Jorge Luis Borges 'Funes The Memorious'

What happens when our ability to process information is impaired and we are reduced to mere facts? Summarized by the ability to hold compassion and exhibit sympathy, humanity can be considered fragile. Jorge Luis Borges’ “Funes the Memorious” questions the idea of how the brain may process information in relation to mankind’s ability to think versus recall. Written for Funes, it was a narrative about the young man who tragically passed away. The narrator felt obligated to write something about him because of his strength and resilience. This mental power occurred after he fell off his horse in an accident and changed his memory in a way that deemed him differently by society. He remembered everything in vivid detail, to the extent that he was
Breathing, eating, and sleeping may be the definition of a life, but living involves having a greater purpose through doing activities and processing what is around you. Borges says,” He thought that by the hour of his death he would not even have finished classifying all the memories of childhood.” (65) This implies that Funes cannot truly live in the moment or even think about the future; he is reduced to the past and the details of life. He cannot appreciate the beauty in anything because his mind would focus on the little sections, such as the color or the angle. Funes will never live a peaceful life; he is forced to observe details while thinking about the past and living in the present. Moreover, he accepted it because he admitted that he will never be done until death. Thus, the audience had to feel sorry for Funes because he was only nineteen, but he seemed “more ancient than Egypt.” (66) This suggests that while Funes was alive, he was truly not living. His heart was beating, but he must have been so stressed and overwhelmed over his situation. With a greater mind capability than what he could handle, Funes was unable to truly think about what was around him. This is what affected his ability to form generalizations and summaries of his daily activities. Overall, Borges gained an emotional connection with the audience so that they could better understand that Funes did not live an enjoyable or
Like Funes, it reduces the ability to think and diminishes the application of facts so that one can only recall. Memorizing everything is meaningless if one cannot truly comprehend it. This could almost be a warning for mankind that we should not try to further advance because our brains may have too much power for us to handle. Our society feeds from advancing, whether it is technology or music, so Borges uses Funes as an example of why we should not try to advance how we process and address information. This is achieved through documenting Funes as a teenager suffering through his ability so that we can see the effects of an increased mindset with an emotional