Borges and I

Borges and I

In “Borges and I” by Jorge Luis Borges, the author conveys the idea that Borges and “I” are the same person, but one is real and one is fake. The narrator, “I”, is describing who Borges is and “I”, himself, is, as if he and Borges were two people. Throughout the poem, the author uses imagery, quotes and truisms, and tone to imply that Borges is the fake part and that “I” is the real part of the same person. First the author uses imagery to throughout the short story to indicate that Borges is more famous to the public that “I”, but is different from “l”, though in reality, they are one. For example, the author writes “I know of Borges from the mail and see his name on a list of professors or in a biographical dictionary.”. The author uses examples of places only well-known names would be written on to show that the name, Borges, is famous. Through this, it is shown that Borges is a famous writer who “I” claims is the public self of “I” who is “known to others”. In addition, there is “I like hourglasses, maps, eighteenth-century typography, the taste of coffee, and the prose of Stevenson; he shares these preferences, but in a vain way that turns them into the attributes of an actor.”. These very descriptive things show that the two like the same things, even to the smallest detail, but that Borges likes them in a very different way. No two person can ever like every single thing that another does, so, in conclusion, Borges and “I” are the same person. The use of imagery in “Borges and I” helps to know that Borges is fake and “I” is real, but are actually the same person. Furthermore, quotes and truisms help the author’s implication that “I” wants to emerge from Borges, but Borges cannot survive without “I”. For example, the quote “It is no effort for me to confess that he has achieved some valid pages, but those pages cannot save me, perhaps what is good belongs to no one, not even to him, but rather to the language and to tradition.” shows