Natalya Gornopolskaya

Blog by Natalya Gornopolskaya
Borges: “Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities,” “Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv”

This first story was about a classic Capone-esc gangster by the name of Monk Eastman. Monk Eastman was the leader of a gang of over 1200 people. This story showed us an entire illustration of his life as a street brawler, his subsequent trip to the hospital followed by prison; which then led to an epic boxing-match showdown between him and a rival gang leader. He then went on to aid our war efforts in Europe, and the story closes on his dead corpse being found on the streets of New York by an alley cat. I enjoyed this story and thought it was very symbolic that he died on the streets that bore his fighter’s soul and fury.

This next story shows an entirely different situation in which a common village dyer, known as Hakim is granted immortality by an angel, Gabriel. Gabriel comes to Hakim’s home, chops off his head and sends it into the heavens. Hakim now becomes a divine being and uses his newfound purity to play on human devotion. He appears to humans during Ramadan, and proves his otherworldliness to many a people by casting magic and wearing a sacred white veil. Hakim is a corrupt figure, who is soon found to be a fraud in the eyes of his followers. At the end he is speared to death and his soul is banished to an infernal realm for all eternity. This story was particularly more spiritual, as opposed to the Monk Eastman piece. I appreciate it for depicting the imaginative premise of what happens when a commoner inexplicably becomes a god, only to end up losing his convictions by succumbing to mortal sin.