Firdaus sheds her last grain of virtue. In doing so, she realizes the truth of her society. Seeing what a woman is and does in Egypt, her home, she sees the only way out of the situation. Firdaus, through her want to be `become a human being who was not looked upon with scorn,' finds that `a successful prostitute was better than a misled saint.'

Throughout her life, Firdaus had incurred the abuse that her society inflicted on women. Firstly, her father treating her not wrongly, but the way that daughters had always been treated. At a young age, Firdaus was forced to accept that her status in society should never be higher than that of a man, and that she was there to help the man live more effectively. The way in which she lost the ability to take pleasure from sexual activity shows us...