Victoria Gornopolskaya

“The Zahir” is about Borges himself and his obsession with a gold coin called the Zahir. He goes into great detail in telling us the origins of the Zahir and how it could also refer to other things such as god or a tiger. He also mentions his lovesickness for a woman named Teodelina Villar, a model. It seems as though his obsession stems from the fact that he spent the Zahir at a bar when he saw Teodelina Villar having a drink. This story is simply the ramifications of a man who has been heartbroken and chooses to express his grief by channeling it through an entirely different extreme. Borges was so overcome with grief over Teodelina Villar’s suicide that he held on to the closest part of her that he had known, which was the Zahir coin. I believe this story was written to show the toils of dealing with an unhealthy obsession and how heavily it can impact your life.

“The House of Asterion” is a first person account of a princess who isolates herself in a very large house. She is not a prisoner, as she isn’t locked up or forced to stay in one place. She simply chooses this way of life because she fears the commoners and the way they treat her. It isn’t clear whether her house is really infinite, or if that word was simply placed over the number fourteen. It seems she lives a very lonely life; no companionship, no ability to read, and no overall contact with the outside world. There is the exception of a ceremony that occurs every nine years, but other than that her life is desolate. All she has is her house, in which she wanders through its limitless pools, galleries and all sorts of other treasures. Though she does possess all these riches she is still empty inside, just like her infinite palace.