For this assignment we choose one of the characters from the stories we read in class, and wrote an in-depth analysis on that character, specifically pointing out the psychological disorder/illness/phenomenon we thought they had.

The story and character I chose was Asterion from “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges

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Brandon Vasquez

10/20/2020

“AND THE QUEEN gave birth to a child who was called Asterion.” In the story “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges, we follow the pitiful and hopeless life that the protagonist–Asterion is subjugated to. The story provides a very dark and inhumane side of society, one that casts those who are not the same as them into a world of loneliness and despair. Asterion–a minotaur–is thrust into a world where everyone around him fears him, because of his half-human half-bull physical appearance. This fear and repulsiveness from society confine him to the walls of his “home;” a home that resembles the illusion of freedom while also serving as a reminder of his loneliness in the world. However, this painstaking life that the infamous minotaur faces is set ablaze once he learns of how freeing death is, he learns of its ability to take away his loneliness. Asterion’s detrimental disorder–depersonalization–detaches him from his solitary reality and from his understanding of what he wants, but this same detachment is also what fuels his view of death as freeing. 

Asterion’s childlike playfulness removes him from his subconscious need to be with someone else, though he states that he is “ not interested in what one man may transmit to other men,” he also likes to “pretend that…the other Asterion…comes to visit me and that I show him my house,” and “sometimes I make a mistake and the two of us laugh heartily.” This wholehearted moment that Asterion would like to share with the “other Asterion” presents a sad dilemma, one where he wants to speak and be with the world but because he is different he is cast away and shunned by society forcing him to struggle in his solitary reality, even if it’s him pretending to show someone around his home.

A key factor that reflects Asterion’s state of mind is the “house” he lives in, he describes it as being infinite but also vacant. He mentions that “there is not one single piece of furniture within the house.” Also that the house has “Doors(whose numbers are infinite)” and “dusty gray stone galleries.” This description relates to a lack of comfort and vacant feeling, much like the coldness and entrapping feeling of being trapped…while it may seem like there are many doors for him to get out (escape) of the house, the doors only serve as a reminder that he cannot escape the loneliness of this empty home he lives in. Even when Asterion steps foot outside he is forced back into his home, “because of the fear that the faces of the common people inspired” in him.  The solitude of his home didn’t stay bound to just his home and soon he began to believe the skewed reality that “The house is the same size as the world; or rather it is the world.”  He is stuck between this solitary prison and the world that is repulsed by him. Society strikes fear into him because of the way they run from him and  “gathered stones,” once he stepped foot outside. Asterion seemed to have no place in the world, that is why he began to associate his “home” with the world, both being vast and empty with doors that led to nowhere. This sad reality drives asterion into a detached perspective on life, one where he is in a fleeting world unbeknown to him whether he is even awake or asleep…“sometimes I really sleep, sometimes the color of day has changed when I open my eyes.” 

In all of the disgust and expulsion from society and the solitude of his home, Asterion found a ray of hope, what he considered as his redemption–death. This new-found redemption was one that would free him from this infinite repetition of  “pool, courtyard, drinking trough, manger; the mangers, drinking troughs, courtyards pools;” the infinite loop of his solitary and ever repetitive home. The moment that Asterion encountered the man who said that “someday [his] redeemer would come” Asterion began to immerse himself deeper into his derealization/depersonalization as he begins to associate his mere existence with meeting this stranger who at least–in a morbid sense–cares for Asterion, even if this stranger’s sole purpose is to kill Asterion he sees only the beauty in finally meeting someone else who could save him from the nightmare he lived. “Since then my loneliness does not pain me.” He no longer felt the malignant pain of being alone, he could only think of the numbing reality that death provides, which makes him ‘hope he will take me to a place with fewer galleries fewer doors.” A place where he can step outside without fear of hateful judgment and also a place where he won’t see the repetition of his infinite solitude.

Asterion suffered from the direct prejudices of society, this forced him to isolate himself within the emptiness of his home…a hollow and unwelcoming place that caused him to detach himself from the reality of his situation, that he was alone. He tries to numb his loneliness in several ways, whether it be pretending, by inviting over another Asterion or hiding from an imaginary pursuer. He finds little success in escaping his solitude, that is until Asterion met his purpose in life–death.