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
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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 reinforced idea of his own identity comes about 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 …show more content…
This impacts him, his family and the witnesses of his journey. Thomas’ sense of self strengthens through the catalytic actions of his mother, which not only included her erasure of the border, but also her referral to their culture and its past. The mother’s telling of the star’s stories and the way she “expected [him] to remember each one” (296) erases the border between Thomas’ present and past. This proves to the reader that the protagonist’s Blackfoot identity trumps all types of borders: physical, personal, and cultural. The American-Canadian border that Thomas and his mother abolish is the most obvious example of his cultural progression. Thomas becomes able to recognize that “pride is a good thing to have” (294), and therefore pride in one’s self is invaluable. The personal border that Thomas overcomes relates to his identification with the Canadian side of the border. Though his mother identified as Blackfoot, Thomas revealed they were Canadian. The moment that defines the metaphorical representation of Thomas dropping the word “Canadian” from his Blackfoot-Canadian identity is when he “[watches] the border through the rear window until [it]... disappeared” (297). King’s ending to the narrative leaves the reader at peace in knowing that Thomas and his mother did not have to sacrifice their identities to journey across their own land. Rather than sacrificing it, Thomas
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 reinforced idea of his own identity comes about 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 …show more content…
This impacts him, his family and the witnesses of his journey. Thomas’ sense of self strengthens through the catalytic actions of his mother, which not only included her erasure of the border, but also her referral to their culture and its past. The mother’s telling of the star’s stories and the way she “expected [him] to remember each one” (296) erases the border between Thomas’ present and past. This proves to the reader that the protagonist’s Blackfoot identity trumps all types of borders: physical, personal, and cultural. The American-Canadian border that Thomas and his mother abolish is the most obvious example of his cultural progression. Thomas becomes able to recognize that “pride is a good thing to have” (294), and therefore pride in one’s self is invaluable. The personal border that Thomas overcomes relates to his identification with the Canadian side of the border. Though his mother identified as Blackfoot, Thomas revealed they were Canadian. The moment that defines the metaphorical representation of Thomas dropping the word “Canadian” from his Blackfoot-Canadian identity is when he “[watches] the border through the rear window until [it]... disappeared” (297). King’s ending to the narrative leaves the reader at peace in knowing that Thomas and his mother did not have to sacrifice their identities to journey across their own land. Rather than sacrificing it, Thomas