Jorge Luis Borges’ short stories take in a variety of themes. Various Borges’ short stories highlight one theme or variations of the same theme. Additionally, in many of the Borges’ short stories that take a specific theme, there is an intersection with other themes. One of the most recurring themes in Borges’ short stories is reality, which is intersected with other themes such as dreams, which is evident in The Circular Ruins, and mirrors as seen in his short story Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. The Circular Ruins and Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius are 1940 short stories featured in Borge’s book The Garden of Branching Paths. The two short stories showcase the different ways reality is perceived while highlighting the complexity of defining reality. Thus, this paper will utilize the critical analysis of The Circular Ruins and Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius to showcase that reality is dependent on the mind in that the mind creates reality.
The Circular Ruins explores the theme of reality more directly and powerfully than any other short story by Borge. The Circular Ruins follows the protagonist, the grey man, who travels to a land with circular ruins of an ancient temple. The grey man, who is injured and bleeding, drags himself to the temple, which has a stone statue of a tiger-horse deity. However, while at the temple, the grey man’s injuries are healed, and thus, he decides to sleep not because of tiredness but because he wants to sleep (Borge, 49). Borge posits that the grey man’s first duty was to sleep as he wanted to dream of a man and project him into the world of reality (50). Over the next several days, the grey man has various dreams, such as lecturing students on various topics such as anatomy. However, the grey man fails to dream of a man and project him into reality. Thus, the grey man seeks assistance from the tiger-horse deity. The deity helps the grey man, but in return, the grey man has to hand over the dreamed man to the deity. After the dreamed man is handed over to the deity, he is sent to another temple. The dreamed-man can walk over fire without being burnt, an ability that the grey man later finds out that he too possesses when the temple is engulfed with fire (56). This makes the grey man realize that, like the man he dreamt of reality, he, too, was not real but also a product of another man’s reality.
The Circular Ruins depicts the nature of reality by exploring the experiences of the grey man in the temple. The grey man who believes that he is, in fact, real fails to be amazed by the fact that his injuries have healed magically (49). This highlights that reality is dependent on the mind as the grey man does not think about the magical healing but proceeds to go to sleep. Moreover, Borge showcases the mind’s ability to create reality by highlighting the grey man’s ability to dream of a man and project him into existence. The complexities of defining reality are evident in the grey man’s realization that he, too, is being dreamt of by another person even though he has lived for more than two years in the temple and dreamt of another person into existence (56). Therefore, the Circular Ruins highlights that reality is dependent on the mind in that the mind creates reality.
The short story Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius follows a different approach to exploring the theme of reality than that used in The Circular Ruins. The Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius explores the narrator’s discovery of the land of Uqbar. The narrator hears of Uqbar for the first time through his friend Bioy Casares, who read about it in an encyclopedia (27). Uqbar is supposedly located in Asia Minor and whose legends refer to the region Mlejnas and the planet Tlon. After two years, the narrator discovers an encyclopedia of Tlon. The book describes the inhabitants of Tlon as believers of subjective idealism (35). Moreover, the language in Tlon has no nouns, as objects cannot have existence. Thus, Borge explores the theme and nature of reality by utilizing various facets of Tlon society, such as beliefs, ideologies, and language.
The short story Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius delves into the ideology of subjective realism. According to Chalmers, subjective idealism posits that everything in the universe is a mind or an idea conceived by the mind as matter cannot exist (598). Thus, Borge showcases how the mind creates reality through our ideologies, language, and culture. For instance, Borge posits that idealism invalidates science while language and everything derived from it, such as religion, metaphysics, and literature, are predicated on idealism (34). Moreover, Borge implies that idealism influences reality (40). Therefore, reality is dependent on the mind.
In conclusion, various Borge short stories explore the theme of reality. However, the short stories highlight variations of the theme of reality as seen in the short stories The Circular Ruins and Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. Moreover, the critical analysis of the two short stories is critical in showcasing that the mind creates reality. In The Circular Ruins, Borge depicts the nature of reality and the complexities involved in defining reality through the experiences of the grey man. Moreover, Borge highlights the mind’s ability to create and bring things into existence. Thus, Borge is able to showcase the mind’s ability to create reality. In Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, Borge delves into the ideology of subjective realism to highlight how reality is dependent on the mind. Thus, the critical analysis of the two short stories proves that reality is dependent on the mind in that the mind creates reality.
Works Cited
Borge, Luis Jorge. “The Garden of Branching Paths” Library of Babel. 2014
Chalmers, David. “Idealism and the mind-body problem 1.” The Routledge Handbook of idealism and immaterialism. Routledge, 2021. 591-613.
write