Victoria Gornopolskaya

“The Other,” by Jorge Luis Borges was very creative and imaginative in its context. It involves two men meeting at a park bench, only Borges feels a strange familiarity in this other man. The other man is actually turns out to be Jorge Luis Borges as well, except he is much younger. The narrator is the older, greyer Borges. The two men engage in a conversation, the older Borges offers advice to the younger Borges on his literary development and progress for the future. I find it ironic that the older man was much more affected by this phenomenon than the younger man. I thought the younger man should’ve taken more of an active interest in this encounter with his future self because he could’ve gained a lot more out of it. It’s not every day that such a phenomenon occurs. When the conversation is over the two men agree to meet at the same bench the next day, only they don’t. They both lie to one another, which is quite sad, because I would be way more enthusiastic if I had the opportunity to meet my future self.

“The Mirror and the Mask” by Jorge Luis Borges was an exciting story. It was about a king who chose a very knowledgeable poet to summarize for him a brief history of Ireland in the form of a poem. The first time, the poet’s work was very lengthy and rehearsed. The king was astounded and rewarded the poet. The second time the poet wasn’t as thorough and detailed, but the king was moved nonetheless, even more so than the first time. The third time the poet recited only a single verse and brought the king to into a standstill. He was so amazed that the poet was able to capture such a long period of time in that one line, and handed him a dagger. The poet ends up killing himself and the king becomes a commoner. It is incredible to imagine how one line of poetry could have such a profound affect on people.