues that Saadawi reconstructs the notion of freedom as an existential awakening achieved through resistance to both external domination and internalized oppression. Ultimately, Woman at Point Zero is positioned as a transformative feminist text that not only critiques patriarchal systems but also redefines the possibilities of agency, voice, and liberation in a global context.

[1] Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam. Yale University Press, 1992.
[2] Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.
[3] Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 1990.
[4] Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review, vol. 43, no. 6, 1991, pp. 1241–1299.
[5] Davis, Angela. Women, Race, & Class. Vintage Books, 1981.
[6] Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
[7] Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume 1. Pantheon Books, 1978.
[8] Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. W. W. Norton, 1963.
[9] Hooks, bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. South End Press, 1984.
[10] Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. Indiana University Press, 1987.
[11] Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Duke University Press, 2003.
[12] Said, Edward. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1978.
[13] Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, University of Illinois Press, 1988