On a most basic level, "Emma Zunz" has been classified as a "cuento policíaco" in which a young and innocent girl plans and carries out a "perfect" crime of murder in order to avenge her father's death. Its most obvious theme, therefore, is vengeance…. (p. 100)

[There] has been a tendency to consider "Emma Zunz" a typically Borgesian metaphor in which characterization is, to a degree, subordinated to the fictionalization of an abstract concept….

A natural consequence of such a view is the ignoring of the basic ambiguity in Emma's motivation and its thematic implications. Although it is generally assumed that the protagonist acts out of a desire to seek retribution for Loewenthal's part in her father's death, it has been hypothesized that "Loewenthal probably dies without knowing why Emma killed him, but then there is no one single, exact explanation as to why she did…." [A] solution...