Brett's Blog

Sindbad the Sailor :  Image He finishes off another drumstick, sauce dripping onto his plate, and discards the bone gently. As he wipes his mouth with an embroidered napkin, he looks me in the eyes with a steely gaze. "So," he asks. "Where would you like to begin?" Wait, let me back up a bit. Today is quite possibly the most important day of my career. I've been a reporter at the Baghdad Herald for 3 years now, and I've been searching constantly for a breakthrough that could get me out of this place. Local newspaper reporting is so incredibly dull, and I've got bigger dreams than writing articles about someone's cat being rescued from a tree. But today is the day that all of that changes, because I got an interview with Sindbad the Sailor. I'm honestly still in disbelief about it. I mean this guy is a living legend and has turned down interviews and biography offers from international news giants, but here he is agreeing to...

Sindbad has some explaining to do : Image The Seventh Voyage This story is unique among Sinbad's adventures due to the fact that he did not embark on it willingly. In fact, loss of agency seems to be the theme of this voyage, as none of the things that happen to Sindbad are things that he can control, as he is not only sent on this trip against his will, he is then sold as a slave and forced to hunt elephants for their ivory by his master. This also makes this story unique from the other Sindbad voyages as it seems to be the only adventure where Sindbad actually kills something, even if it is in the act of hunting.  And boy does he make up for lost time. Sindbad kills at least 60 elephants by himself and even when he's cornered by the other elephants (who apparently have a history of murdering slaves), Sindbad is still inexplicably able to make it out of the situation alive, and even ends up with his freedom and more money than he had at the beginning of the voyage...

Sindbad faces the giant: Image The Third Voyage Having read the Odyssey  I find the similar, yet different nature of Sindbad  very interesting. Unlike Odysseus, who's illustrated multiple times as a cunning, strong, macho-man, Sindbad is simply an ambitious merchant with a penchant for making it out of sticky situations. This is highlighted in Sindbad's especially perilous third voyage, where he faces off against a horde of murderous dwarves, a clan of equally murderous giants, and a flesh-eating giant snake all on the same trip. But, instead of being the trademark "valiant hero" that slays the monsters, saves his crew and returns home as a famous legend, he survives solely on the fact that he just got lucky. He's not a dashing pirate or hardened warrior, he's just the dude who happened to make it back alive. I could definitely see myself writing a story highlighting this subversion of the tropes and ideas of the hero archetype. I could tell the story ...