Summary Of Borders By Thomas King
Thomas King’s short story “Borders” explores the idea of pride and its power to strengthen the Indigenous identity through the erasure of physical borders. The protagonist’s mother teaches him that he should not have to abide by the physical borders of countries to be living on the land because something as deeply personal as one’s cultural identity is worth more than “a legal technicality” (King 292). Her disregard of the American-Canadian border grants the protagonist the knowledge that when they do not recognize the border, the border will not recognize them. Thomas learns this cultural pride by witnessing his mother's unapologetic display of her Blackfoot identity, discovering the power of resilience and media, and learning the stories of his family and people. These revelations show …show more content…
Her insistence that she is from the “Blackfoot side” (292) when asked which side of the border she is from proves this. The reader can identify irony in the idea that the protagonist and his mother would be able to cross the border with ease if she were to only claim her national citizenship. This reinforces the concept of pride that she is trying to teach her son because when she does not allow the border to alter her identity, she shows him the power of self-dignity. The protagonist’s idea of his own identity strengthens when he is told that his words “do not count” (292) after he states that he is both “Blackfoot and Canadian” (292). He identifies as both, yet his mother’s unshakable identity as only Blackfoot teaches him that he does not “have to be American or Canadian” (293), but can be something else entirely and independently. This newfound knowledge gives Thomas the power to not acknowledge the metaphorical border between him and his Blackfoot identity and to recognize that the separation a border creates does not have to have an effect on
Analysis Of Iroquois Defeated By Passport Dispute, By Thomas Kaplan
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Summary Of Borders By Thomas King
268 Words | 2 PagesThomas King’s short story, “Borders”, uses moral structure to get across his point of being proud of your heritage. In the beginning of the story, the main character and his mother, who is a dedicated Blackfoot, prepare to cross the US border to Salt Lake City. As they were preparing for the trip, the main character states, “I had to dress up too, for my mother did not want us crossing the border looking like Americans.” In this quote, not only does it tell us the actions committed by the mother, but also her moral stature that is compelling her to dress differently; she takes pride in their aboriginal background by making it clear to everyone that their heritage is not American, but Blackfoot. Later in the story, the mother’s moral is shown
Summary Of Borders By Thomas King
588 Words | 3 PagesIdentity and identification plays a key part in one’s life, it portrays their true self by their beliefs and their mindset towards different situations in life. In the short story “Borders” by Thomas King, the author tells the reader a key message, through the mother in this story, about how identity plays a key role in situations in life where there are major societal barriers due to your identification or nationality. The mother demonstrates this greater message in this story because, due to her determination and strong will power, she is able to overcome a societal barrier where her nationality is shunned by the public by being non existent or fake. A key event that portrays the theme in this story is the first meeting with the border agency. An example from the story is when the guard asks: “Canadian side or American side?”
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Summary Of Borders By Thomas King
769 Words | 4 PagesIn "Borders" by Thomas King, there are multiple levels of storytelling as the narrator tells both a primary and secondary story simultaneously, and in doing this, the narrator is able to use the secondary story to establish themes and a background for the primary story in a way that makes the story flow in an interesting and engaging way. King's choice of narrator also impacts the way a story based on serious cultural disputes can be told in a light an unbiased way, through the eyes of a young boy. These choices contribute to an interesting flow of reading and an intriguing unbiased report of politically charged events. The authors choice of narrator can influence the flow of the story and what message is expressed, which makes the young, clueless, innocent boy an interesting conduit to tell a story based on cultural and racial divides.
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847 Words | 4 PagesDays of Theft, Days of Restoration Attempts to assimilate Native Americans and destroy their culture are a recurrence throughout the history of the United States. Chris Hedges' main argument in the first chapter of his book Days of Destruction Days of Revolt is that, for Native Americans, reconnecting with the culture that was forcibly stolen from them, in this case Lakota culture, could be immensely healing and restorative. He proves his argument with the specific examples of Verlyn Long Wolf, Michael Red Cloud, Leonard Crow Dog, and Duane Brewer. Hedges uses the stories of these people to show how restorative it is to reconnect with the culture that was stolen from them.
Morality In The Short Story 'Borders' By Thomas King
492 Words | 2 PagesThe border sentinel’s sympathy displays the desire to form an agreement, however is unable to, by way of strict security enforced by her superior. At the same time, the mother is fully aware, yet holds no qualms of the benefit she is actively taking away from not just the workers, but her own children, seen during a stay overnight “The car was not very comfortable” (7) and that “The second night in the car was not as much fun as the first, but my mother seemed in good spirits” (7). The mother being happy in this unvaried situation alludes to the notion that this effort was placed in hopes of enjoyable means rather than a moral end, in summary, to supply herself of gratification while under a guise of righteousness. The mother willfully ignores the decline of her culture’s influence, and continues to inconvenience for the purpose of maintaining her identity. Dissimilar to the patterns present in modern day society [1], the mother continues to fight for the preservation of Blackfoot living standards.
Summary Of Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road
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Analysis Of Gloria Anzaldua's Poem Borderlands
1143 Words | 5 PagesCRA: Anzaldua Borderlands In her poem “Borderlands,” Gloria Anzaldua strategically exposes readers to the true form of the Borderlands region as she conveys the internal incongruity that is rife with this state. As she characterizes the nature of the Borderlands, extending the idea of the Borderlands from a geographical region to an extensive social phenomenon, Anzaldua emulates an experience that is shared by many; conquered by fear. Anzaldua cogently employs the use of distinct structural elements within her poem as a form of illustrative depiction in order to express to readers the strenuous relationship between the inhabitants and their environment.
Identity And Identity In Thomas King's Short Story 'Borders'
608 Words | 3 PagesIn Thomas King’s short story, “Borders”, he writes about the Canada-America border. Within the short story, the main character refuses to identify her citizenship even though she is from Blackfoot. Even though the story is being told through the young boy’s point of view, the main issue focuses on another character, the mother. When approached by guards on the border, the mother insists that she is a Blackfoot, which causes issues because her son is a minor and must stay on the Canadian side of the border.
Kimberle Crenshaw Idea Of Intersectionality
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What Is The Theme Of Borders By Thomas King
608 Words | 3 PagesHe supports the mother’s decision to remain loyal to her culture by refusing to identify herself as Canadian or American. Mel understands the importance of culture and identity, and this understanding leads him to support the mother in her stance. He even goes further to use his connections to help the mother and her son cross the border without identifying themselves as Canadian or American. Mel’s supportiveness towards the mother’s culture and identity helps the reader to appreciate the importance of cultural identity and how it affects the characters in the
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