Original title "El fin" Media type Print Originally published 1953 Genre Short story Published in english 1962 | Language Spanish Publication date 1953 Country Argentina | |
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The End (original Spanish title: El fin) is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first published in La Nación in 1953. It was included in the 1956 edition of Ficciones, part two (Artifices).
Plot summary
"The End" is a response to the Argentine epic Martín Fierro, which Borges had discussed in a long essay published earlier that year. In the story, a man who presumably has had a crippling stroke winds up half seeing and half hearing a definitive fight between a "negro" who has been dwelling in the man's store and a mysterious stranger which the negro had been waiting for. The story ends ambiguously and leaves the readers with a question which only they can answer: does Fierro succeed in leaving his violent past behind him, or has he rather come to fully embrace his true nature?
Literary scholars debate on the interpretation that Fierro is a Christ-like figure. He himself has faced a myriad of trials and tribulations, and now has to face them.