Structurally and substantively, the two ancient Near Eastern folktales The Poor Man of Nippur and The Eloquent Peasant have a great deal in common. Both tales tell the stories of lower stratum protagonists whose livelihoods are confiscated unjustly by members of the upper strata of society. By comparing these two tales this project explores some of their common themes, with a view toward the role of poverty in the construction of their plots. Although Khunanup is less poor than Gimil-Ninurta, they are both far poorer than their antagonists, and their poverty establishes a context of need in which the tales play with social location to advance their plots. The relative poverty of the two protagonists raises the stakes in both tales and leaves them vulnerable to the abuse of members of the upper stratum.
Although folktales often function to reinforce social norms and institutionsin the case of The Poor Man of Nippur and the Eloquent Peasant, social stratification and proper behaviorthey need not conform to them. Accordingly, the unique contribution of the two tales among other ancient Near Eastern texts that talk about the poor is in the way that their storytellers represent lower strata characters, and as such the tales serve as indispensable artifacts of ancient life even if they cannot necessarily be relied upon as historical records.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07012008-205634 |
| Date | 17 July 2008 |
| Creators | Fisher, Daniel Shalom |
| Contributors | Annalisa Azzoni, Jack M. Sasson |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07012008-205634/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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