One of Jorge Luis Borges' most famous works is Ficciones, a collection of short stories. Borges' writing style is classified as Borgesian. His works are classified as Borgesian because they are unique to him, no other author writes like Borges, although some may be similar. His stories always incorporate motifs, such as symbols and metaphors, that engage the audience and give substance to the story. “The South” and “The Secret Miracle” are both two stories in Ficciones that have a significant amount of motifs. The three most common motifs that can be found in these stories are: metaphors, the idea of ​​the beginning and the symbolism of life as a dream. Borges incorporates these devices to give the stories a deeper meaning and give the reader insight into his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "The Secret Miracle" is a short story about a Jewish gentleman who is an earl and must prepare for his execution by firing squad. Even though he is about to die, his main concern is finishing his novel Enemies, as it will be the last literary work by which he will be judged. This story can be perceived as a metaphor for how Borges felt during this time. The metaphor is that Borges felt as if time had run out and he still had in mind all these great works that he had to finish. The metaphor is shown in how Hladik is worried about how to finish The Enemies in a few days and how he tries to figure out how to get more time. Luckily God grants it to him this time. A symbol used in this story is life as a dream, which is one of Borges' famous motifs. Throughout the story Hladik has moments where only he is aware of what is "really" happening and often these moments appear to be a dream. An example of this would be when Hladik is accompanied to the execution site and before he is executed time stops and only Hladik is aware of it (p. 148-149). Borges writes that Hladik was given a full year to finish his book, but to everyone else it seemed like only seconds. It's as if Hladik is dreaming or fantasizing about having this time while everyone else is living in reality. Hladik actually has the opportunity to realize his dream of finishing his book even though no one else will know because it was all in his head. This aligns with the idea of ​​fantasy versus reality, how can the audience perceive what is real and what is fake? Is Hladik really obvious this time or not? This is another important motif in Borges' works. Time often walks a fine line between what is real and what is not. This is also related to the beginning in dreams. Hladik is given time to work on The Enemies in a dream, so how can the audience be sure it's real? “The South” is a short story about a man named Johannes Dahlmann, who suffers blood poisoning due to an injury and is sent to the hospital. After he gets to the hospital and gets help, the story starts to get interesting because the audience has to decide between two endings, either he dies in the hospital or in a knife fight. Dahlmann is Argentinian, but he has lost touch with his roots and longs to go to his grandfather's ranch to get back in touch with his culture. This would be another metaphor for Borges' feelings similar to that of "The Secret Miracle". Borges felt the same way about Dahlmann as he went through life and eventually reconnected with his culture. Borges often alludes to events in his life through his characters. Another motif Borges uses in this story is fantasy versus reality and he does.