Women's Search for Stability: A Case Study of the Cinderella Story in the Arabian Gulf

Abstract

This study examines elements of a collection of texts belonging to the international tale type 510 “Cinderella and Cap O'Rushes” in the Arabian Gulf. I will do a contextual analysis of ten texts in an attempt to reveal the social themes which find expression in these texts. It will be seen, that the texts affirm the uniqueness of these tales to the countries which produced them, and that the social and economic roles coincide in such a balanced manner, that together they reveal the world of the women as an individual, capable of giving concrete expression to her own special vision of the world around her. The narrative structure of the texts point to the existence of another broader perspective of the storyteller.