House of Asterion

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The House of Asterion
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The House of Asterion
The House of Asterion by a renowned Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, is a short fantasy story. The story depicts the Minotaur dubbed as Asterion, who is in his labyrinth awaiting redemption. Partly, the significance of the story is to bring out the importance of the universe and the existence of humans. Besides, the story depicts redemption in the lives of humans when the hero Theseus causes the ironic death of Asterion. The paper focuses on the significance of the short story through its rich thematic development. For instance, from Borges’ story, one of the most significant themes is faith and redemption (Borges 138).
It is evident that Asterion, depicted as a monstrous character, is in dire need redemption from solitude life. According to Asterion, as a royal descendant, he is barred from mixing with the commoners. The author argues that this could be a mere notion that Asterion possesses but is not willing to confront (Borges 140). However, the classical myth depicts Theseus as the redeemer of the Asterion, since he is successful in delivering him from his desolate life. It is evident that Asterion embraces redemption from his experience of solitude by gladly accepting his fate. The author states that Asterion finds pleasure from the pretence of being hunted by Theseus, the hero of the short story. Albeit, the author, says that Theseus’ heroic victory is empty since the ‘villain’ is already aware of horrible his existence is and embarks on a self-destruction quest.

In a nutshell, the theme of blind faith and redemption is evident in the short story. Other relevant issues developed are consciousness, Labyrinths, and Mythology. Besides, postmodernism is apparent in the narration where the author intends to boost interpretive skills of the reader by use of relevant literary critics (Borges 139).
Open-ended questions
Is Theseus’ heroic action of causing the demise of Asterion trivial and empty as depicted by the author of the story? Why?
Since Asterion fulfills his will of redemption from his life of solitude, does he qualify to be the hero of the story? Why?Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Borges, Jorge Luis. “The House of Asterion.” Labyrinths. ‎Los Anales de Buenos Aires, 1947,pp. 138-140.