Jorge Luis Borges "The Other Duel"

Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Other Duel” was slightly difficult for me when it came to fully understanding the meaning of the story. However, I did find it quite interesting that Borges mentioned La Serviliana, a woman, but gives the reader only a quick glimpse of who she is. Although La Serviliana holds only a short mention in the story, she is a significant character whom the reader catches an interest for. The woman is not treated with much respect by Cardoso and Silveira and is almost thrown around from one man to the other until both get weary of the woman. “…Cardoso spent one night with her and sent her off at noon. He didn’t want the other man’s left-overs” (141). La Serviliana was treated as an object, rather than a woman. Her existence in the story is questionable, but what is even more questionable is why Borges chose to take her presence ever so lightly instead of developing her character and telling the reader more about her background.
What happens to La Serviliana at the end of the story barely made any difference because it did not matter to the story’s meaning. It seems that La Serviliana was used for the sake of the plot and not to introduce her as a potential well developed character. This may go back to and have reference with the way women were treated during the period of Borges’s lifetime in South America. Women were used for their natural instincts of child bearing and household responsibilities. La Serviliana’s mention in the story was dealt with in a sexual manner and humiliated her as a woman. Whether it was necessary or not for the dishonor of a woman to be mentioned in the story remains unanswered in my mind. However, I do believe she plays a vital role in describing what type of men Cardoso and Silveira were. La Serviliana holds the answers to the men’s machismo approaches.