The Shape of the Sword (Short Story by Jorge Luis Borges)

 The Shape of the Sword

Jorge Luis Borges

To understand this story better, let’s get introduced to a few places on the world map.

Latin American countries: Places in and near the South American continent, which were colonies of Spain and Portugal. Even after the colonial period, they use Spanish or Portuguese languages. These two languages originated from Latin. Hence, these countries are called Latin American countries.

Argentina: A Latin American country, where our author was born.

Uruguay: A Latin American country near Argentina. Our story starts from here.

Brazil: The largest Latin American country.

England: A country which is part of the British Isles, a group of islands on the west of the European continent.

Ireland: Another country in the British Isles. Part of our story happens here.

The Irish War of Independence

In 1801, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom, which also had England, Scotland and Wales in it. Later, the Irish Republicans tried to break away from the Union. This resulted in the Irish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921. Even after the war ended, there were occasional fights which spread into 1922.

The Author

Jorge Luis Borges (pronounced HOR-hay LWEES BHOR-hays) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on August 24, 1899. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Palermo, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires. In those days, the place was known for its loose and criminal background, and the author grew up amidst stories of knife-fights and violence – images which were to find reflections in his writings. His father was a lawyer and a psychology teacher whose personal beliefs were founded in anarchy. His mother was descended from a long line of soldiers and freedom fighters; her own mother had furnished their home with family artifacts such as swords, uniforms, and portraits of great freedom fighters. 

Translation

Borges wrote the story in Spanish language. The English translation for us is by Andrew Hurley.

Characters

The story has three main characters. There is the narrator, who is Borges himself. (This is made clear towards the end of the story when a character addresses the narrator: “To you alone, Borges … I have made this confession”.) Then we have “the Englishman at La Colorada”, who is actually an Irishman. The third person, John Vincent Moon, is introduced to us through the story told to the narrator.

The Story Design

The story happens in two places. We have a description first, by Borges, who speaks of another person: the Englishman at La Colorada. One day, while talking, Borges asks him of the scar on his face. This brings out from him a story that happens in Ireland. Through this story we are introduced to John Vincent Moon.

The Story

The story opens in Uruguay. The narrator was on a trip, when he was forced to spend the night at La Colorada, in Tacuarembo. La Colorada belonged to a person named Cardoso. He had sold it to a person who is now known just as “the Englishman at La Colorada”. There is a vicious scar that crossed his face, from his temple on one side to his cheek on the other.

The narrator soon understands that the other person is not from England, but from Ireland. Both the men sit together for hours drinking. Then, the narrator asks the Irishman about the scar. The question was not well received at first, but later the Irishman agrees to tell the narrator the story of the scar on the condition that the listener will not hide any contempt that develops in his mind, or try to lessen his feelings of a wrong doing.

Thus we listen to the story, which takes place in Connaught, Ireland, in 1922. Most people there were Republicans and Catholics. The Civil War is not yet fully over. The Irishman belonged to a group that was fighting for the full liberation of Ireland from England.

One evening, a man came to visit the Irishman, who joined the group to fight for Ireland’s freedom. He was from Munster, and his name was John Vincent Moon, who was an arrogant, inexperienced young man who always spoke in full support of the Marxist theory.

Later that evening, both the men were walking along the city streets, when a sudden exchange of gunfire shocked them. A soldier ran towards them, shouting them to stop. The Irishman tried to run, but saw that Moon was not following him. Instead, he was standing there paralyzed with fear. So he turned back to rescue Moon, and had to strike down the soldier. While running, a bullet grazed the shoulder of Moon.

Both of them come to a deserted country house that belonged to a general, and the Irishman helps Moon by making him tea and dressing his wound. The next day, when he told Moon that he should join in the fighting, Moon complained of a fever and pain in the shoulder. Realizing that Moon was a coward, the Irishman went out alone. This went on for nine days, when the Irishman will go out in the morning to join his friends in the fight, and return late evening.

On the tenth day, when the Irishman returned to the house, he heard Vincent Moon on the telephone, leaking out information about him to the police. In his rage, he chased Moon through the house, and finally was able to corner him and mark a moon-shaped scar on his face with a scimitar just before the police reached there and captured the Irishman.

Borges asks him about what had happened to Moon. He is told that Moon got his reward for betraying his friend, and with that he ran off to Brazil (a Latin American country).

Borges asks him to go on and complete the story. The Irishman shocks him with his reply. He tells Borges that he told the story in this particular way so that the whole story can be told. The fact is that he, the Irishman, is Vincent Moon who had betrayed his friend. Now that he has told the story in full, he feels that Borges will despise him.

To Conclude...

Here is a story with a mysterious tone and a surprising ending. The title, “The Shape of the Sword” connects the attack upon Vincent Moon, with the scimitar. The scar on his face resembles the shape of this sword. The story is a confession, but just before the ending note, we listen to it as a tale told by a person who was cheated. Only at the end we sense the emotions of guilt and pain in Vincent Moon, for having betrayed a person who had saved his life.

 Prepared by Jacob Eapen Kunnath