Skip to main content

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part B

I read this entire reading in one go, that is how entertaining it was! I am sad to say that the second half did not intrigue me as much as the first half; there are only so many ways to retell the same message, and after twenty stories, I was losing interest in the style. The ENDING though was what really blew me away. Throughout the reading, Khojisteh never actually went to her lover. The parrot had kept her from departing with his stories, and many of them implied that the wife would be okay as long as she remained loyal to her husband. But it turns out the parrot was out for revenge all along. It was the wife that got fooled in the end. All his precautions were true, but it does not dissuade the fact that emotionally, the wife had already cheated on her husband. Emotional sin, even without action, is sin nonetheless. The parrot was distraught that Khojisteh killed the sharuk, his beloved companion, and this whole while was repressing his feelings and scheming to get back at her. This is so interesting to me, as one of the first stories he recounted was how a merchant's parrot helped cover up the cheating wife's infidelity and repair the relationship between the two. In fact, multiple stories revolved around an animal's ability to help the human maintain relationships, although it often required covering the truth.

Image details: parrot couple; source


The whole time, the author led the reader to believe the parrot would help Khojisteh remain loyal to her husband, and the two would maintain their loving relationship when he returned. The shock factor is even more impactful since, by this time, the reader is partial to Khojisteh, who has been suffering from loneliness having been left by her husband for an unspecified period of time. But she should not have fallen for her lover to begin with. What I love about this ending is that the remaining chapters seemed to be excuses justifying Khojisteh's feelings and actions, when in reality none of those changes the fact that she was immoral. All the excuses can be wiped away in an instant. Also, the beginning chapters focused a lot on the passionate love between Khojisteh and Miemun, so it was easy to disregard the relationship between the parrot and the sharuk. The reality is that the realtionship between the birds was true, the one between the humans was weak and easily broken. What a great understatement in the beginning which fuels the plot, only to be revealed at the end. This reading definitely gave me some more things to think about; a lot of techniques would work great with my own storytelling project!





The Tooti Nameh (The Tales of a Parrot). Ziya'al-Din Nakshabi (1801). Web Source. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reading Notes : Hans Christian Andersen, Part B

ANOTHER FAVORITE. The Little Mermaid is such a classic, and the original slaps. I guess I am old and beaten down now, but this version is my new favorite. The Disney version will always have a special place in my heart and be a part of my childhood, but his original version is so poetic. It is definitely more my style; it leaves an impression when the heroine doesn't get to live happily ever after, which is okay too! The world Hans Christian Andersen weaves is glorious . I could feel the mermaid's pain, urgency, and suffocating need to love and be loved. This is a story that will never get old, part of it due to how beautifully it is written. One of my favorite parts is when he describes the five older sisters and the things they experienced going to the surface for the first time. The scenes he paints makes me feel like I am experiencing those beautiful landscapes for the first time, too. Often time mermaids are fantasized, and it was interesting seeing it from the other per...
2 comments
Read more

My Favorite Place...Practically Perfect In Every Way

    I have been flying all over the world since I was young, much in part because none of my extended family lives in the United States. As I got older, my excursions got further and futher from East/Southeast Asia and began creeping into the riches of Europe, and whan incredible joy it has been. Throughout my time in Italy, Spain, Germany, etc., I kept retuning to the United Kingdom. London is truly one of the most beautiful and energetic cities I have been to. It is rich with history and culture, making Oklahoma pale in comparison. I have always preferred large cities to the mundane country life, and there is nowhere I'd rather enjoy my years than in the United Kingdom.  Image Details: London at Twilight, source: Geograph What better place to feel the pulse of the city than at Piccadilly Circus?  (on one side you can see some amazing architecture, and on the other the large electronic billboards always flashing their lights to the busy patrons be...
5 comments
Read more

Reading Notes : Ovid's Metamorphoses Part B

For Part B of Ovid's Metamorphoses , the stories that interested me most were the ones about Narcissus  and  Pyramus and Thisbe . What attracted me to these in particular was the tragic endings that befell the characters, one out of pure love and one out of vain infatuation. After reading them together, it is hard to not compare the two. In both, I could understand (but not relate) to the intesity of each person's emotions, which ultimately caused everyone's untimely death. Both stories were not afraid to use the extreme end of the dramatic spectrum to describe the depth of feelings. I like this technique; there is no wishy-washiness and the reader is very clear at where each character stands. Part of this is because the characters take out their emotions on their own bodies, and the consequence is clear. When Narcissus cannot embrace his own appearance, he beats his own chest and bruises his marble-like body. Pyramus, after finding Thisbe's bloody scarf, stabs him...
Post a Comment
Read more