Thomas King Borders

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.

The mother in “Borders” by Thomas King reveals her pride and courage for her identity as she crosses the border to visit her daughter Laetitia in Salt Lake City. Challenges like self-identity are faced every step of the way, but it a person with pride and bravery who accepts it gladly. This is best demonstrated by King and his use of conflict, repetition and literary devices.

“Borders”, by Thomas King, takes place at the Canadian - American border. The main character is a mother who is Blackfoot. The mother refuses to identify herself as either Canadian or American; instead, the mother insists that she is Blackfoot, and because of this she and her twelve-year-old son have to stay in amidst the border offices of Canada and the United States. The title of this short story, “Borders” indicates two borders; one is the physical border amid Canada and the United States and the other is a metaphorical border between someone’s identity and citizenship. In Thomas King’s “Borders” The story shows proudness of citizenship and it portrays where you are from is a huge part of who you are. The three arguments that I will argue to prove this thesis is that the mother is proud that she is a Blackfoot, It is rare and improbable for a young women to leave the reserve, and that the mother dislikes the Americans because she was proud of her own people.

King illustrates that when the mother is questioned about her citizenship she replies ‘Blackfoot (King, 137)’. The mother regards her Blackfoot citizenship as superior her ancestors are the founding fathers of this nation. According to the Canadian Mandate “we are a nation which strongly believes in the principles behind multiculturalism and equity for all citizens.” For immigrants in Canada they are willing to give up their prior citizenship in order to be a Canadian citizen. However the mother in the story repeatedly points out the fact that being a Canadian citizen is of no value to her. The mother should not be categorized in the mandate due to her direct ties to the land. Carry Dawson confirms that for Aboriginals, loyalty to land is of greater importance than that of being a Canadian citizen. In her literary study entitled “An Indian Without a Country” at Dalhousie University she argues that for Aboriginals loyalty cannot be held equivalent at a higher status than being a Canadian citizen. Loyalty cannot be held equivalent because it “obviates the history of people with communal identities and land.” Through the use of the physical border King communicates denying the mother access from crossing the border as a metaphor for undermining Aboriginals mobility and movement.

Parents often say, “Listen to your elders.” This cliché can make some people apathetic, but when looking back, most appreciate the wisdom of their elders. The knowledge imparted to children is crucial for their ability to understand and improve the world. In XIV by Derek Walcott, the speaker uses imagery, metaphor, and other literary devices to convey the storyteller’s significance to his life.

When readers read a story written by an author they will usually think that the author likes to read books and is what led the author to writing a book. William Goldman said, “As a child, I had no Interest in reading” (Goldman 3), this can lead readers to imagining the author as a young child rather than an adult not wanting to read a book. When Readers imagine the author as a young child the image imagined can give a better sense of how the author felt as a young child. The imagination of a child giving the reader a picture to think about is less complex than that of a adult giving a reader a picture to think about.

An individual’s search for identity is fuelled by a need to find a place in the world where we belong, thus not belonging consequently leas to a feeling of alienation and isolation. This notion is explored through May’s journey seeking to connect with her racial heritage, her idea of understanding and acceptance. The old man Graham, May encounters at the mission expresses an Aboriginal perspective on the contemporary relationship between the two societies. “no one to talk about it. And they die, kill em selves, than those governments just put another numba, nother cross in they list. They still trying to do it, kill us of, tell us that its always been they plan.” They hybrid vernacular communicates the hatred through the ethnolect strongly marked by the non –standard features of the pronouns in “they list,” “they plan.” Graham’s diatribe reflects him as an individual demonstrating the marginalisation of the minority groups. Similarly, Armin Greder’s picture book The island demonstrates the notion concerning the duality of belonging with its inherit prejudices and xenophobic attitudes expresses the majority’s deliberate exclusion of ‘the other’ outside

In “Borders” by Thomas King, the story portrays identity as something very valuable. The title of this short story, “Borders” indicates two borders; one of them is a physical border and the other is a metaphorical border. The physical border is the obvious physical border amid Canada and the United States, while the other is a metaphorical border between someone's identity and citizenship, The mother immensely proud of her blackfoot heritage, furthermore she displays makeship nationalistic views. It is rare and improbable for a young woman to leave the reserve, which suggests that blackfoot people do not hate or despise living their. Accordingly they have no aspirations to move out. The mother feels strongly against America and would not betray her own identity by identifying as an American or a Canadian. In Thomas King’s “Borders”, the story shows proudness of citizenship and it portrays where you are from is a key piece of who you are and your identity.

Your Citizenship please? At a point in time, people encounter this question when you are about to cross the border into a different country, whether it is by car, train or plane. It questions one’s identity as to who they are. Most people answer with the current country they live in but does one ever answer with the country that they were from? “Borders” by Thomas King, is an intriguing story about a mother that has pride in her culture and values where she comes from. Along with her two kids, she resides in a native community. The mother has to declare her citizenship at the border, where she persistently presents herself as “Blackfoot.” The story, “Borders”, illustrates how difficult it is for Aboriginals to maintain their cultural

Ever analyzed a picture book before? The colors, shapes, and underlying message on every inch of the page create a story. A story that makes your brain tick and contemplate what exactly you’re looking at. These things are significant to the constant development of a human being, but the specifically to a child.

The author depicts the differences between how the child understands the story. A child that consciously views the story knows and could tell about the real meaning or hidden message of the story while a child that unconsciously views the narration could not tell about what happened in the story because they do not grasp the full message intended to be taken away from the

In the short story Borders by Thomas King there is a predicament with First Nations identity while attempting to cross Canadian and US borders. These problems can relate with an article by Brian Kolva titled "Lacrosse Players, Not Terrorists: The Effects of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on Native American International Travel and Sovereignty". In this article there is the same identity predicaments occurring as found in Borders. These two readings are similar when displaying the issues First Nations people face when addressing “who they are” because of policies put in place by government that do not include everyone’s personal identity. The governments of the world need to be aware of these many different identities and policies must change for the inclusion of all people.

At the beginning of the story, the author gives us the feeling that a child is narrating this story. She also shows that the child, Sylvia, is at

There is a growing of ethnic groups from non-European societies, who can meet Canadian economic development in term of their level of education, occupational skills and languages. Those ethnic groups are called immigrants because they are neither indigenous nor colonist settlers but are accepted through Canada’s immigration policy (Banting 2010). Even though diverse cultures and differences of minorities were recognized and celebrated within the bilingual framework during the multiculturalism policy of the 1970s, their full equal participations are still excluded from the mainstream society (Leung 2012).

Exploring the themes of identity and immigration, this essay will focus on one short story and two case studies. Caterina Edwards’ Island of the Nightingales, follows Teresa Pomoronzola, a second-generation Italian immigrant living in Edmonton, who is sent to her mother’s homeland, the island of Lussino, in order to think clearly and gain perspective. Primarily, Teresa faces the internal conflict of choosing between her two lovers, yet she is also conflicted about her identity. Through the juxtaposition of divergent lifestyles and cultural values, Edwards’ Island of the Nightingales, suggests that a second-generation immigrant’s return to their family’s homeland is the ideal method for reconciling a conflicted identity and effectively understanding one’s background.