A story is told of a few Irish rebels. While plotting their newest campaign, the leader of the rebels is killed by one of his subordinates—one of his most trusted fellow rebels. Consequently, another one his friends tried to give him a message of his pending doom, but the message was ill received. Borges notes that the careful reader will notice the similarity between this story and that of Julius Ceasar. This is no coincidence. In fact, every event is history has its parallel in literature, and vice versa. All of history is simply a combination of repeating themes; in this case the theme of the traitor and the hero. What we perceive as free will is nothing of the sort; we are all just characters acting out one or more predetermined themes.
Other Stories With Theme of Undefined Reality
The Circular Ruins
(Full Text)
The Circular Ruins (Summary)
The Immortal (Summary)
The Library of Babel (Full Text)
The Library of Babel (Summary)
The Lottery of Babylon (Summary)
The Secret Miracle
(Summary)
The Waiting (Summary)