Week 4 Essay: Sinbad: Pathological Adventurer

Sinbad on his sixth voyage.
Source: Wikipedia 

            

           Even though the Voyages of Sinbad were very different from Aesop’s fables, there were still recurring motifs in the different stories of this unit. The most prominent of these was Sinbad’s insatiable desire for adventure. No matter what obstacles he was faced with each time he set sail on a new voyage, Sinbad could not get enough of the adrenaline rush that accompanies being shipwrecked.

            I found it very entertaining that Sinbad was always lured away from his life of comfort back home in Bagdad to embark on another journey out at sea. Each time he returned to the safety of his home, rich with all the merchandise he acquired from the voyage, Sinbad was always kind enough to share his fortune with his family as well as the rest of the town¾this was one of my favorite parts of each of the stories! He also vowed to never leave again to go on another voyage. Nevertheless, after some time passed, he would get the hankering to be back out on the uncertain sea.

            Once back out on the sea, it was always the same song, different verse. Some unfortunate event would occur causing the majority of the crew to be killed and the ship to be destroyed. However, Sinbad never seemed to get the short end of the stick in these situations; he always came out alive, usually clinging for dear life to a piece of drift wood until he would be washed onto a shore of some unfamiliar island.

            After being washed up onto a beach, Sinbad was always “more dead than alive”. He would take some time to recover, and then he would set off to find adventure and mischief. Each time he was met with some kind of adversity, whether it was wild savages or giant snakes, Sinbad would conjure up some plan to escape death yet again. Then it would not be long before another merchant ship would be sailing by, Sinbad would get the attention of the crew, and he would finally return to Bagdad.

            Although the overall plot of these stories was very predictable due to the recurring motifs, they were still very interesting to read because there was still some element of surprise. The different creatures Sinbad faced were all very diverse, and his escape plans would differ accordingly. In the end, I never really knew what Sinbad was going to do or what feats he was going to be up against.