Long Summary:
The article “The Dark Side of ‘The Arabian Nights’” is an article that is intended for a reader of “The Arabian Nights”. Most people when they hear Arabian nights think about the opening song in the movie Alladin. My point is that when you hear Arabian Nights you think of a positive and happy children’s story. This article highlights the ways in which the story of “The Arabian Nights” is negative. For example, the article talks about, sexism, racism, and antisemitism that is portrayed in “The Arabian Nights”. This article shows that there is more than what is on the surface. Often times only the good part of the story is shared and the negative side is hidden. The article shares stories from “The Arabian Nights” that specifically highlight the negative. One example that the article talks about is the story of the “Three princes of China” the story says that “two of the princes are murdered by a Jewish community in Iraq and rolled inside mats, but when the third prince arrives, he tricks the leader of the Jews into killing his own son” (“The Dark Side of ‘The Arabian Nights”). This story is just one example of many that target Jews. The article goes on and gives more examples of anti-Semitism, sexism, and racism. At the end of the article, the author leaves the reader with a very interesting question, “Is it possible that the stories of The Thousand and One Nights fascinate, not in spite of their sinister blemishes, but because of them?”. I think that this is a very interesting question and leads me to wonder why do I want to read “The Arabian Nights”.
Short Summary:
The article is about the complexities of sexism, racism, and antisemitism that appear in the story of “The Arabian Nights” and why it’s problematic.
Reflection:
The main difference between the paraphrasing assignment and the summarizing assignment was what you needed to focus on. In the paraphrasing assignment, I needed to find a specific excerpt from the text and put it into my own words. In order to do this, I needed to look at the surrounding context in order to make sure that I did not change the meaning of the sentence. For the summarizing assignment, I needed to look at the article as a whole to ensure that I explained everything in the article. Both assignments made me slow down and ensure that I fully understood the text.
