In the short story “Borders” by: Thomas King the main character, who is the mother of a Blackfoot family living in Standoff, Alberta, will not directly identify her citizenship as Canadian or American at the borders One day, the mother decided that she and her son would go to visit the boy's sister, Laetitia, who had moved to Salt Lake City when she was seventeen years old. When the boy and his mother were asked their citizenship at the American border the mother answered “Blackfoot”. The guard told the mother that she had to be either American or Canadian but she just kept answering that she was Blackfoot. After many hours spent talking to guards at the American border the mother was told that if she does not tell them her citizenship then
…show more content…
“People in Salt Lake City are probably sending away for brochures of Calgary and Lethbridge and Pincher Creek right now”(King 191) the mother said while Laetitia was looking through the brochures she got from Salt Lake City. This quote shows that the mother is trying to show Laetitia that where they live is also full of wonderful attractions. Also, the mother is trying to make Laetitia realize that she only finds Salt Lake City exciting because she has never been there so it's all new to her. The mother thinks that Canada has everything America has plus more so the mother is trying to make Laetitia realize that America is no better than Canada. Another example that proves that the mother favorites Canada would be when her and her son were in Salt Lake City visiting Laetitia. “We got to go shopping in a couple of large malls, but they weren't as large as the one in Edmonton, and Mom said so”(King194) the son, who is also the narrator in the story, says which shows that the mother is snobby toward America and always has something she finds better in Canada to try and top whatever America has. Every time someone says something nice about America the Mother always has a rude way of contradicting it or stating that Canada is better. This definitely proves that the mother thinks of herself as Canadian rather than
“People in Salt Lake City are probably sending away for brochures of Calgary and Lethbridge and Pincher Creek right now”(King 191) the mother said while Laetitia was looking through the brochures she got from Salt Lake City. This quote shows that the mother is trying to show Laetitia that where they live is also full of wonderful attractions. Also, the mother is trying to make Laetitia realize that she only finds Salt Lake City exciting because she has never been there so it's all new to her. The mother thinks that Canada has everything America has plus more so the mother is trying to make Laetitia realize that America is no better than Canada. Another example that proves that the mother favorites Canada would be when her and her son were in Salt Lake City visiting Laetitia. “We got to go shopping in a couple of large malls, but they weren't as large as the one in Edmonton, and Mom said so”(King194) the son, who is also the narrator in the story, says which shows that the mother is snobby toward America and always has something she finds better in Canada to try and top whatever America has. Every time someone says something nice about America the Mother always has a rude way of contradicting it or stating that Canada is better. This definitely proves that the mother thinks of herself as Canadian rather than