Carly Cooper

The Lottery in Babylon is a story about how a "Company" in Babylon would create a lottery in which one could purchase a coin and win money or purchase a coin and be fined. When some people refused to pay they were put in jail and when it came to be that everyone refused to pay the fine, the drawing would only say how many nights in jail and skip the fine altogether. To me this story is really about fate and belief in G-d or the G-ds. It teaches about fate and chance. The whole thing sounds kind of silly, because who would buy a lottery ticket that might lead to their death but might also be lucky. But really it seems that, like the end of the story says, "Babylon is nothing but an infinite game of chance."

The second story is more interesting, I like how in the very beginning it states the the whole story is really a metaphor for the universe. in describing the "Library" and all its books it is difficult to try and remember that what Borges is really talking about is the universe, its places and its people. I really liked it because a Library is actually a really good symbol for the world and all its different kinds of people.