Comparing Ernest Hemingway's A Thousand And One Nights
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The works of literature that originated from the Islamic Golden Age during 786 to 1258 encompassed diverse cultures that resulted in texts that would continue to influence Western literature even today. One such work that exemplifies the literature of this era is A Thousand and One Nights (also known as Arabian Nights). While there are many variations of the elaborate stories nested within the text, the overall frame is similar in both the Eastern and Western cultures. In short, King Shadrayar discovers his wife has been unfaithful and proceeds to have her executed. The king decides that all women must be promiscuous and in order to avoid this deception, he marries a virgin every night and then murders her in the morning. Eventually, King Shadrayar kills all the…show more content… This clever bride eludes death for one thousand and one nights by telling the king captivating stories every night so when the morning comes he will keep her alive in order to finish the tale she spins. A theme in A One Thousand and One Nights is the power of speech. The bride is not only able to say alive by divulging the king in fascinating stories, but she is also able to influence King Shahrayar and thus how he governs his kingdom. In ancient times, oral literature was an integral component of conserving both culture and traditions and was held in high esteem. In today’s Western culture, the bride can be seen as a passive protagonist. While the bride might have been seen as “progressive” or “persuasive” in Ancient times, today’s society prefers to see action taken in order to create changes for the future generations. In today’s literature, novels are