Arabian Nights, A Reflection Of Changes In Hierarchies And Effective Storytelling

What were Edwin S. Porter's significant contributions to the development of early narrative film? In what sense did Porter build upon the innovations of contemporaneous filmmakers, and for what purposes?

The Arabian Nights also known as 1001 nights is a collection of entertaining and meaningful stories within stories translated by Husian Haddawy. According to Haddawy, “The stories in The Arabian Nights are works that have been collected over centuries from India, Persia, and Arabia”. The stories in the book are not only entertaining but are also meaningful. Even though The Arabian Nights does not relate to the Quran, there are important Muslim values that are emphasized in the stories, and these values can be applied to our everyday life. Some important Muslim values in The Arabian Nights are the value of aiding those in need, the value of telling the truth, and the value of taking responsibility of your actions. The most important out of all these values is the value of aiding those in need.

The major theme of this story is to some people, animals are more important than any human. The author and his sister love Henry, the parrot, like one of their family member. Sedaris makes his audiences confused. At first, he makes everyone think that Henry is a human being as he says: “My sister’s home didn’t really lend itself to snooping, so I spent my hour in the kitchen, making small talk with Henry”(445).

The first night's story in Arabian Nights is that of the Merchant and the Demon. Told by Shahrazad, the story offers a remarkable parallel to her own situation as she faces immanent death. Thus, the story of the Merchant and the Demon is told as a parable within the frame story, presenting a poignant analogy for Shahrazad's own situation. The Merchant and the Demon is a short tale but one filled with themes such as power, guilt, justice, and moral responsibility. Through the clever analogy with her own situation, Shahrazad also explores the theme of creative problem solving in tricky situations. Moreover, the story illustrates the core differences between pre-Islamic and Islamic values in Arabian society. Because the theme of gender roles and norms are not present within the Merchant and the Demon, the story shows how sexism is simply a form of general political and social oppression.

“It's so easy to make yo’self out God Almighty when you ain't got nodiin' tuh strain against but women and chickens." (75) In this statement, Janie highlights the real issue of lust for power within the men of her town, and even directs her words to those men. By comparing them to God and women to chickens, she manages to create a perfect metaphor for the power dynamic of their reality. “Janie did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation.” (75) Though submissive at heart, Janie somehow musters up enough courage to challenge the status quo. However, Janie’s forthright approach to addressing sexism falls on deaf ears, and she is ridiculed by the townsfolk and her husband alike. Though idealistic and courageous at times, the fact that she allows the harassment to get to her is a sign that she lacks

In both short stories, it is evident that aged traditions possess the capability to construct barriers between the strong bonds existent in families. Traditions have the ability to turn

When reading literature we often attempt to use particular threads of thought or lenses of critique to gain entry into the implied historic or legendary nature of literature. To accurately process a tale in the light in which it is presented, we have to consider the text from multiple viewpoints. We must take into consideration intentional and affective fallacies and the socioeconomic circumstances of the presenter/author/narrator. We also have to consider how our personal experience creates bias by placing the elements of the story into the web of relationships that we use to interpret the external world. There also is the need to factor in other external pressures, from societal norms, cultural ideals, and psychological themes, and how

Because of the supposed similarities between humans and birds, birds are a useful tool for authors wishing to symbolize human emotions or thoughts. Mynott offers that birds are often “distinguished partly by the different human emotions they seem to be revealing” (Mynott 282). He references several examples of the use of human-specific traits in the description of birds, such as “kind,” “stern,” and “astonished” (282). It is not such a huge leap from the attribution of such human characteristics, to “anthropomorphic misdescription” (282). The birds in The Ant of the Self are said to be looking “as though they [had] placed bets” on who would lose Spurgeon’s and his father’s confrontation. While Spurgeon is taking a stand against his father by ordering him out of the car and onto the shoulder of the road, the birds’ curious glances are exposing Spurgeon’s own thoughts. The birds, a symbol for Spurgeon, wonder whether he or his father will “go down in flames” (Packer 95). The caged birds, which are so capable of human expressions, are expressing Spurgeon’s thoughts. ZZ Packer endows the birds with a look of human quizzicality, having them glance from the nervous Spurgeon to his angered father. Spurgeon wonders whether he or his father will win, and the birds, as his symbol, express this.

Clifford Geertz in “Deep Play” gives us a detailed account of the Balinese cockfight which he defines as a sociological entity and a simulation of social matrix. Persistently ignored by the natives, anthropologist and his wife were only accepted into the community after demonstrating solidarity by fleeing from the cockfight like other villagers. Through his interaction with the Balinese and observation, Geertz attempts to disentangle the meaning and nature of cockfight which appears to play a significant role in Balinese society. At first, he analyzes the cockfight from general and universal perspective, assuming that cocks are “magnifications of the narcissistic male ego”, but then considers the particularities of the Balinese culture: Its

The common ransom story does a wonderful job of lateral comparisons by bringing stories with similar motifs, plots, and themes together. “The Merchant and The Jinni” produces this effect. The story starts with a merchant who accidentally kills a Jinni by throwing a date seed (The Arabian Nights 1: 10-19). The Jinni’s father appears declaring that he will kill the merchant. Through a series of events, three groups of travelers show up, and each traveler decides to exchange a third of the merchant’s punishment for a story. The travelers’ introduction starts drawing comparisons between these travelers right away because they are all traveling with animals. As each traveler tells their story, one cannot help drawing more comparisons as each story is about a failed romance which is dealt with in some other way than violence, normally turning the guilty party into an animal (The Arabian Nights 1: 10-19). The repetition of a nonviolent resolution to romantic conflict ends up making a lateral comparison about the nature of conflict resolution. In particular, the stories take on additional meaning as a tool to help Shahriar understand there are a variety of ways to deal with romantic issues that do not involve murdering virgins (The Arabian Nights 1: 3-10). By using enframed stories as a means of comparison, The Arabian Nights adds extra depth and meaning to stories in light of the outer narrative and the surrounding stories in order to produce a far more complex understanding of any one theme or

As they reach America at last, Amir’s wife introduces herself to Sohrab sweetly, but he just, “shift[s] on his feet and look[s] away” (358). Sohrab does not say much, do much, or move much at all. Imagery presented in this stage of the journey is quite gloomy, what with Sohrab’s blandly colored clothes, sallow face, and plain room. Amir and his wife seem gloomy as well, as they are always whispering, crying, or wondering what went wrong. The saving grace and the real transformation happens at the celebration of the Afghan’s New Year’s Day. After a day of muteness that has become regular, Amir and Sohrab finally connect through the kite flying contest. This is something to which Amir and Hassan dedicated their lives when they were children. Amir is overwhelmed with joy to see that, “one corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile” (370). It seems like nothing, but this truly is a breakthrough with this child. If it were not for Hosseini’s descriptive words that lend to pure joy and elation, the reader would not even realize what a momentous occasion this is. Hope may seem lost when traveling a guilt filled path, but if one’s intentions are honest and efforts are useful, forgiveness will find its way

In this essay I will take the time to review two stories both of the fiction nature. I will discuss the conflicts of both stories as well as the plot structure. I will talk about the characters and give my point of view. Both stories are very thought provoking which should make this very interesting to compare and contrast.

In Thousand and One Nights, Shahrazad has volunteered to marry the king, knowing that he kills the women he sleeps with the next morning (p.554). Shahrazad’s plan is to tell him stories every night with each one being better than the last (p.554). The king will not want to kill her because he will want to hear her stories and by doing this she hopes to teach the king how to restore order in his own realm and his own soul (p.554).

The knight next door honors the woman’s wishes by ceasing his communications with her though he keeps the bird in a golden coffin he always carries with him. From reading the tale, readers can see the differences in knightly behavior. Both men love the woman yet how they treat her is vastly different. The husband is controlling and wrathful, whereas the neighbor is kind and attentive. Both knights are publically viewed as great men, yet the way they act in their personal lives shows how public opinion isn’t always

The Lion and the Ox is a one of the oldest and most popular pieces of classic Arabic literature. Originally from India, this animal fable is famous for its inclusion of many other animal fables, each of which help provide the characters of the story with advice regarding their situation. Unlike The Arabian Nights, which also uses a frame tale that contains each tale, multiple animals share their wisdom with one another. The wisdom of the story’s two main characters, Kalila and Dimna, help foreshadow and motivate the events of the frame tale and bring it to a reasonable yet tragic conclusion.