This semester I read slightly mystifying pieces of Gothic literature: “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garica Marquez. These two stories are undoubtedly Gothic in nature as they share Gothic elements that can be easily identifiable as Gothic fiction.

In “The House of Asterion”, the Gothic elements featured are mysterious people, the dream/death, and dark spaces. This is prevalent when the main character, Asterion, who is revealed to be a minotaur, can be easily seen as mysterious as his perception of himself and society are very cryptic and vague. He acts more intelligent than he is, although he displays a rather childlike personality. His cryptic personality also ties into where Asterion lives, as Asterion himself seems to be confused as to where he lives, as it is also revealed that he lives in a labyrinth, constantly traversing his maze-like citadel waiting for anyone to appear. With that said, his personality also tie in to the plot points: when people actually do appear in the labyrinth to confront Asterion. Asterion’s dream is to confront his redeemer (i.e. the person who will kill him). This ties into the Gothic element of death as the people who enter, in which one of them he hopes to be his redeemer, all try to confront Asterion only to be impaled by Asterion’s horns and killed.

In “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”, the Gothic elements featured in that story are mysterious people, the trap/the escape, and bleak/stormy settings. With this story centered around a mysterious, sickly old man with rotting, decrepit wings who arrives at a village and is locked in a cage and exploited/ treated like a pariah for Pelayo’s financial gain. From the mysterious old man’s perspective from being locked in a cage, it possesses the Gothic elements of the trap, and his inevitable departure acts as the escape.