Jorge Borges

Jorge Luis Borges, writer of the three creative stories, "The garden of forking paths", "The gospel according to Mark", and "Emma Zunz".  Like other students in the class, I must admit that I found the first story, "The garden of forking paths" to be the most confusing.  It was very frustrating in a way because it was a longer story and I had to read it multiple times.  The other two stories were great.  I felt I understood Borges themes, and found the overall message to be clear and concise.

The two main themes that connected all three stories were, the nature of time, and ignorance vs. intellectual. In the story, "The garden of forking paths" you have the idea of a parallel universe. The author is working with time in a sense that you can change outcomes by making choices.  Each choice takes you down a different path.  In the story, we find that the man thinks he has figured everything out, but really he is killed.  This was Borges way of critiquing, know matter how intellectual one may be, ignorance is more powerful. I often relate with the idea of "The garden of forking paths" because I'm constantly analyzing whether or not I made the right choice, and if the choice I make will lead me to the future I want.  Could a simple path such as going to the grocery store one day before another effect my life five years from now?  I wonder if I've missed people or opportunities by one simple choice.

"The Gospel according to Mark" works with the nature of time through Baltasar Espinosa, a medical student, raised as a freethinker, who spends his summer at his cousins ranch.  After a flood comes and there is nothing to do, Espinosa decides to read the Gospel of Mark, from the old testament, to the Gutres family.  This family knew a lot about country things, but not much of anything else. Espinosa began reading to the Gutres from the Gospel of Mark.  From the Gutres perspective, Espinosa looked a lot like Jesus.  The Gutres became fascinated with the story and had Espinosa read it over and over again.  Borges brings in time in the end of the novel when the Gutres reenact the terrible crucifixion and kill Espinosa.  They knew they would be forgiven like Roman Soldiers, therefore their ignorance led them to be murderers. The didn't understand that it was just a historical story, not for reenactment, yet their ignorance powered the intellectual man.

"Emma Zunz" was a very interesting story which took a very intellectual girl, to create a believably true story, only that the time was not true.  She is hurt over her fathers suicide over an embezzlement accusation. She knows the truth of the story, that it was not her father, but Lowenthal who actually created the crime.  Emma wants Lowenthal to pay, so after a long thought out process, she seeks revenge.  First, she gets a test to show that she is a virgin.  Then, she finds a man who is an ugly visitor, that doesn't speak spanish, to have his way with her.  She doesn't want it, so in her mind it is rape.  Then, she goes to Lowenthal's, shoots him with his own revolver, and sets up a rape scene.  Emma Zunz was able to toy with time and make everything true.  "True was Emma Zunz' tone, true was her shame, true was her hate. True also was the outrage she had suffered: only the circumstances were false, the time, and one or two proper names"

Emma Zunz was by far the most incredible.  Her intellectual may have gotten her the prize (killing the man she wanted dead), everything that she did ruined her self worth.  I feel that this cause ignorance to power her intelligence because she destroyed her innocence.  But the way in which Borges worked with time, made it the most compelling. It was more magical to me than in "The Continuity of Parks" because the twist, was that the main character twisted time herself.  She made everything look like it happened all at once, and made it scarily believable.  Her self determination and creativity, caused the events to actually come together. I find Borges writings to be like movies.  As I read them, I could image the events very clearly. The struggles of the characters, the events right before the murders.