Borges’ story “The South” is difficult to understand upon first glance. After reading it, I honestly did not grasp its meaning or the message it was attempting to transmit. I needed to read it a second time in order to pick up on more details, but I also needed to inquire more about the author and the cultural context in which this story was written. Borges is an Argentinian writer and given that Juan, the protagonist, is also an Argentinian national (born and raised in Buenos Aires, although a man of German descent), there seems to be an important reflection about Argentinian culture and identity. Furthermore, I believe Borges was inspired to write this story after his near death experience. It seems that something from his personal experience triggered in him a need to tell this story. The story begins with Juan rushing home to open and read his copy of Arabian Nights when he suffers a head injury. His experience in the hospital is described as a very negative experience, even comparing it to hell. Nurses are strapping him to the bed and shaving his head. Juan did not want to die this way and in the process, travels in his mind to the south of Argentina (in the countryside). This moment of travel in the story is very significant; Juan is drawn to the countryside for a reason that is not immediately clear to the reader. Is there something special in the south that Juan must experience before death? There is a sharp contrast in setting between the scene described in the hospital (hell) and the scene described in the countryside (peace and tranquility, heaven-like). This symbolic contrast emphasizes Juan’s deep affinity to the countryside as opposed to the city. When in the countryside, Juan goes to a bar where he meets two gauchos. I had no idea what this was, but Wikipedia tells me that they are a very important symbol of Argentinian nationalism and culture. Juan gets into a fight with one of them and after being challenged to a “knife dual” outside, he accepts the challenge despite knowing that he will not be able to survive. But death here is defined as liberation. For Juan, “this is the death he would have dreamed or chosen”. Although I am not familiar with Argentinian culture, it appears to me that Juan’s praiseful representation of the south and his pejorative depiction of the city is not at all what one would expect. It is generally Buenos Aires that is considered as being an emblem of Argentinian culture and the south as being uncivilized (this makes me think of Williams’ “Culture is Ordinary”). Only Buenos Aires seems to be associated with Argentinian culture, but as Juan’s journey illustrates, culture is ordinary. Death ironically liberates him from a culturally constructed identity. Although gauchos were once viewed negatively, they are regarded very highly in Argentinian culture today (googling “gauchos” tells me this). The fact that Juan must symbolically retreat where the gauchos are as a way to liberate himself suggests that one must recognize his or her past/origins to move forward in the present and construct a culturally stable identity. Perhaps it is in the countryside where lie the origins of Juan’s true identity and not between the pages of the Arabian Nights.