Borders by Thomas King Analysis and Summary

Throughout the story "Borders", by Thomas King, I came across two passages that had an under the surface meaning to them. The first passage on page 41, lines 71-74, Laetitia's mother continuously said she is Blackfoot. In this passage she said, "My daughter's Blackfoot, too." This was my first golden line because it is very significant as it represents the theme of the entire story. The mother of this story stood her ground until the very end and she refused to assimilate herself and lose that piece of her roots just because she is told to.

She has her identity and she stuck to it until the very end.

This provides a great lesson for the theme of identity because it shows that one should never lose them-selves because of peer pressure or because they are told they cannot be who they are in that way. I believe that this moment in the passage shows a motherhood scene as she involves her other child as well, "daughter".

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It almost seemed to me that the mother knew how people forget their real origin and mix in with the more dominant citizenships such as in this case, American or Canadian.

My next golden line was on page 45, line 151-153. This section had one powerful sentence, "Every so often one of the reporters would come over and ask me questions about how it felt to be an Indian without a country." The reason why this line is my second golden one is because it shows the power words can have over a story.

It amazed me how a woman was just stating her citizenship at the border and the news reporters changed the whole story claiming she was an Indian without a home.

I believe this was the exact reason the mother of this story never gave in and kept saying Blackfoot till the end, because she knew the American way always tries to change things up and forget about the minorities of a society. Identity can be lost this same exact way. As we hang out around different groups, we forget who we are and where we came from. We try to become like everyone else. It is important to not lose sight of who we are and our roots.

In the story "Who Lost an American" by Joel Gilbert the following passage really showed meaning to me, "After the physical beating was over, the emotional abuse would start. He would tell me that he loved me and that I was a bad kid" So I was very confused about myself, and what this man represented to me" (page 49, line 9). This shows a loss of self-identity and purpose because of Gilberts experiences and traumas he faced with his family. He didn't know if he was a good kid or a bad one because he heard the words " I love you" and it was followed by a smack. I think this is a golden line and it links perfectly with the theme as it shows a state of confusion and unable to figure out whom he is. Childhood and a persons past all shapes our identity in the future.

The experiences Gilbert faced as a kid made him disordered and lost. It made him have a desire, an urge and a craving for violence to get revenge for what was done to him, which leads to my second golden line, "This period of my life developed over two years of living with my father I thought this was the way out" I want to destroy this so-called white society. I don't want any more kids to grow up like I did" (page 51, 55). This part of the entire story summarizes how mistreatment leads to wanting to rebel.

Gilbert was raised to only see a white town with his father figure abusing his mother figure, his mother turning to alcohol, and his father letting out anger on him for a reason he never knew. He also saw other kids his own age being bruised up as well. So when a child is raised in this type of environment, they do not have a sense of identity and who they are. They were raised to not have the chance to find that out. Hence, the theme of identity is the undersurface portion of both of these stories, you just have to really dig deep and find what each character is feeling.