THE BOOK OF SAND Essays - Jorge Luis Borges, Macedonio Fernndez

THE BOOK OF SAND JORGE LUIS BORGES THE BOOK OF SAND Class: Spanish IIA Date: April 1, 1993 Spanish IIA Jorge Luis Borges is a famous Spanish author, known best for his short stories. In this paper, I will discuss several short stories written by Mr. Borges, what influenced him in his writings, and a brief history of his place of origin, Argentina. Borges' The Book of Sand is the story of a man who is visited by a stranger trying to sell a "holy book" called the Book of Sand. The narrator looks at the book and is unable to see the first or last pages of it because, as the stranger explains, the number of pages is infinite. The narrator is fascinated by the book and buys it, only to become obsessed with it, until the point that it is all he thinks about. He eventually gets rid of it by mixing it up in a pile of many other books in his basement. As will be discussed in this paper, Borges wrote philosophy in a lot of his works. In The Book of Sand, infinity is depicted in the form of a myst erious book. It symbolizes man's constant search for the world's existence. Borges is saying that it is an endless search and therefore pointless. The Other is the story of Borges sitting on a bench, as he feels as though he had lived that moment already. He begins to speak to the man seated besides him, and finds out the stranger has the same name, and the same address as he does. When Borges asks the man what year it is, the man answers 1918, even though it is 1969. It is then that the narrator figures out he is talking to the person whom he was fifty-one years earlier. He then tells "the other" him of the future, after which they part, knowing they will never meet like this again. This story deals with time. The author is very nostalgic and lives for his memories. It also is a philosophical story where Borges expresses his doubt that we all may "just be an image of a greater being". The Mirror and the Mask is the story of an Irish king who tells a poet to write a poem describing his power. The poet wrote a praise of his fighting success, and in reward for the excellent poem, the king gives the poet a beautiful mirror and tells him to write another poem. In reward for his next work, the king gives the poet a mask. The king then asks for a third poem and receives a one line poem of perfection and in return gives him an elaborate dagger. The poet feels it to be a sin to hear such perfection and so he stabs himself with the dagger. The king also feels he has done wrong and becomes a beggar in his own kingdom never to repeat the poem again. What Borges is saying in this story is that should not try to understand G-d because he is unable to comprehend Him. He claims that "man's quest for truth is an utterly vain task". Jorge Luis Borges was born August 24, 1899 to a financially comfortable family in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father was a writer, a professor of psychology, and modern languages. He learned at home with a tutor until he was nine and began to lea rn English at home from his father, who always encouraged him to write. He came from a very literate family, and shared much cherished time with his father's books. Borges once said "for years I believed I had been brought up in a suburb of Buenos Aires, a suburb of dangerous streets and conspicuous sunsets. What is certain is that I was brought up in a garden, behind lanceolate iron railings, in a library of unlimited English books."(Here, he was referring to his father's library) He was also greatly influenced by published poets and writers who were friends of the family and often visited. In 1914, before World War I, Borges' family went to Europe where they traveled until the war was over. During these years of traveling,

Free Essays on The Titanic Disaster

THE TITANIC DISASTER The Titanic Disaster was one of the worst maritime disasters in history. The British Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland, by Harland and Wolff shipyard. It was the largest moving man-made object ever created, weighing 46,000 gross tons and measuring 882 feet long. The Titanic left on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 from Southampton to New York City. It disastrously struck an iceberg about 153 kilometers south of the Grand Banks, just before midnight on April 14, 1912. The Titanic was owned by millionaire J. P. Morgan, Jr. He was to be aboard the Titanic for her maiden voyage, but due to poor health cancelled his trip at the last minute. Edward J. Smith was granted the honor of being the first Captain of the Titanic and he was one of 1,523 who perished in the disaster. People had been skeptical about the Titanic. There were even rumors about this extremely large ship. One of the rumors stated that it was unsinkable. Nevertheless, this rumor was without a doubt wrong. Proof being that once it collided with an iceberg, which scrapped the right side leaving an opening of 300 feet, it sank in less than three hours. Investigations have found that the ship had been traveling too fast in the dangerous waters, and that there were only twenty lifeboats onboard. This was only enough to carry half of the passengers and crew. Unfortunately, the majority of the passengers found themselves left to the mercy of the icy, cold waters. Another big factor was that the crew didn’t pay enough attention to the ice warnings about which they were notified several times before the tragic incident. It was 2:20 a.m. on April 15 by the time the vessel had been fully immersed into the water. Of the 2,228 passengers and crew it was carrying, 1,523 died, and only 705 were rescued. The Titanic was divided into sixteen watertight compartments by means of watertight bulkheads, which contained electric doo... Free Essays on The Titanic Disaster Free Essays on The Titanic Disaster THE TITANIC DISASTER The Titanic Disaster was one of the worst maritime disasters in history. The British Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland, by Harland and Wolff shipyard. It was the largest moving man-made object ever created, weighing 46,000 gross tons and measuring 882 feet long. The Titanic left on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 from Southampton to New York City. It disastrously struck an iceberg about 153 kilometers south of the Grand Banks, just before midnight on April 14, 1912. The Titanic was owned by millionaire J. P. Morgan, Jr. He was to be aboard the Titanic for her maiden voyage, but due to poor health cancelled his trip at the last minute. Edward J. Smith was granted the honor of being the first Captain of the Titanic and he was one of 1,523 who perished in the disaster. People had been skeptical about the Titanic. There were even rumors about this extremely large ship. One of the rumors stated that it was unsinkable. Nevertheless, this rumor was without a doubt wrong. Proof being that once it collided with an iceberg, which scrapped the right side leaving an opening of 300 feet, it sank in less than three hours. Investigations have found that the ship had been traveling too fast in the dangerous waters, and that there were only twenty lifeboats onboard. This was only enough to carry half of the passengers and crew. Unfortunately, the majority of the passengers found themselves left to the mercy of the icy, cold waters. Another big factor was that the crew didn’t pay enough attention to the ice warnings about which they were notified several times before the tragic incident. It was 2:20 a.m. on April 15 by the time the vessel had been fully immersed into the water. Of the 2,228 passengers and crew it was carrying, 1,523 died, and only 705 were rescued. The Titanic was divided into sixteen watertight compartments by means of watertight bulkheads, which contained electric doo...