Reader Response Analysis of Borges

Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Circular Ruins is often read as a meditation on reality, illusion, and the nature of creation. However, through the lens of Reader-Response Theory, the meaning of the story becomes deeply personal—formed not solely by Borges’ intent, but by how the text interacts with the reader’s beliefs and experiences. For me, this story resonates profoundly with my spiritual belief that the soul is eternal and that after death, it transcends this earthly plane and moves to a higher state of being. Through that perspective, the story becomes not a tale of existential dread, but one of comfort, transformation, and divine continuity.

In the story, a mysterious man arrives at the ruins of an ancient temple to dream a person into existence. After years of focused effort, meditation, and spiritual discipline, he succeeds in creating a being so real that even the gods are convinced. The man believes he has achieved a unique and powerful act of creation—until he learns, near the end, that he too is not real. He is also the product of another’s dream. This revelation, which might be interpreted by some readers as terrifying or destabilizing, felt to me like a moment of deep truth.

Rather than viewing the man’s discovery as a loss of identity, I see it as a moment of spiritual awakening. If the soul cannot be destroyed, only transformed—if we pass from one form of being to another—then the circular pattern Borges presents is a metaphor for the soul’s journey. In this view, each act of dreaming is a divine creation, and each layer of existence builds upon the last. The dreamer is dreamed, and the dreamed may one day become a dreamer. The soul moves through each stage, growing, evolving, transcending.

Reader-Response Theory supports this interpretation by asserting that literature is a shared space between the author and the reader. Meaning is not dictated by the text alone, but is brought to life by the reader’s worldview. Because I believe in the soul’s transcendence—that death is not an end, but a passage—Borges’ story takes on a hopeful, even sacred tone. The moment when the protagonist walks through fire and is unharmed becomes symbolic of spiritual purity and liberation. Fire, in many traditions, is a symbol of cleansing and transition. It burns away illusion, revealing the eternal truth beneath.

The circular structure of the story also reflects the cyclical nature of existence. Just as seasons return, just as life and death follow one another, the dream within a dream suggests that creation is ongoing. The story becomes not a closed loop, but an open, eternal spiral of becoming. This comforts me deeply: the idea that nothing is ever truly lost, that each soul carries within it the memory of past forms and the potential for new ones. Borges does not name this force, but to me, it resembles the divine—a quiet presence that sustains all things through infinite transformation.

Ultimately, my experience of The Circular Ruins is shaped by my belief in a higher order of existence, where the soul journeys through many layers of being, never ending but always changing. Borges’ tale affirms that belief, whether intentionally or not. It reminds me that we are all both creators and creations, dreamers and dreamed, and that there is beauty and peace in that cycle. Through this story, I don’t just read a philosophical puzzle—I see a reflection of my own faith, one that offers comfort in the face of life’s greatest mystery.

If any of you have read this short story, what do you think / how do you connect to it?