Mythic Heros: Sinbad the Sailor
When I think about mythic heroes, for many years the first name that came to mind was Sinbad: Sinbad the sailor. In his days as an adventurer, he went on seven fantastic voyages which earned him fame for the rest of his life.
Yet, now in retrospect, I no longer consider him to be the great adventurer that
I saw him as in my childhood.
On his seven voyages, Sinbad encountered every obstacle one could possibly think of. He and his crew met up with: a fish so large, many mistook it for an island, an island where rocs (enormous birds (their eggs were often mistaken for buildings)) still lived, cannibals, giants, and even herds of angry elephants. On each and everyone one of his famed voyages, he was shipwrecked, alone, and faced with some hideous danger. On each and everyone, he overcame the odds, destroyed his foes, and returned home with riches beyond the imagination. As a child, the stories of Sinbad's voyages were wildly entertaining.
In each one, there was adventure, danger, money, and the hero always came home in one piece. Now that I look back at the stories, there are some parts of
Sinbad's fantastic tales that bother me.
First of all, Sinbad never set out in search of adventure. These amazing things just seemed to always happen to him. He normally set out as a merchant, carrying goods from one exotic land to another. Yet, on each of these trips, something incredible happened to him and his crew, resulting in a dead crew and a fantastic story for Sinbad the sailor.
Secondly, all of Sinbad's great adventures occurred sequentially. In other words, he went immediately from one adventure to another without so much as a nap in between. This man never had a quiet boat ride in the entire span of time in which his adventures took place.
Another interesting point is the manner in which Sinbad always left and returned to his home port in Baghdad. All seven times, he left with a full crew and carrying the goods of a local merchant. Yet all seven times he returned, he was alone, the crew having died in the early part of the respective adventure.
All seven times, he returned without the goods that he was to take to market, but he often returned with new riches from the island where he was stranded (and of course, kept them for himself). This leads me to believe that maybe his crew
His first voyage took place in 1598 with his uncle. He was on his own for his next trip which lasted 2 years. He was in France from 1603 until 1607. They then found some West Indians that
He worked with a man by the name of Pathros, the leader of the caravan in which he took care of camels. Hafid love for Lisha, daughter of a wealthy man, encouraged him to become a merchant. Pathros, gives him the chance to prove himself as a merchant and send him off to sell a woven robe to one of the hardest places to sell at, Bethlehem. Pathros merchants never stopped there because it was a poor location and the people never wanted to buy anything. Hafid was determined to sell the woven robe but on the third night of trying to sell the robe he started feeling discouraged but did not want to give up. Later that night he found a man and women with a newborn baby shivering because of the cold night. Hafid decided to hand the coat to the young couple to keep the baby warm and risked his chance to become a successful merchant. With his head bowed down, Hafid, was forced to return back and tell his story. Pathros could tell that something extraordinary had just occurred when seeing Hafid return due to the star that had been following his path brightly. Pathros asked Hafid to return to his job as a camel boy for the mean while and he would explain to him later how he did not fail in his
...e most troubling times he kept everything and put it to good use. In the present, he still saves everything and tries to exchange the things that he no longer needs.
learned the tough ships of life and it is what got him to help others throughout. Another thing
He then came out destitute to vision meaning he cannot see the abyss he has created. The person who can see this is the Prophet, Teiresias, who happens to be blind, which makes this ironic.
believed that money would make him happy. When he became rich, his dream then became
Since this bond of brotherhood is felt by all the men in the boat, but not discussed, it manifests in small ways as the men interact with each other. They are never irritated or upset with each other, no matter how tired or sore they are. Whenever one man is too tired to row, the next man takes over without complaining. When the correspondent thinks that he is the only person awake on the boat, and he sees and hears the shark in the water, the narrator says, “Nevertheless, it is true that he did not want to be alone with the thing. He wished one of his companions to awaken by chance and keep him company with it” (Crane 212).
adventures. He was on the Argo, in the Caledonian hunt, as well as many others.
He had worked very hard to get where he was, which made him a very real person in an
everything he owned. He took refuge in criminal activity, and was sent to prison. His
and he became courageous and found that even though things may look dangerous, they always aren't as they appear. And finally he listened to the advice of the creatures around him and he came to trust in others as he would expect others to trust him. He found what he was looking for in life, happiness.
He needed clothes and shelter, so he went to a department store where he thought he could steal clothes after they closed. He needed to be visible to get his money and his books. His plan didn't work so well and he had to leave with nothing. He finally got some clothes by knocking out the owner of a costume shop and stealing what he needed.
...an society did not accept his radical ideas. In the end, he did end up like the characters he had created. Like the Star Child and the Rocket he too was prideful to notice that his behavior would cost him his freedom.