Borges Response

Borges writing is very interesting. I had a little difficulty understanding every detail of his stories, but I found them a little upsetting. Personally, I like stories with happy endings, and Borges stories aren't exactly fairy tales. In the ending of "The Gospel According to Mark", the main character is put to death by the people he thinks are his friends. I was left with so many questions and felt completely sorrowful. It is hard for me to enjoy a story that involves such distressing events.

However, Borges was very creative and imaginative. While reading his story "Emma Zunz", I felt mesmerized by the text. My heart raced as I read closer to the end. Though I longed for a fairy tale ending, the story brought excitement to me. I enjoyed the excitement of not knowing what was coming next. Borges kept me intrigued and interested in all of his stories in that way. So though they weren't happy endings, I guess in the end I found that stories still can be fascinating even with sad endings.

I think that one of the reasons I dislike the stories with sad endings is because I relate the sad events to things that have happened in my own life. In "Emma Zunz", Emma takes someones life due to rage. In my own life, I have watched some of the lives of people I love taken away because of anger, stupidity, or carelessness. For example, a friend of mine was hit by a drunk driver and killed. My friend was an amazing person, and did not deserve to have her life taken away. I hate reading stories that bring up past events and emotions in my own life, bringing up old skeletons.

Borges's short story "The Gospel According to Mark", sparked a special interest in me. Borges wrote, "Leafing through the volume, his fingers opened it at the beginning of the Gospel according to St. Mark." This was a neat way for me to relate to the story, because I was able to connect it with my religion. I understood the story well because of its relation to the Bible. Borges wrote with a creative mind, and surprisingly, I found his stories interesting and entertaining.

Marquez Response

  Reading Marquez's story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", I felt that the situation was extremely bizarre. Finding an old man in your backyard seemed impossible to me. However, I was intrigued by the story, and became interested in the tale. I think that both of the stories that we read by Marquez had hidden meanings. He put a lot of work in capturing the true behavior of our imperfect beings. In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", I felt so much sorrow for the poor old man that was kept in the chicken coop. He had done nothing to deserve such horrible treatment from the people in the town. In fact, after creating miracles, and creating a better life for the family that found him, they still could not see the positive impact the old man with wings had on them. When he left, the family felt relieved, and that really bothered me. They never said thank you, or treated him with much kindness. They treated him as an outsider, even though their beliefs told them to treat everyone equally. However, I really could relate to the message that Marquez was sending through his story. Marquez designed the story to show how hypocritical we are as human beings. In my own life, I can really understand this type of act. I grew up in a church that taught me to love everyone equally, but at the same time, they would "shun" people for making mistakes. The church really hurt me with their hypocritical ways, and I left because of it.
  In the story, "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World", Marquez has a similar message. When the dead man appears in the town, the entire town begins to see him with jealous eyes. Though they have no idea what kind of life he lives, or where he lives it, they see him as being perfect. They do this because they are so obsessed with beauty and possessions. The people in the story are so much like people today; always wanting more. We are never satisfied with what we already have, and it is never enough. In my own life, I see my father acting a lot in this way. He has a wonderful, loving family, however, he is never satisfied. Even though he has a great job, a nice home, and so much more than a lot of people, it is never enough for him. It is a sad way to live, and can only hurt the people in your own life. My favorite quote from the story says, "But only when they finished cleaning him off did they become aware of the kind of man he was and it left them breathless". This quote from the story really shows the ignorance of the women in the story. The man gave them hope for a "better life". Though I felt both of Marquez's stories were bizarre, I truly appreciate the messages in them.

The Continuitiy of Parks Response

  Like the character in "The Continuity of Parks", written by Julio Cortazar, once I begin reading a book, it is hard for me to put it down. As I'm reading, I get lost in the text, and imagine myself inside of the story. When Cortazar begins establishing magical realism in his short story, I had a very hard time accepting it. I am such a "realist" that it was extremely hard for me to go along with the two worlds coming together. After getting past the twist, and imagining that the man was really reading about his own murder, I felt sadness and sorrow for the man in the green velvet chair. He did nothing to deserve his fate, and I felt myself wanting to jump in and save him. For me, the most emotional line of Cortazar's short story was, "The door of the salon and then the knife in his hand, the light from the great windows, the high back of an armchair covered in green velvet, the head of the man in the chair reading a novel." This is the very last sentence of the story. I was shocked at the direction the story took, and became angry at the adulterous couple. They were the ones who should have been punished, and as far as I knew, the main character never did anything wrong!
  Cortazar did a fabulous job at making me feel a connection to the main character before presenting the magical realism. If he hadn't, I may not have had such strong opinion against the adulterous couple. I felt that this piece really impacted me because I felt that I had a pretty good understanding of the story, until the ending. At times, I was a little confused, and this story really challenged me to concentrate. I think I might enjoy reading something like this again, however, I would much rather the twist be positive! I would definitely recommend a story like this to someone who feels that everything they read seems the same. Someone, like myself, who gets bored with stories that are so predictable would really enjoy this story.

Mayan Mythology Response

    Before reading the excerpt from Popol Vuh, I had no knowledge about the Mayan people or their beliefs. Starting with a clean slate, I immediately began comparing the Mayan Mythology to my own beliefs about the creation of life from the Bible. One thing I found interesting about Mayan Mythology is that the gods made several attempts to create humans. In the Bible, God successfully creates humans the first time. In the Mayan Mythology, the gods destroy their creations when they are not satisfied with them. At the same time, however, the purpose of humans in both stories is the same. Both the Mayan gods and God created humans so that they would be worshiped.

    I have grown up in a family full of realists, and I think that has a lot to do with why I can’t take this story seriously. As soon as the animals and objects that belonged to the wooden people came to life and started speaking, I felt myself pull away from the story. I couldn’t help but completely write the story off as fiction. Once I began to feel that the story was unbelievable and unrealistic, I was no longer as interested. This may also be due to the fact that I have been taught to believe the Bible and might automatically discard anything that stands against it.