When Professor Mack said that upon reading the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges that our "minds would be blown," I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical. As a newbie to the world of the humanities I have learned a great deal about art and the interpretation therof, literature, and even music from time to time (my hips don't lie). Above all else, I feel that one of the most important things that I have learned is how to think in a completely new way that I had never previoulsy discovered. That being said, the prophesy of Professor Mack would come to prove itself truthful. My mind was blown. Take for example this exchange between Stephen Albert and Yu Tsun in the actualgarden of Jorge Luis Borges', The Garden of Forking Paths:
“In all of them,” I enunciated, with a
tremor in my voice. “I deeply appreciate and am grateful to you for the
restoration of Ts’ui Pen’s garden.” “Not in all,” he murmured with a smile. “Time
is forever dividing itself toward innumerable futures and in one of them I am
your enemy.”
(Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths, 100)
The idea behind the garden of forking paths is one of bifurcation. Bifurcation is the splitting of time rather than space. Just as the multiple garden paths continue to exponentially fork, Ts'ui Pen, in both his novel and garden, presents a world where all possible outcomes, in any situation, reveal themselves no matter the apparent contradictory consequences. What makes the aformentioned quote all the more interesting is that, mid conversation with Yu Tsun, Stephen Albert applies the theory that he had just finished explaining, presenting the fact that he very well could be an enemy of his. Professor Mack put this literary skill of implementing an author's theory into his own plotline beautifully stating, "The form is in the content."
It seemed like I never fully was able to understand exactly what Borges was talking about until the very end of his stories. I appreciated the closure that he offered and always looked forward to the conclusion knowing that he would reveal some nugget of information that would get me thinking. As Yu Tsun enters a world of alternative endings and finds himself with a man that inevitably must serve as both his friend and enemy, he shoots him. An abrupt ending to a splendid getaway, yet, it produced feelings of betrayal inside of me. Not that Albert had betrayed Tsun in any way, but the mere possibilitywas enough to push Tsun over the edge.
What famous examples of betrayal can the world and its very own history provide us with? Marcus Brutus and his betrayal of Julius Caesar in Rome on the Ides of March, Benedict Arnold and his sudden sympathy with the British, Lance Armstrong and his lack of honesty in regards to his "clean" Tour de France victories, and of course Hulk Hogan body slamming Andre the Giant in a complete and utter act of disgusting traitorship in 1987. However, no example matter the level of betrawal, no other comparison can even begin to identify to the severity of the "knife in the back" of Jesus Christ by one of the twelve, Judas of Iscariot.
These decisions to "switch sides" and present something that could not be farther from the truth are made infamous by the nature of the trust between the traitor and the follower. As mentioned, Judas was entrusted by Christ with the sacred aposteship. Not even the highest of callings could persuade Judas to stay the course and follow the Savior of mankind. This ties in beautifully with The Garden of Forking Paths in that, although in this life not all outcomes will come into play, the ever-present factor of agency continually lingers over the heads of those that have already "pleadged allegiance" in one way or another. Borges attempts to portray this eternal principle subtly through an impossible scenario that, in reality, could never be closer the fence-sitter:The Power to Change. . . . FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE.
"There must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe in order to complete a circuilt or circle, without which there would be no activity, no motion."
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