Comparing Purloined Letter And The Garden Of Forking Paths

Edgar Allen Poe and Jorge Luis Borges are two very renowned writers whose writing styles are similar yet oddly different. Poe likes to expand on the idea that “nothing is more hateful to wisdom than excessive shrewdness,” as illustrated in his 1846 short story “The Purloined Letter.” Borges, on the other hand, exemplifies how life is a labyrinth in his 1941 short story “The Garden of Forking Paths.” While Poe uses a suspiciously playful tone, Borges goes for a more anxious tone. While Poe targets the people who enjoy a good riddle, Borges piques the interest of philosophical thinkers. Using “The Purloined Letter”, Poe speaks to his audience to explain how the simplest riddles are the most complex. Borges uses “The Garden of Forking Paths” to explain to his audience …show more content…
In his short story, Poe allows the reader to witness the plot unfold from the eyes of a bystander, Dupin’s best friend. Poe uses this technique to allow the reader to hear the dialogue from the mind of an average thinker. The reader can better understand from this standpoint rather than that of Dupin. If the story was written from the point of view of Dupin, the reader would be both rankled and muddled while trying to understand his language. This technique is also seen in Katherine Brush’s “Birthday Party”, in which the reader understands the plot from the customer in the restaurant to get a more trustworthy prospective. Borges, on the other hand, uses the first person point of view(from Yu Tsun’s eyes) and the third person point of view( an unknown character). The transitioning point of view makes the reader question the veracity and reality of the story. Borges’s attempt to make the document more real is contradicted with the multiple points of view. Borges attempts to make it more real on page 1: “..the first two pages of the document are missing.” He is referring to Yu Tsun’s