Kristy Medina

House of Asterion concentrates on a Greek Mythology story of a minotaur and his life in a labyrinth. Asterion, the minotaur, which is a creature that is half man, half bull is a prisoner of his own house. He lives within his own solidarity. At first, the short story talks about the house and how no one visits him even though the labyrinth has no door, no furnitures, etc. The readter actually gets to sympothsize with Asterion. He even makes up games to play with himself, one being where he makes up another Asterion. There is a twist however, to the end, the reader gets to know that every 9 years, 9 men come to the house so that Asterion can set them free. The very end the dialoge between Theseus and his wife where it kind of flashes foward. It basically says that Theseus killed the Minotaur. In the end, the Minotaur got what he wanted because he was killed since he wanted a reedemer and Theseus was that. This of course is an interesting short story because Greek mythology is written in the perspectives of kings and honorable men while Borges takes a point of view that is completly different and that of the evil creature sided against the king.