1001 Dalmations

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I think Professor Zaru’s lecture was my favorite we’ve had so far. I loved how she tied in her own life, her experiences, and personal bits to make the stories more interesting. I think that learning about the origin of the stories before is a really interesting aspect that we haven’t experienced to such an extent before. These stories are similar to the ones we have encountered before in the fact that they were first oral tradition and were later written down, but different in that they have their own lore behind them and are all connected into one bigger story. This is different from the Grimm's fairy tales since they came from all different parts of Germany and aren't connected in any way. The fact that people still tell stories orally, and are treated as artists for doing so is also very interesting. In Western culture, their is a tendency to believe that fairy tales are only for children, while in Arab cultures these oral stories are taken seriously.

The idea of the success of the underdog is something not only Arabic, but also Jewish and Kenyan stories have as well. A lot of them also have characters that are animals, which is prevalent all around the world. Many stories around the world also have trickster figures, or those (sometimes the underdog) who use cunning and logic instead of brute force to achieve their goals. 


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