Borders By Thomas King

In the boiling pot of America most people have been asked “what are you?” when referring to one’s race or nationality. In the short story “Borders” by Thomas King he explores one of the many difficulties of living in a world that was stripped from his race. In a country that is as diverse as North America, culture and self-identity are hard to maintain. King’s short story “Borders” deals with a conflict that I have come to know well of. The mother in “Borders” is just in preserving her race and the background of her people. The mother manages to maintain her identity that many people lose from environmental pressure.

As a result of refusing to give her citizenship, the mother is stuck between the borders. The narrator observes how "I told Stella that we were Blackfoot and Canadian, but she said that didn't count because I was a minor. In the end, she told us that if my mother didn't;t declare her

King was born in 8September 1807 in Chesterfield District, NC. King was born by mixed race parents; he had African, European and Catawba descent (Nease). King learned to read and write at a small age. Even from a small age, King believed in education and the fact that education could improve his life. Hence, because he could not access formal education, he used every opportunity to learn. During his teenage years, King became a proficient carpenter and a mechanic through apprentice. After he learned carpentry and mechanics, he ventured into bridge construction.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947. When King was two years old, his father left home and never returned. , leaving him to be raised by his mother. The family moved around to Wisconsin, Indiana, and Connecticut before returning to Maine so his mother could care for her parents.

The mother carries her pride for her family, culture and her heritage. When Laetitia and her mother are saying their good byes at the border, her mother tries one last time to remind her about the reserve and how you would not need to go anywhere else when you have everything on the reserve but also the different languages that were spoken in this phrase. “You can still see the mountains from here”, my mother told Laetitia in Blackfoot. “Lots of mountains in Salt Lake,” Laetitia told her in English.” Here the mother is speaking in her native tongue, while Laetitia is just talking in English, another example of how the mother brings about her culture. The mother identifies herself as Blackfoot as she keeps going back and forth to the borders. She clearly refuses to adopt the nationality of either a Canadian or an American, rather claiming on her Blackfoot status as a person who belongs in both countries. The mother seems to defy the border officials also as a lesson to teach her son about her Blackfoot identity and values. Her son is the one who is travelling along with her and is also the main narrator in the story. During their ‘standoff’ periods in the nightfall of the story, the mother takes the time to tell him Blackfoot tales of the Coyotes as they study the patterns of the stars. (King, 144) The mother is a cautious story teller and after she is allowed to continue her

For yet another third period, I walked through the faded pink door into the fluorescent-lit room. I walked along the back wall, past the poster of the “Pledge of Allegiance” spelled out with license plates. I sat down in my seat. This would be my first of two periods in a row with Mrs. Sorenson, the quirky history/English teacher who would bring out her fiddle and sing songs based on the unit of U.S. history we were working on. This day, Mrs. Sorenson wasn’t singing any songs. There weren’t many songs she knew about the Trail of Tears. She reminded us about how the American Indians had owned the land before the Europeans came and how the new settlers wanted to keep the natural resources found in the

Faced with a sudden and forced eviction from the very land, interactions with which embodies and defines one’s identity, tragic experiences of unwarranted deaths in one’s family due to hardships of travelling in the harshest of the weather with limiting resources, unforeseen conflicts arising due to cohesions with cultures different than one’s own, and annihilation of one’s sense of identity and culture resulting from the public education Cherokee community’s identity and memory undergoes cultural and psychological changes. “The Trail of tears”, ensued by the signing of the Indian Removal Act (1830) and Treaty of New Echota (1835) between the United States and a few “accultured” Cherokees, led to the subsequent loss of oneness with the world

In the short story, “Borders”, Thomas King describes the struggle of an Indigenous family trying to cross the Canada-American border to visit their daughter in Salt Lake City. Particularly, King characterizes the mother through dialogues with both U.S. and Canadian border guards and her behaviors at the borderland. For instance, the mother adheres her identity through the notion of neither identifying her citizenship as Canadian or American, but solely as a Blackfoot. King further explores the struggles of preserving the Blackfoot identity using the symbol of national borders; King describes the struggle as “…inherently unstable and elastic,… which it demarcates … [and is] also flexible and rooted in particular historical and cultural moments.”

In the beginning of the 1800’s Almost 125,000 Native Americans lived across millions of acres in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama,North Carolina, and Florida. In about ten years there were slim to no Native Americans remaining in the southeastern states. The government had been forcing these Native Americans to move across the Mississippi River to an assigned “Indian Territory”.The white men wanted this land because it had value to them, and it was desired as white settlers moved to the land. This difficult journey is now known as the trail of tears.

The entire Native American population’s journey from the eastern part of America to Western America is one that is over simplified and easily forgotten. This issue was brought up several times throughout the first three chapters. The trail of tears is a topic of discussion that so often buried in the history of Early America. However, it is arguably one of the most influential events to ever happen in America. I say this because as I read Living in the Land of Death it was evident that there was a passion, and despite the odds, there will to succeed that Choctaw people possessed. The cultures of the Choctaw people had to be defended and upheld because if they had not worked to preserve them, then in a world that did not want them they would have literally had

The book “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water” is told in three separate parts by three different generations of Native American women. The three women are similar to one another and their stories are connected. A granddaughter, a mother, and a grandmother’s story are connected because of the fact that one another. Michael Dorris informed the reader of the roles, duties, and rights of 20th century women.

Rodney Glen King was born on April 2, 1965 in Sacramento California. It was not too long before he and his family moved down south to Pasadena where they lived in a small suburban community on the northern eastern border of Los Angeles. His Father, Ronald, worked in the building industry and as a maintenance. Ronald, a heavy drinker, died at age 42. His mother Odessa, had four other children. His Aunt Angela said that his brothers were the troublemakers of the family. It is believed to be that her mother is still very religious and a passionate Jehovah witness.

A heartbreaking and controversial story that changed not just our history but greatly altered the very soul of our Native Indians.

In Portland, Maine, on September 21st, 1947, Stephen Edwin King was born to Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. Stephen and his older brother David (his only sibling) spent their time in either Connecticut or Indiana (as a result of their parents' divorce) until their mother moved them to Maine. There, he graduated from Lisbon Falls High School (1966) before attending the University of Maine. After graduating with

The story starts off with the author talking about the area he grew up in. The people did not interact and it left him wanting more from his life. He wanted something to happen that would force his community to come together. This lead him to walk to California. He begins by speaking about how Native American Society worked where if you earned your place. Everyone had a role and was treated as family. When Americans were taken in by them through capture or adoption, they didn’t want to leave. This was a shock to the Americans in society where the indians were seen as savages and brutes. Life seemed a lot easier on the American side, but their people were still willing to give it all up for a life with the natives. When the U.S. army went to