Natalia Krykova, '14

Time: Reality vs. Perception in Borges's "The South"

      In the short story "The South," Jorge Luis Borges writes: "The car was different now, too; it was not the same car that had pulled out of the station in Buenos Aires - the plains and the hours had penetrated and transfigured it" (177). This excerpt from the text expands on the notion and effects of time. In "The South" the train is not only a way of transportation, but also becomes a tool used to make us reflect upon our conception of time.

     By using a train, Borges demonstrates that one cannot only move forwards, the physical motion of arriving from one destination to another, but one can also travel back in time to the past. The "car" that is referred to in the quote above is a train car; the train is a symbol of time because it possesses the physical aspect of time and motion. In a literal sense, a train can only travel forward, in the same way that time can only continue moving forth. However, by using a train to represent time, Borges forces the readers to see time in a different light. A train can be stopped while time cannot. Borges's train can also transport the protagonist to the past, which contradicts the physical law and our traditional understanding of time. Dahlmann, the protagonist, lived at home, and because of an accident due to inattentiveness while reading the Arabian Nights, he ended up in a hospital very seriously ill. After Dahlmann was released from the hospital, he travelled south via train in order to reach his ancestral home. This trip was his physical future, but also his past, because it represented the past of his family. Therefore, though the train was physically traveling forward to the future, it was simultaneously traveling to Dahlmann's past.

     As time passes, things change: "The car was different now…" Borges demonstrates that although the train car appears to be the same, it is not, since time has altered it. This also makes it appear as though not one train car, exclusively, is being discussed. Instead, there is a comparison between the train car that was in the past, and the train car that is here, now, in the present. This connects to the notion that the protagonist cannot escape the effects of time. Just like the train car changed with time, Dahlmann evolved as time passed. Though there is a continuity to humans' physical being throughout their lives, experiences that accompany time deliver change and growth.

     Finally, Dahlmann's reading of The Arabian Nights in this story serves to further demonstrate this idea of expandable time. Books are timeless - they exist in the same way, with the same content, and do not change with time. Change can only occur in the perception of the reader, depending on when he reads it and the number of times he reads it. By reading, a reader is able to control the element of time and thus its ability to simultaneously access future, past and present. Borges challenges the readers to expand their thinking, reach beyond the literal and physical world, and ponder the concept and possibilities of time. By using the car, the train, and the book to illustrate time, Borges creatively, deliberately, and effectively constructs a story that questions and expands the readers' thinking about mundane things such as objects, humans, and time.

Reprinted by permission of Natalya Krykova © 2012 Natalya Krykova

      "The South" raises the question of reality and perception and forces the reader to wonder what events actually occurred and what events were the result of imagination and dreams. In our Studio class we were assigned a project that depicted "The South" through a narrative image using shadows, which are visual metaphors that represent the intangible events of the story. The composition was created by using a flashlight to cast shadows of objects that were traced onto black paper in order to make silhouettes. After all of the "shadows" were prepared, they were arranged and glued onto the white paper. We could also include a quote from the story in order to further demonstrate how the story and the image were interrelated.

     The composition I created is my interpretation of "The South." It consists of many important aspects of the story as seen from my perspective. In this project there is a railroad, a front and a back of a train, two open windows, a house, a man holding a dagger, a cat holding on to the man's right leg, a gaucho on a horse holding a lasso that is wrapped around the man's left foot, and twelve thin lines radiating from the center that divide the entire picture into equal portions.

     This narrative image is a product of my inspiration from a quote in the story: "he and the cat were separated as though by a pane of glass, because man lives in time, in successiveness, while the magical animal lives in the present, in the eternity of the instant" (176). I decided to split this quote into three parts: "he and the cat were separated as though by a pane of glass" begins in the middle of one window and continues through the other window; "man lives in time, in successiveness" is on the bottom of the paper; and "the magical animal lives in the present, in the eternity of the instant" is on the top of the paper.

     The two windows, which are open in opposite directions, represent one of Borges's predominant themes: time. One of the windows is open towards the viewer, representing the entrance to the dream world and to the past. The window that is open away from the viewer represents the entrance to reality and the present. Both windows are positioned on the line in the middle of the railroad. This line divides the composition into two major portions: the top half, which signifies the present, reality, and chronological time, and the bottom half, which signifies the dream, the past, and psychological time. This division directly correlates to Borges's story, in which the line between reality and the dream is blurred.

     The man with the dagger is Dahlmann, and he is walking forward, with each foot on a different side of the line. The cat holding onto Dahlmann's foot is pulling him into the present of the sanatorium. The gaucho, which is a symbol of the South, is pulling Dahlmann's other foot with his lasso towards the past, another part of Dahlmann's dream. The lasso is the only part of the composition that is not flat, indicating that some dreams can appear to be more dimensional, tangible, and realistic than reality itself. On the bottom right corner of the composition is a house, which represents Dahlmann's home that he was so eager to reach.

     The train is a prominent symbol of time in "The South." The front portion of the train is on the left side of the composition and the back of the train is on the right side of the composition. This depicts chronological time, which never stops, just as trains continue to move forward, one after the other. The twelve lines that radiate from the center and divide the paper into equal portions emphasize the symmetry that dominates the story. They also resemble the divisions within a clock. This clock literally represents the theme of time, which can be both psychological and chronological to every human. The project is a visual representation of my interpretation of "The South." I was deeply moved by the aspects of reality, perception, and time within the story. "The South" became more personal when I was physically creating the visual narrative; the story became part of me and I became part of the story. I was very thankful for this art project, which allowed me to express my thoughts, feelings, and ideas about the story in a visual form.