"He walked toward the sheets of flame. They did not bite his flesh, they caressed him and flooded him without beat or combustion. With relief, with humiliation, with terror, he understood that he also was an illusion, that someone else was dreaming him."
The Circular Ruins, Jorge Luis Borges, 63
Talk about a "Sixth Sense" moment! While reading this story, I honestly didn't see that one coming! This story was well written in my opinion, in that the reader is concentrating on others things during the whole story. Suddenly, in the last line of the story, the reader understands a different dimension.
I compare this story to "The Sixth Sense" because the storyline is about the same. In the movie, we get to know the characters and their stories. Bruce Willis' character has his own problems in life with with wife. He is also trying to help solve the problems of the young boy who can see dead people. As the movie progresses, Willis gets very caught up in figuring out the boy's problem and fixing his own situation. At the end of the film, we find out that Willis is actually dead. That is the reason his wife won't talk to him, and the reason the boy can see him. Sorry for the spoiler, but this short story and the movie end very similarly.
I think this is the ultimate talent of writers and film makers. When they can properly twist the end of the story to make the entire thing seem different, you can't read it the same a second time. The Circular Ruins is especially strange, because it instantly makes you wonder if you are someone else's dream too. While you know that it isn't possible, suddenly you begin to think about the possibility. If that were the case, who would I dream up? What kind of person dreamed me into existence?
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