The Lottery In Babylon Essay

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The Lottery in Babylon is a short fantasy story wrote by Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges. It was published first time in 1941 in a literary magazine called Sur. The story is told by a narrator, who used to live in Babylon, a city which is ruled by Company. Company’s authority is based on the lottery, where the destinies of Babylonians are sealed. Company can be interpret as a God or a deity because in the end of the story, Company has all-power over the people. The human’s desire for adrenaline is fed by the lottery and the destinies of people are placed in every 60 days. The life in Babylon is based upon change and fortune. Author’s style is magical realism. Borges uses fantastic elements and symbols to mark boundaries for universe. …show more content…
Dictatorial regimes of the Fascists, Nazis, and soviets were alive and the story is closely relate to dictatorship. Borges writings deal with the existence of God, the meaning of life, and universe. He deals with paradoxes and metaphysical games to describe human’s interest to organize their surroundings. Usually people organize their surroundings through religion, literature, sociology, history or something else. In Babylon it is done by change. The whole idea of a city of Babylon, ruled by change, is an absurd idea. It feels illogical and inappropriate but at the same time it still retains its mathematical possibility to exist. In addition the people act unreasonable and foolish. The free will is depleted by Company as though in dictatorship countries like North-Korea. People seem to be like animals who are lead by a system where everything is based upon change. However, the resulting outcome is always same, which refers to Borges most favorable symbol, labyrinth. Universe is a labyrinth and the last scene is always dead. The gloomy mood of Borges exudes a lot of wisdom and rational thinking from the author. All Borges writings are

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