What does the novel, A Thousand and One Nights, symbolize in the novel, A Woman Is No Man?

The novel A Thousand and One Nights is a symbol of Isra’s love for books, and the power of the narrative of a woman. It is also a symbol of where Isra keeps her most secret and hidden feelings, which later connects Deya to her mother. The book A Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Arabic stories and fairy tales. The story is based around a woman, Scheherazade, who tells the king a new story for a thousand and one nights, until he spares her life. Isra tells Sarah, “I just love the storytelling . . . the idea of a woman telling stories for her life” (99). Like Scheherazade, Isra believes in the power of stories, and the voice of women. As the novel progresses however, the fantasy of romantic love becomes a joke, and the Disney recreation of the movie makes it even more so. Later in the novel, as Isra sinks into despair as Adam beats her mercilessly and restricts their daughters freedoms, she turns to this book to hide her secret letters to her mother, that she never sends. Fareeda later finds them and gives them to Deya, at first only one as proof that she was haunted by a jinn. But later, Fareeda gives Deya all of them, which leads to Deya deciding not to repeat her mother’s life, and to make her own choices.