In the short story “The Library of Babel”, there were numerous similarities could be made throughout the text. The universe was compared to that of a library. In the story men were the librarians of the infinite hexagonal library, and their goal was to find the key to the library, or in other words “universe”. The story mainly was a comparison of the Tower of Babel which many us accept today.
The story talked about men not understanding the library around them because it was in a language that they did not know, so the decoding book was being highly sought after. This concept could be compared to the human life form constantly wanting to know what life is all about. There was a reference in the story about God which was “Man, the imperfect librarian, may be the work of chance or of malevolent demiurges; the universe, with its elegant appointments---its bookshelves, its enigmatic books, its indefatigable staircases for the traveler, and its water closets for the seated librarian---can only be the handiwork of a god.” This reference may have meant that the decoding book being sought after may be the same as what we call God.
One main religious reference made in the story is the title. The Library of Babel can be compared to that of the Tower of Babel which is in the book of Genesis. In the story about the Tower of Babel, mankind wanted to become closer to God by building a tower that would reach into Heaven. However, God did not let man build the tower, and to stop them from building the tower he confused their languages. Since man no longer understood each other, this caused all of mankind to spread across the world. This could be compared to the library having a vast expanse, large tower, and man wanting to know about the library through the decoding book, or in other words God. However, the library was not very useful because the language was not known like in the story of the Tower of Babel.
Both of these stories may still be applied to life today because we being curious humans still strive to want to know everything. Knowing everything includes how the universe and its contents were made. In both stories men both wanted to know more, as in “The Library of Babel”, men wanted to know more about the infinite library, and men nowadays desire to discover how exactly their existence came about. Why are these two points in the stories important? They are important because we as mankind feel that we will be far superior knowing more than others, and it will give us a higher status like being the best librarian or being more God-like. Seeking the most knowledge was a common theme in both stories, and modern humans are still striving to have more than everyone else now.
The story talked about men not understanding the library around them because it was in a language that they did not know, so the decoding book was being highly sought after. This concept could be compared to the human life form constantly wanting to know what life is all about. There was a reference in the story about God which was “Man, the imperfect librarian, may be the work of chance or of malevolent demiurges; the universe, with its elegant appointments---its bookshelves, its enigmatic books, its indefatigable staircases for the traveler, and its water closets for the seated librarian---can only be the handiwork of a god.” This reference may have meant that the decoding book being sought after may be the same as what we call God.
One main religious reference made in the story is the title. The Library of Babel can be compared to that of the Tower of Babel which is in the book of Genesis. In the story about the Tower of Babel, mankind wanted to become closer to God by building a tower that would reach into Heaven. However, God did not let man build the tower, and to stop them from building the tower he confused their languages. Since man no longer understood each other, this caused all of mankind to spread across the world. This could be compared to the library having a vast expanse, large tower, and man wanting to know about the library through the decoding book, or in other words God. However, the library was not very useful because the language was not known like in the story of the Tower of Babel.
Both of these stories may still be applied to life today because we being curious humans still strive to want to know everything. Knowing everything includes how the universe and its contents were made. In both stories men both wanted to know more, as in “The Library of Babel”, men wanted to know more about the infinite library, and men nowadays desire to discover how exactly their existence came about. Why are these two points in the stories important? They are important because we as mankind feel that we will be far superior knowing more than others, and it will give us a higher status like being the best librarian or being more God-like. Seeking the most knowledge was a common theme in both stories, and modern humans are still striving to have more than everyone else now.
Tower of Babel:
Your inclusion of the the biblical origin of the name "Library of babel" was really good,your analysis there also gave it gave a nice picture when relating the whole series with what was the said in the passage "man the imperfect librarian".
ReplyDeleteThe way you thought of how men always want to know more is something i never thought of. it waws very interesting and made me think of the story in a new way. good job
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