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Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part A

This week I chose to read the first part of the Arabian Nights Reading. I really enjoyed these stories and found it interesting that the 'stories inside stories' theme continued in this culture as well. I enjoyed that the woman in this first part of the story, Scheherazade, ultimately saw the evil in this man, the Sultan, and wanted to find the root of it and potentially even outsmart him. So, she intrigues him with her stories in order to spare her own life. It was really cool in her stories that she told too that you can see part of their culture coming through. Like the man who was to be killed by the genie in the first story she told the Sultan he "was gathering his belongings and he freed his slaves and gave alms to the poor." This really says a lot about what really is important to them when faced with fear and adversity, but also they are accepting and respectful of their fate. But then it turns out this man has a similar plan to what Scheherazade is doing to the Sultan. I also thought this whole concept was such a cool idea, that in the story that Scheherazade is ultimately distracting this Sultan with her stories, and her stories follow the same pattern! Each story continues to be more exciting and keeps drawing the attention of the listener, but also the reader. These stories consist of entertainment, irony, and plot twists. It even makes a full 360 back to the Sultan. Overall, this was by far one of my favorite set of stories I've read in this class and I'm excited to see where this story continues in the second part.

Bibliography: The Arabian Nights Unit, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898)


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  1. Laura GibbsSeptember 26, 2017 at 10:41 AM

    Hi Stephanie! Make sure to add some notes from the reading that can help you if you decide you want to do your own take on this story. Aladdin is in Part B, not Part A, so you would be writing here about the Part A story or stories that most grabbed your attention in Part A.

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