Borges

                                                Jorge Borges Reader Response

            Jorge Borges wrote many very interesting stories that many times included parallel universes.  He wrote “The Garden of Forking Paths”, and “Emma Zunz”. Jorge Borges’s stories and the meaning behind the stories were interesting, but at the same time they could get very confusing.

            In “The Garden of Forking Paths” Borges a spy is being chased by a man name Madden. The spy kills a man with the same name as the city that had to be bombed. At the same time the Borges writes about how the spy and Madden take turns each lifetime killing each other. This story includes a parallel universe. The main point of the story is to show that someone has a choice and whatever they choose will later affect them. It’s kind of like karma. This story got confusing because of the idea of the parallel universe and the hypertext. It was an interesting story because it relates to me. I believe that you have many choices in life and these choices later affect you. I could have chosen to stay in high school instead of going to college for my junior and senior year. However, I chose to go to college. If I would have chosen to go to stay in high school my life would be so different. I think about that a lot. What would have happened if I would have gone down the other path? I don’t think that there are many lives though. Borges did believe in the Buddhist idea that if you mess up in life, you’ll have to make up for your mistake in the next life. I don’t believe in this.

Borges’s story critiques the idea of ignorance. The spy killed a wonderful artist because he wanted to impress his superiors. In the end the spy killed the artist and was killed himself. He got nothing out of what he did and he took the life of someone who could be useful in this world. He did something selfish and he ended up ending the life of some great person.

            In the story Emma Zunz the main character’s dad committed suicide because he was ashamed of being falsely convicted of embezzlement that Loewenthal had actually done. Emma Zunz wanted revenge so she concocted a plan. She first had an exam to prove she was still a person. Then she protested herself so it looked like Loewenthal had raped her.  Then she went to Loewenthal’s office, killed him, set up a rape scene, then called the police and told them he raped her so she killed him. This story was very interesting. I liked it a lot because at the end she created this new reality that I think she kind of ended up believing in the end. I think that she believed that even though another man paid her for sex, he was still raping her. I also think that she thought that since she was doing this because of Loewenthal, in a way Loewenthal was the one who raped her.  I relate to this story because sometimes I really just don’t want to believe something, so I’ll almost create this new reality so I can forget what happened.  

Borges’s story critiques the idea of revenge. In the story Emma’s life turns bad, her dad is dead, and she killed a man. In reality she doesn’t win even after she avenges her father’s death. In a way, even though Loewenthal is dead, he still won. He never got in trouble for the embezzlement and he ruined Emma and Emma’s father’s lives.

I would tell anyone who is interested in sci-fi to read these stories.  They were very interesting and I would read more stories from Borges. They were really confusing and the meaning was a little unclear sometimes, but I really enjoyed reading his stories.