For Wednesday: The Tale of Judar and His Brothers (pp.330-371)
Answer TWO of the following…
1. In some ways, this seems like the oldest of all the stories we’ve
read in this collection, and the one that sounds the most Biblical. What ideas/characters in this story sound
familiar from the Old Testament, and why might this story be more about faith
than the previous ones?
2. Since this story seems older/more faith-driven than the previous
stories, how does it regard magic and the spirit world? It doesn’t deny that these things exist, and
indeed, allows believers to make free use of them. And yet, are these things ‘good’ or useful to
a true believer? Who should use
them—when—and how? (also, how might this
also relate to other writers of fantasy in our own time, such as C.S. Lewis or
J.R.R. Tolkein)?
3. The story ends in a potentially tragic way, which is unusual for
the stories in this collection. Why do
you think it ends with Judar dying and his evil brother (briefly) being crowned
king? Why is a ‘bad’ ending important to
the story (and maybe to Shahrazad’s story, too)?
4. Considering that this story is written from the lower class point
of view, what does it say about the ‘common man’s’ perspective of life? If this a fairy tale for the poor, instead of
the rich, what ideas and values does it encompass? Why might this, too, be a lesson for the
great King listening to Shahrazad’s tales?
3. I think Shahrazad manipulates the ending of the story to serve as a lesson for her current situation. She is wise enough to realize the king will identify with the power-hungry brother, so she is careful to bring the character to an honored position. When it was time for him to consummate his marriage and reach the height of his success, Shahrazad "welcomed him with a great show of joy. But she mixed poison in his drink and destroyed him" (371). Shahrazad blatantly uses the wife to represent a woman's potential power as annihilators of evil, and the stupid king will remember the wisdom of her story if she succeeds in putting an end to him.
ReplyDelete4. The story serves to comfort the common man and reinforce a spirit of forgiveness and kindness despite injustice. Judar and his brothers are representative of power dynamics that have apparently existed for centuries and are visible in our own modern society. Judar and his mother are relentlessly generous, feeding his horrible brothers and distributing the rest among the poor. While Shahrazad's king may be of the same mindset of the fools who squandered their privileges, her story will reveal to him that the true wealth lies in goodness of heart.
1. 1. The periodical son is a similar story where the wealth of Judar’s father was divided among the mother and sons, only to have it squandered away. Judar and his mother are symbolic to the father where no matter what the brothers did to them, Judar and his mother always welcomed back with open arms; fed and clothed them well. The story is also similar to Joseph who was sold by his brother’s only to return and be better than his siblings. Allah was watching over Judar, putting people in his path to help him.
ReplyDelete3. 3. I feel that the story of Judar dying is necessary for the demise of the evil, greedy brother to also die and get what he deserved for his actions to his family and others.
2. This story regards magic and the spirit world as if it is true and everybody believed in it. Nobody questioned what a Jinnee was or how a bag could be magic. Everybody just knew and understood what it was. To Jafar, it was extremely useful. He was able to use the magic bag and Jinnee to do whatever his heart desired. But, Jafar knowing the consequences never was ungrateful of the magic. He also never took it for granted. I believed this related to other writers such as J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis because they were both christians but always wrote about a fantastical world. I think it showed that true believers believe in miracles and thats what this whole story is about. Miracles which was essentially "magic."
ReplyDelete3. The reason the story ends with Jafar dying and his evil brother briefly becoming king because it is essential for the story. I also believe Jafar was becoming a little to power crazed. Yes, he was still technically a "good" person but he did steal all of the kings treasure which is not a good thing. Even though he threw the two moors into the river because they asked him too, that is still being an accomplice to murder which is bad. Yes, Jafar did do many things to be a wonderful person, but I think it was his time to go. He was becoming too powerful and so it was better to kill him before he became a bad person for it.
Andrew Reeves
ReplyDelete1. This story sounds very much like the story of the prodigal son, where a father divides his wealth to his sons and one squanders it, then he comes back and his father accepts him with open arms. This story is similar because Judar's two brothers keep squandering their wealth away. Judar's brothers keep mistreating him and his mother, and thus makes me question if the moral of the story is to only give people so many chances.
3. I believe Shahrazad tells the story as she does to show the king that bad things happen to good people, but like Judar, he should always be a kind man and he will be rewarded beyond comprehension. The story ends with Judar dying and and his evil brother becoming king, to show that life isn't always fair, and to be a good person, but not to be foolishly giving.
2. This story depicts religion and the spirit world as a key to immeasurable wealth and happiness. With the Moorish brothers that tempt Judar into gaining the four objects (treasure) for their benefit under the vail of secrecy, we see that even through the will of Allah good and bad can both be done. The question is are these things useful? Well in a way they can be very helpful to a person who would use them wisely. The problem we have here is that we have one person (Judar) uses the objects fairly responsibly at the beginning of his time with the magic saddle bags. He feeds his mother and brothers and then sends all of the spares to the poor and destitute. Where this goes awry is when his brothers find out that he has these objects. Their greed consumes them, much like earlier in the story, to the point of killing their brother and then in turn Salem killing Saleem and becoming King for a short time before he is killed by Judars wife.
ReplyDelete3. I believe that the story ends this way to create a larger lesson. It is more than just if you give to others you will receive gifts in kind. I think that the death of Judar and then subsequently his brothers are important to the lesson. It shows that even if we do kind things we aren’t necessarily guaranteed good things to happen to us. It also shows the power of greed. Even though Judar continues to good with his immense “wealth” he displays a greedy and vengeful nature when it comes to his brothers being imprisoned by the King of Egypt. There is a definitive lesson here for all to adhere to when dealing with those around us who are greedy for material things as well as domineering in their attempts to gain their “wealth”.
1.) This story seems to be the oldest of all the ones we've read so far, mostly because of the repetitive themes from the bible. Especially those of Judar being betrayed time after time by his brothers who are just looking to better themselves and they don't car if they hurt Judar or there mother or anyone. I also think the story may be more about faith because of how generous and faithful Judar remains even after all these bad things befall him.
ReplyDelete3.) I think the story ends a tragic way to prove a point that no matter how good a person you and no matter how many times you forgive people they will still screw you over if you let them, it also shows that greed can corrupt even the purist of men like Judar.I think the ending teaches a lesson that there's a time to be selfless and forgiving but there's also a time to be human and just make mistakes.
Margaret Mitchell
ReplyDelete3. I believe the ending of the story of Judar and his brothers is a crucial part of the meaning behind the story itself. Throughout the story we have Judars brothers constantly trying to take everything they can in order to become wealthy. They try to take his part of their fathers’ inheritance, they steal from their mother, etc. They are defined as bad people. Yet, no matter how much wrong they did to Judar and his mother, they still forgave them. They both had faith in the brothers that they would end their wickedness and be aware of the greatness being good could bring upon them. In the end, the one brother gets all the glory and wealth by killing both his brothers. However, soon after he is killed too. That is the message portrayed in this story. You can spend all your life forgiving and being good and not die in vain, with people remembering you as a glorious person. OR you can be like the brothers of Judar and spend your entire life being greedy, mean, and horrid. Get what you want for a short amount of time, then to die in vain, and be remembered as the person whom killed his brothers in order to be wealthy and powerful.
4. This can say many things about the common mans lookout on life. First being that the common man believes that even though he may not have been born into wealth, that he can still reach that point and prosper. The ideas and values that this encompass is those of humbleness, the ability to make something of yourself by defying what you were born into, when you do reach wealth and things of the sort, you don’t become greedy to disperse of what you will not or cannot use. This might too be a lesson for the king listening because she is giving him in a way an example of what can happen to those people whom do wrong.
Albanie Beck
ReplyDelete1. I think this story is like many stories from the bible. For example: the story of the prodigal son. the father divides his wealth between his sons. one of the sons wanders off and spends everything his father had given him. when he returns back home his father is not angry with him but welcomes him with opens arms and all of the finest things he was. the tale of judar and his brothers is like that story in many ways. judars brothers betray him and his mother over and over again just to get the best things. I think judar is very kind because he stays faithful to his brothers even though they did all kind of bad things to him and his mom.
3. I think this story ends in a tragic way because it shows that even if you are good to a person they will still run you over if you let them. the story ends with judar, who is a good person, dying and his evil, greedy no good brother becoming king and taking over. I do think the power was getting to judars head. he was a good person but he also dis steal kings treasures. people do need to forgive and think more of others but people also make mistakes. and everyone seems to point out other people mistakes and not take actions for their own.
2. This story seems to regard magic and the spirit world as something to be feared because of the power and affect it can have on people who use it. However while reading the story, the use of magic helps to gain immeasurable wealth and power to those who know how to use it correctly. Judar was not able to keep hold of the magic because he was too trusting, and his brother was also unable to do so because of his greed. The story seemed to suggest that moderation was key, but that no magic at all would do the trick as well.
ReplyDelete4. This story seems to suggest that the ‘common man’s’ perspective of life is about an equal give and take relationship from everyone to everyone. The one time in the story when everything was calm and without fighting was when Judar and the other king were able to come to respect the other. The king had power over his land still, and Judar kept the king’s money. Both were dependent on the other even if how everything came to start wasn’t on honest terms. This peaceful time ended after Judar’s brother finally killed him, but not even hours after that, Salem was also killed by Judar’s widow. This might be a lesson from Shahrazad to the great King telling him that while even the best of kings have enemies, the worst of them have even more to worry about.
Kyle Straughn
ReplyDelete3. The bad ending reflects the fact that if you keep doing the same thing that does not work like forgiving your evil brothers you will eventually reap the obvious rewards. Repeatedly, doing the same thing is exactly what the king at the top of the story.
3.) I think it ends tragically because it shows how power hungry people are and how someone a position of power will take down anyone to become more powerful; even if it's their own family. With Judra dying it keeps the story more real life, and basically tells you what will happen to his brother. The cycle will continue, and people will always be power hungry.
ReplyDelete4.) I think it shows that the common man believes in themselves and that they can and will make their own lives. That all the wealthy people of the world aren't that much better than them and that everyone will make mistakes, probably the same ones. I think it shows that the lower class has a better grasp of what's important in life and that power and money and glory and fame isn't everything.
Trevor Huie
ReplyDelete1.I think that this story is much like the Old Testament because it relates to betrayal, which was a pattern in this story much like the story of Cain and
Abel. Also, it is based on faith very much because it is often illustrated when Judar has to endure the tests. He is constantly being asked to give himself up and be willing to let someone killing, having faith that he won't die.
4. I think that this story gives the common person hope to be something more in their lifetime. Instead of having to live their whole life thinking that they will be nothing more than a common person. It shows us that their perspective of the kings are not good, and this makes common people think that the King is just another person, nothing special. Also, this could be a lesson to the kings to not take advantage of people and realize that there is always a possibility of something happening to them.