Author Question: How does weather affect the outcome of the story? What will be an ideal ... (Read 152 times)

pane00 · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

How does weather affect the outcome of the story?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Why is the isolated rural setting crucial to the story? Could the events haveoccurred in a large city like Buenos Aires?

What will be an ideal response?

sultana.d · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The flooding causes the roof of the Gutres house to leak, leading Espinosa to invite them into the main house and setting up the situation in which he will read them the Gospel According to Mark. It prevents the timely return of Espinosas cousin and intensifies the isolation of the farm. And it provides a convenient explanation for the Gutres to conceal from Espinosa the real reason for the hammering noises.

Students wishing to do a paper on Borges might profitably compare The Gospel According to Mark with Borgess ingenious tale Three Versions of Judas. For more sophisticated students, a comparison between The Gospel According to Mark and Flannery OConnors A Good Man Is Hard to Find could be an absorbing project. Both stories end in senseless murders, and both depict complex and heretical reaction to the Gospels. A 75-minute video interview with Borges, Profile of a Writer, is available on DVD.

Answer to Question 2

The setting is crucial for the reason suggested in the wording of the questionbecause it is isolated. Over time, the generations of Gutres have reverted to a sort of primal ignorance: they cannot read, they have no awareness of anything that has happened or is happening outside their immediate experience, they are completely unfamiliar with Christ and the Gospels. In Buenos Aires there would be far too much education, sophistication, interaction with other people, and access to the constant flow of information for such a series of events to be possible.