The collection of Arabic short stories known as The Arabian Nights is one that is riddled with symbolism and hidden elements. Each story varies in origin and value, portraying a wonderful example of the development of Folk literature with each retelling and written recording of them being uniquely different. The stories in The Arabian Nights are a complex web of interlacing arguments and morals, with each fitting well into its frame and proving its significance. The most striking device used to accomplish this feat is that of framing tales, or creating a story within a story. The Nights takes this literary element to an extreme, with as many as three different stories nestled inside one another at various points. The distinctive style of The Nights is a timeless device that is able to overcome even the poorest forms of translation. With an overall theme of story framing, The Arabian Nights also contains numerous themes of the roles of women, power and race that add to its overall value.
The main story frame of The Nights creates the setting and motivation for all of the other stories; in which the main character Scheherazade narrates a set of tales to the Sultan Shahriyar over a period of many nights. Many of these stories, such as the Tale of Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman are a collection of narratives that interconnect with one another while continuing to be an extension of the original story of Scheherazade. The concept of the framed story is one that evolved from ancient Sanskrit literature that was introduced into Arabic literature through the Panchatantra. (Literary Themes And Techniques From 1001nights, p.2) The Panchatantra is a collection of stories that are presented as instructive analogies. The techn...
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...licated by the sheer amount of stories in The Nights, but nevertheless stands out.
In an opposing concept, there is a layer beneath each story hinting that a woman cannot be trusted. This is proven through the constant battles of wit and numerous feats that many of the female protagonists go to in order to accomplish their needs. They are stereotypically written in as disloyal to their partners and appear weak. In the story Ali Nur Al-Din and Maryam the Girdle-girl and Ali Shar and Zumurrud, the women are originally cast as domineering heroines who save their lovers from destruction and fight off antagonists. This makes it all the more remarkable that in both stories the women must dress as men in order to fulfill their goals; once again giving way to the original stereotype that men are stronger than women. (The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, Volume 1,p.554-556)
In a nation brimming with discrimination, violence and fear, a multitudinous number of hearts will become malevolent and unemotional. However, people will rebel. In the eye-opening novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, the country of Afghanistan is exposed to possess cruel, treacherous and sexist law and people. The women are classified as something lower than human, and men have the jurisdiction over the women. At the same time, the most horrible treatment can bring out some of the best traits in victims, such as consideration, boldness, and protectiveness. Although, living in an inconsiderate world, women can still carry aspiration and benevolence. Mariam and Laila (the main characters of A Thousand Splendid Suns) are able to retain their consideration, boldness and protectiveness, as sufferers in their atrocious world.
In the short story “Araby,” James Joyce uses religious and biblical allusions to portray a young narrator’s feelings about a girl. Through these allusions, readers gather an image of the narrator’s adoration of his friend’s, Mangan’s, sister. James Joyce’s allusions to the Bible and religion relate to the idolized image the narrator has of a girl.
Despite their differences in time period, location, and gender, the narrators of “Araby” and “Wild Berry Blue” are alike in their infatuations and in their journeys. Within each story, the young narrators come to the conclusion their actions reflect their immaturity and folly with regard to their first loves. The appearance of this conclusion in both “Wild Berry Blue” and “Araby” indicates Galchen’s deep understanding of “Araby”. Rivka Galchen must have read James Joyce’s classic short story “Araby” prior to writing her narrative “Wild Berry Blue” with a similar plot but a contemporary
Both el Saadawi and Al-Shaykh both show how perception and expression are both affected within the confines of politics, social opportunities, and male privilege depicted in their stories. Whether the reader is a follower of the feminist movement or not, it is very clear and easy to see that these women are not being treated with the respect that any human being deserves. The misogynistic stranglehold on society, especially in this part of the world, is excessive and avoidable in today’s world but it is very likely that the traditional, conservative ways of the past will continue to control and inhibit women from being able to be fully treated as equals for many years to come, perhaps even after this generation has
Joyce, James. “Araby”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 427 - 431.
Snart, Jason. "In Aid Of Teaching James Joyce's "Araby." Eureka Studies In Teaching Short Fiction 9.2 (2009): 89-101. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
Have you heard of the book Maniac Magee? Maniac Magee becomes an orphan at the age of three. His parents died in a trolley accident and ran away after living with his aunt and uncle for 8 years. Maniac’s real name is Jeffrey. He is a kind hearted person who is athletic and he’s always thinking about others. Maniac has trouble finding a permanent home and being accepted in the black community even though he’s white. In both the movie and book they have similarities and differences.
Haddawy, Husain. The Arabian Nights. Rpt in Engl 123 B16 Custom Courseware. Comp. Lisa Ann Robertson. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta, 2014. 51-64. Print.
The history of The Thousand and One Nights is vague, and its shape as hard to pin down as colud's. The starting point of the work in Arabic wa...
James Joyce's use of religious imagery and religious symbols in "Araby" is compelling. That the story is concerned somehow with religion is obvious, but the particulars are vague, and its message becomes all the more interesting when Joyce begins to mingle romantic attraction with divine love. "Araby" is a story about both wordly love and religious devotion, and its weird mix of symbols and images details the relationship--sometimes peaceful, sometimes tumultuos--between the two. In this essay, I will examine a few key moments in the story and argue that Joyce's narrator is ultimately unable to resolve the differences between them.
Women in this epic had many different roles in this epic, from dominant kind with power like the goddess of the story, or in captive as a damsel in distress type as a human, women were explained in many ways. The difference between the two genders is very distinguishable but to scorn females is out of the equation. Men do have a commanding influence in the story serving for their land by going to war, and protecting the people. But it is the women who are essential with their role of civilizing the men providing the plot of the story with their roles unintentionally initiating the males to take action.
Within the fictional worlds of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the characters realize that stories are not mere entertainment, but are crucial to their lives. Fictional stories are crucial pieces to Rashid Khalifa since he relies on them for a career and brings him enjoyment. They are also important to a politician because storytelling is a critical part of a politician’s survival and livelihood since they rely on the storytellers to persuade and convince people to vote for them. Most importantly they are important to Guppees since they depend on stories to be the source of all there speaking, and the pages of Gup (the army) they depend on stories to help them fight. All in all stories can
When a person becomes trapped in a situation that stems from an individual with greater authority, being manipulative can be a very promising method to escape. The Thousand and One Nights does a very good job of being a good example of someone in this situation that uses stories within a story to capture encapsulate the attention of the reader. Despite the many little stories that go into the text, the main story behind it all is about a king named King Shahrayar and how he goes insane after catching his wife having sexual relations with a slave. After he sees this happen, he realizes that he can never trust any woman again and none of them are trustworthy. By expressing his views on women, he decides to marry a different woman every night, then the next morning have them killed by beheading. This is an ongoing event that brings death to most of the women in the village. Soon after, the king’s Vizier’s daughter, Shahrazad, came up with a brilliant idea that will end up saving her fellow countrywomen and hopefully keep the king from murdering so many innocent people. Her method behind all this is by telling the kind a different story every night that leaves him on a cliffhanger, making him curious enough to keep her alive for another day to continue her story. Shahrazad keeps herself spared from the king because of her cunning, and compassionate personality.
James Joyce’s “Araby” and the story of “A & P” by John Updike have many characteristic similarities as well as literary traits. These stories focus on a young man trying to learn the difference between the romantic fantasies that play in their mind and the bitterness that reality can bring to a young man. In both stories a young man has built an unrealistic expectation of women only to meet the tragic despair of being rejected by the object of their boyish fantasy. In both of these stories the authors choose to show that life is not always what it may always appear.
A frame tale is a smaller tale inside of a larger story. In the Prologue of The Thousand and One Nights, The King named Shahrayar witnessed his very unfaithful wife by making love with another man. Because of this eventful tragedy, Shahrayar decides to have his wife killed because of her unfaithful acts. The man that killed his wife, named Vizer, once the dead was done by killing his wife, Vizer had a new job which was to find a new women to sleep with each night. Every morning the woman is killed after she sleeps with the king by Vizer. He did this so he would not have to deal it the pain of having an unfaithful woman in his presents and feel that pain ever again. One day Vizer’s daughter, named Shahrazad, came to her father and told him that she was sick of all the death and it was time for him to settle down and marry her. Vizer decides to give his daughter to Shahrayar to marry him. This is when the frame tale begins, each night Vizer is forced to tell a story to her husband, the king, if she wants to stay alive. One of the stories that were told it called “The Porter an...