VITO, MICHAEALA MAY B.

GREAT BOOKS
BMMA 501 STORY ANALYSIS

ALIBABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES

SUMMARY OF THE STORY:

One of the most well-known stories in The Thousand and One Nights is "Ali Baba and the Forty
Thieves." Ali Baba is a poor woodcutter who secretly watches as 40 thieves hide their loot in a cave, the
door to which can only be opened verbally with the command "Open, Sesame!" " Later, he uses this
magical phrase to steal riches from the cave and live a prosperous life." The thieves eventually suspect Ali
Baba and hide themselves in large oil jars that are stored overnight in Ali Baba's courtyard with the
permission of the unsuspecting Ali.
Morgiana, the slave, hears a robber whisper as she goes to extract oil from one of the jars. Morgiana
realizes that the jars contain robbers rather than oil. Morgiana realizes that the jars do not contain oil, but
rather robbers waiting to kill her master. She kills the robbers by pouring hot oil into each jar. Morgiana
later saves Ali Baba's life a second time, and he frees her in return. She marries Ali Baba's son, and the
entire family prospers from the wealth obtained from the cave into which only they have access.

CHARACTERS:
The protagonist in the story is Ali Baba. He is the one who is threatened with death by the captain
of the thieves. He is also a flat character because he remains humble throughout the story, but he is also
ignorant for easily trusting the captain.
The captain of the thieves is one of the characters in the story. He is a flat character because his
attitude toward Ali Baba remains constant; he still seeks revenge on Ali Baba because he is aware of the
thieves' secret treasure stash. He is also the story's antagonist because he is the one who wants to kill Ali
Baba. He will not stop until he has imposed his revenge on Ali Baba.
Cassim, Ali Baba's brother, is a flat character because he remains a greedy man until the end of
the story. He is an indirect character because we learned about his greed from his actions rather than
reading about it in the story.
And at last, Morgiana, Cassim's slave who later became Ali Baba's daughter-in-law, is the story's
protagonist because she saves the life of her master's brother not once, but twice, making her the story's
hero. She continues to be Ali Baba's obedient and intelligent slave, making her a flat character. She is a
straightforward character because the author describes her as clever and intelligent.

SETTING:
The story begins by introducing the setting, the characters, who are two brothers, and their
respective social circumstances.
The story takes place in a Persia town. The story has a greedy, envious, and lucky tone to it. The story's
mood is both regretful and victorious, due to Cassim's feelings when he became trapped in the cave and to
Morgiana's successful execution of the captain of the thieves. The presence of the pronouns he, she, it,
and they in the story indicates that the narrator is the author (or a person not involved in the story). The
town's people have a neutral social situation; they have decent jobs to meet their basic needs.

CONFLICT:
Man against himself: This occurred when Alibaba felt sorry for himself for being poor while his
brother had a better life. Despite working hard every day to make ends meet, Alibaba remains poor.
VITO, MICHAEALA MAY B. GREAT BOOKS
BMMA 501 STORY ANALYSIS

Man versus man: This occurred when the thieves discovered that someone was stealing their gold.
The first occurred when Cassim went to the cave in search of gold. Unfortunately, he was captured and
killed. The moment the thieves realized there was another person with knowledge of the gold came next.
Alibaba was attempted to be killed by the thieves. Fortunately, Morgiana, the servant girl, saved Alibaba
by killing the thieves and their leader.

THEME:
The real moral of the story is that "In spite of a poor life, in hard days, and in pressured times, you
will always stumble into a great fortune in your life." There are many morals to learn from this tale, such
as "Revenge is never an answer" or "Think first before doing an action."