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The Lottery in Babylon was another interesting story I thought as well. The idea of gaming and losing and winning gives me a sense of danger and risk. But in this case the winner wins it all and the loser if left with dealing with something that was beyond. They had to deal with their own nightmares. That I thought was very dark. The idea of theology pops into this story as well it seem as if they play on the leaving everything up to chances and in the powers of something great then themselves.

Julie Morvitz

I thought The Lottery in Babylon was a very interesting story. Normally, when one thinks of gambling they only think about either gaining or losing money. This story introduces a new concept, that if you lose there is a consequence. In Babylon, the Lottery was of utmost importance, and if someone lost, there would be horrible consequences including someone’s worst fears. It also brought about the idea that if the Lottery is all about chance, why shouldn’t each part of it be about chance? In Babylon, that would mean choosing the person’s consequence, who delivers the consequence, and so on, all through different drawings involving chance. I thought this was an interesting and very different way of going about a simple lottery.
I thought The Library of Babel was a little confusing, but it brought about good ideas as well. The story focused on the idea that the universe is a library, and all the books are different people. Although I like this metaphor, I don’t think it holds true in all respects, because the story says that no two books are the same (like people), but in libraries there are usually many copies of the same book.

Natalya Gornopolskaya

Blog by Natalya Gornopolskaya
“The Lottery in Babylon,” “Prologues to The Library of Babel,” “The Library of Babel”

I enjoyed this first story very much. I have previously read several short stories involving a lottery but never one quite like this. The people of Babylon subject themselves to a lottery of chance in which the fate of all people is decided. Sometimes the outcome is fortunate, but other times it may result in death. No one knows which company is involved or who the people in charge are, but both are certainly a powerful force in the lottery. Just as the story mentions, I too wonder why these people continue to consent to such a lottery that offers virtually no benefits for anyone involved. Simply anyone is at risk of torture, death and many other dire consequences. Why must such a barbarous lottery continue at the expense of the Babylonians? Perhaps Borges is simply trying to convey that the lottery itself is an invisible force of fate that exists whether people agree with it or not. He’s saying that fate is like this all powerful company that exists in secrecy, for the sole purpose of deciding upon each and all of our individual fates. Sometimes good things can happen and other times things don’t turn out so well, but the point is we have no control. It is not up to us to decide upon our fates, because an unseen force has already made our decisions.

“The Library of Babel”, embodies the reoccurring Borgesian theme of the Labyrinth, which in this case means the library. The library is an unquantifiable hexagon, which contains every book, which holds any language, thought or word known to man. He also mentions a crimson hexagon which contains this never-ending book that somehow holds all of the information contained in every book ever written. Such possibilities are both extraordinary and fascinating to consider. The part that interests me most is how the narrator believes that every book is all in the same, and that libraries contain many books written in an indecipherable, repeating language or code. This means that libraries catalogue so much more than just books. Libraries are the windows to new worlds, and each library is like a universe of symbols. This new concept of a library is extremely thoughtful and revolutionary in meaning.

Victoria Gornopolskaya

“The Lottery in Babylon” by Jorge Luis Borges was a very interesting story to read. I enjoyed learning the history of the lottery and how it came to evolve into its present form. I also found it terrifying that all the people of Babylon must participate and share the risk of having awful luck. The premise for this sort of a lottery is chilling to think about, but I feel as though this could never happen in real life. Real people are not quite as unphased as the Babylonians and would definitely take a stand against such a hazardous game of chance. I believe the reason why the Babylonians refuse to put an end to the lottery is because they wouldn’t know how to go about doing so. Since the lottery is managed by a top secret organization of incredibly vital officials, the people would be powerless if they were to go against it. By remaining blissfully ignorant these people allow themselves to be controlled and taken advantage of by this political tool called of a lottery. I believe Borges wrote this piece in order to show how society is always afraid of going against a stronger opponent, in this case, the government.

I thought that the ideas Borges presents in “The Library of Babel” were monumental and not of this time. For a library in Borges’s terms is a hexagon, containing twenty shelves of books arranged in a similar way in each different hexagon. This account is written in the tone of an old man, dying, wondering what the future holds for the literary world as he’s known it. It seems to me that this man is dying for a cause, or perhaps as a result of toiling for that limitless sought-after book. I myself never thought of a library as highly as the narrator of the story does. He believes that the library is an infinite hexagonal realm of knowledge filled with books that hold the key to the future. He speaks of the checkered past when books that were perceived as “nonsense” were forever removed from the shelves. This man has obviously dedicated a great deal of his life for the greater good of the library. I find it tragic that as his life nears its end he condemns himself for never finding the meaning he was searching for in a particular book. However he is optimistic towards the future of the library and sees himself as a necessary piece of the puzzle. Through reading this story I come to the message that there is life after death within the books within libraries that will continuously shape our future

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.