Plot Analysis: Alibaba and The Forty Thieves

I. Introduction
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition (c. 1706 – c. 1721), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment. Some of the stories commonly associated with The Nights, in particular "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", and "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor", were not part of The Nights in its original Arabic versions but were added to the collection by Antoine Galland and other European translators. The story shows that even in the face of difficulty, you will always stumble upon great fortune; No burden, no obstacle can obstruct true loyalty, and; A person cannot receive wealth more than he needs. Slavery or human trafficking is common in Saudi Arabia together with Bolivia, Ecuador, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Burma, Jamaica, Venezuela, Cambodia, Kuwait, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea and Togo. Slavery is a method from which forcing a person to work for him with no payment in return, but some are rewarded with great living and finances like the one in this story.

II. Exposition
The story starts by stating the setting, the characters which was the two brothers and both of their social condition.
The story takes place at a town in Persia. The weather condition of the setting is summer because the story contains the phrase “because the earth is light”, coarse or more airy dirt only occurs at summer seasons because of drought drying up the land and making it more loose. The tone of the story is greedy, envy, and lucky. The mood of the story is regret because of Cassim’s feeling when he got stuck at the cave and victorious because Morgiana successfully executed the captain of the thieves. Third person point of view is the story’s point of view because of the presence of the pronouns he, she, it, and they in the story which shows that the narrator is the author (or a person not involved in the story. The social condition of the town’s people is neutral; they have decent jobs to sustain for their everyday needs.
One of the characters in the story is the captain of the thieves. He is a flat character because his attitude to Ali Baba is unchanging; he still seeks revenge at Ali Baba because he knows about the thieves secret treasure stash. He is also the antagonist in the story because he is the one who wants to kill Ali Baba. He doesn’t stop until he had revenge to Ali Baba. He is an indirect character because we learn his characteristic throughout the story, we did not read about something being cruel or evil.
Another character is Ali Baba which is the protagonist in the story. He is the one who faces a great conflict of being killed by the captain of the thieves. He is also a flat character because he is still humble throughout the story but also, he is gullible throughout the story for easily trusting the captain. He is an indirect character because we learn his characteristic through his actions in the story.
Cassim, Ali Baba’s brother, is a flat character because he is still a greedy man until his last breath in the story. He is an indirect character because we learned that he is greedy by his actions, not by reading it in the story.
Lastly, Morgiana, Cassim’s slave whom turned to become Ali Baba’s daughter-in-law, is also the protagonist in the story because she saved the life of her master’s brother not once but twice in the story making her the story’s hero. She is a flat character because she is still the same loyal and intelligent slave of Ali Baba. She is a direct character because the author states that she is clever and intelligent.

III. Rising Action
The problem of the story is that the captain of the thieves wants to seek revenge to Ali Baba for learning their secret.
The problem complicated when the rage of the captain elevates because Morgiana killed his men, and the captain wants to kill Ali Baba and his family.
The type of conflict of the story is external. It is External which is man vs man, because the antagonist (the captain) wants to kill the protagonist (Ali Baba). And also Morgiana killed the antagonist which is another man vs man.

IV. Climax
The protagonist did solve the problem, twice. Morgiana at first executed the 37 thieves that were sneaked into their property by pouring each jar with boiling oil, burning each man alive, but the captain escaped. The second time, Morgiana finally killed the captain which was disguised as a silk merchant named Cogia Houssain.

V. Falling Action
Ali Baba cannot thank Morgiana enough for preserving their life not once but twice so Ali Baba offered Morgiana to be his daughter-in-law. He talked to his son and said that by marrying Morgiana, he is marrying the preserver of their family’s life. Days after, Ali Baba celebrated the nuptials of his son and Morgiana with great solemnity, a spectacular feast, and the usual dancing and entertainment. Ali Baba did visit the thieves’ grave for a whole year because as of the two missing thief, he does not if they are still alive.

VI. Resolution
At the end of the year, the two remaining thieves did not disturb Ali Baba, so out of his curiosity, he journeyed back to the stash of treasure the thieves had left and said the words “Open, Sesame”, the vault opened revealing a bounty of treasure, he took as much gold as he can get and covered it with wood. Learning that there is no one left to open the safe but him, he took his son and passed the secret which he handed down to his posterity, who, is using their good fortune in moderation, lived in great honor and splendor.
VII. Conclusion
There many Morals to learn in this story like revenge is never an answer or think first before doing an action but the real moral is “In spite of a poor life, in hard days, and in pressured times, you will always stumble into a great fortune in your life.”