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Again Jorge Luis Borges manages to give me a great sense of what is happening in his next story the “Man on the pink corner”. The idea and world of gangsters and the old ways tends to interest me. This is story Borges gives us a much clearer story line rather then try to mix up all the words and in a complex way. The story also leaves us the reader to have to find our own answers in the end, because we didn’t really know who killed him. I enjoyed reading this story.

Janie Cherestal

I enjoyed “Man on Pink Corner” and “Et Cetera” much more than the two previously assigned short stories. “Man on Pink Corner” was pretty interesting due to the dramatic setting of gangsters in a tango bar full of tension, and because of the fact that it actually had a clear and concise storyline. However, “Et Cetera” was strange in that it was divided up into separate short stories. I liked the section titled “The Chamber of Statues” in that it seemed like a Disney movie, for it had very vivid imagery and an ending that unveiled itself very well.

Julie Morvitz

I found Man on Pink Corner a very interesting story. It was very mysterious and it left me having to find my own answers at the end. I didn’t expect the Yardmaster to die because he sounded so confident, and when any of the men tried to fight him he barely flinched. It was surprising when he died at the end, because no one knew who killed him. It may have been the narrator, because of the hint he gives about the knife he was holding, but the reader can't be sure it was him.

Et cetera was an interesting set of tales, and they are all connected by a similar theme. They all have to do with good or bad people, or the choices they make and how this affects them. The stories also involve magic.

Kristy Medina

"Man on Pink Corner" seemed similar to Monk Eastman in that it reminded my of a classic Western, sort of mob/ gangster scene. There is a lot of talk about killing and blood. I am guessing that just like Monk Eastman and Hakim, the characters are true but the story is somewhat exaggerates. Something that I really like from the short stories Jorge Luis Borges writes is his strong sense of culture. It is evident in Man on Pink Corner through the dances, for example. Also, throughout, Borges objectifies women a lot, which is another part of old Spanish culture. I was wondering what the stars next to words like "Maldonado," "Morel's Men," and "gutted him" means.

"Et Certa," the first section 'A Theologian in Death' i thought was really interesting how it ends metaphorically in representing death. Again, Borges' strong sense of culture, here representing religion through his writing. Same with the section 'The Story of the Two Dreamers.' TO me, his writing so far takes a while to interpurt correctly but is somewhat interesting.

Natalya Gornoplskaya

Blog by Natalya Gornopolskaya
Borges: “Man on Pink Corner,” “Et Cetera”

The “Man on Pink Corner” story was extremely puzzling in its execution. It starts out with a bunch of western type folks carousing at a local bar. Suddenly a tall stranger comes around and doesn’t receive such a warm welcome from the locals. It seems this stranger was told to go there in order to pick a fight with someone. Suddenly the bar breaks out into a crowded tango during which some men manage to sneak out. At one point Yardmaster and La Lujanera managed to slip their way out. The next time Yardmaster is seen he has been wounded with a blade and is bleeding to death inside the bar. Though it is unclear as to whether it was the narrator or the woman who he was with that did the deed, the key here was the dignified way in which the Yardmaster died. He showed no pain or signs of struggle; he simply accepted this fate with conviction. I believe Borges was trying to showcase that there is a sort of lively elemental aspect after death as shown in this story.

The story “Et Cetera” seems to be a series of religious events taking place that somehow relate to one another. Each story fragment here is similar in that a misfortunate character comes upon a good fortune; usually this is due by a god who grants such fortunes to those who need them. Later, the person receiving the good fortune does something dishonorable in which he angers the god that granted his fortune in the first place. The god’s must then adhere to these sinners by punishing them for all eternity because of their overbearing vices. I think perhaps this rather long series of similar passages was meant to reiterate the theme of human flaw and error and how we as mortals could never compare to the gods who are the utmost virtuous beings.

Carly Cooper

Man on Pink corner was interesting but i was really   especially at the beginning and the end, i thought the author was using a lot of names and expecting that the reader would understand who he was referring too but I didn't and that made it more difficult to follow the story. I was wondering about the relationship between the northsiders and the others and what the previous interaction between the Rosendo and The Yardmaster was.  I thought the part where the narrator was standing outside and runs into Rosendo was interesting because of the things he was thinking about his own life compared to Rosendo's. It was a different perspective on the story about the main gang member because it was also an evaluation of the importance of this narrators life and how he viewed himself. Also I realize that it was kind of about gangs but my question is, was the narrator the one who killed The Yardmaster? 

Et Cetera was a lot more engaging because the story kept changing and there wasn't much of a relationship between the stories. However, I feel like some of these stories are biblical or i have heard them before and I don't really understand why they are put together or how Jorge Luis Borges used them as his own?