Summary Of Borders By Thomas King

“Borders”, written by Thomas King, is a playful story told through the eyes of a child that is actually a spotlight on the serious issues of identity and the conflict within immigrants and their citizenship. With the story revolving around the child’s mother refusing to identify as American or Canadian but instead as Blackfoot when trying to cross the border is a fight against society. The title of story is made obvious, although it fits, King titled the story as such not because of the geographic border, but really the border between how a person identifies with their culture and their citizenship. The conflict against society is analytically dark but is made lighthearted as King presents it through the eyes of a child. With the story being told in first person by the child, events are described through the lens of

Politically, borders are essentially just made up lines that separate land hat were drawn long before any living persons birth, these same made up lines are the ones placed within people. Borders within a person are the separation of culture and the demands society has in place, the same society that took away land from Native American Indian tribes and forces them to later oblige to their rules. When these rules are broken, as displayed with the mother in this story it comes off as unnecessary and a bit extreme, however, its quite the opposite as for all that has happened against Native Americans and the unfair treatment to destroy their way of life many years ago, an individual ignoring the same society that put their culture through hell is a respectable cause to admire and follow. Rebellion against the system put in place now, such as ignoring citizenship is a brave miracle that doesn’t happen as often as it should. King masterfully evokes this emotion of sympathizing with the family and their Indian