Archetypes In The Library Of Babel

Humanity lives life symbolically in an unexplainable way. It is through these symbols that one may get meaning out of it. For example, colors are often associated with moods such as blue for sadness and red for anger. Common sayings that relate to emotion from these colors are such as that of “feeling blue” or “red rage”. Shapes can also give the same effect, like circles associated with wedding rings to symbolize unity. Several environmental factors can have an effect on meaning and emotion. A large body of water from a shoreline may give the idea of physical refreshment and vastness. Some people prefer to walk in the forest as a stress reliever as being one with nature. Daytime is associated with happiness and light while nighttime can be

Now taking an example of a short story, Jorge Luis Borges’ “Library of Babel” uses the archetype of the wise old man as the main narrator. Here the unnamed narrator representing this archetype applies his knowledge into insight and reflection of topics, shows his moral qualities and offers criticism for the moral qualities of others, and is supposedly spiritual with the knowledge

The narrator disagrees with a number of groups on the way which they try to study the Library of Babel, mostly for their aggressive action and impatience. The blasphemous sect grew impatient has no regard for the sequences of the natural law of the books in the Library of Babel. He calls those who take to chance with no respect to the content of any book people who cause “divine disorder” (84). The Purifiers also were an impatient group that skimmed for books and not regarding their well-being, destroying all the bookshelves what they thought as irrelevant. Though the books may be lost the narrator brings up the following points that there are too many books that any reduction done by humans is very minor; each book will have a copy with just one minor difference, so there are technically multiple versions (85). He uses his reasoning to refute that any destruction undertaken by that their cause is meaningless and idiotic. Some people also believe that almost everything within the library is absurd and only the smallest percent is reasonable to comprehend as he says, “The impious assert that absurdities are the norm in the Library and that anything reasonable (even humble and pure coherence) is an almost a miraculous exception” (86).. The narrator disagrees and scolds them for being ignorant and just talks of how there just cannot be an