Borders by Thomas King ll Analytical paper ll Essay CRT PDF

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This paper looks at the contrast between the mother and her daughter and provides a diffrent viewpoint than normally explored...

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Reid Benner Period 4 2/12/2021

Borders Analytical Paragraph The story “Borders” written by Thomas King is a short fiction that revolves around the story of a Blackfoot mother attempting to cross the Canadian/US border to meet her child Laetitia. Problems arose after being questioned about their citizenship and the Mother is left with the dilemma between having pride in her culture or allowing the system to force her to concede her lineage and be defined as either a Canadian or American. “Borders” provides a perfect example of how exactly one’s character can not only affect their own actions and perspective but also mold the perspective of those around them. The author does this by contrasting the differences between the Mother and Laetitia and showing the shift in values they have toward each other's beliefs. In “Borders” the dynamic between Laetitia and her Mother is used many times to show the extreme values the two have to offer. For example, immediately into the story the author insinuates that Laetita did not leave the reserve on traditional terms. After leaving the narrator gave some insight into Laetitia's occasion for leaving. “Then there were the fine points to Laetitia’s going. She had not, as my mother liked to tell Mrs. Manyfingers, gone floating after some man like a balloon on a string.” Following with, “ she hadn’t been pregnant” (131, King). The quotes show how Laetitia is not following the normal traditional route of a Blackfoot girl living on a reserve through emphasising the point that she didn’t leave because she was promised a good life by some man. Rather, she moved to live more independently and experience a more western life. Laetitia’s love for Salt Lake City is clear throughout the story. Laetitia often talked about how everything in Salt Lake City was perfect, even going as far as to confusing The Salt Flats as one of the natural wonders of the world (139, King). Laetitias child-like glamorizing of Salt Lake City shows her love for both the city and Western Culture as a whole. The Mother, on the other hand, does not display her values quite as ‘loudly’ as Laetitias. However, from the examples we do see the most clear is when the Mother takes the boy out in the middle of the night to look at the stars and pass on stories just as she did as a child. Our narrator says this about the night, “We sat out under the stars that night, and my mother told me all sorts of stories. She was serious about it, too. She’d tell them slow, repeating parts as she went, as if she expected me to remember each one” (142,King). The quote shows the Mother’s values by her practicing a well known Blackfoot tradition of telling the stories of the stars above, just as her Mother probably did for her. This shows how she is loyal to her Blackfoot values and supports the conflict of the story involving her stubbornness to absolve her lineage. Clearly the Mother and Laetitia are meant to contrast each other’s values and ideas showing that Laetitia having a more progressive and open minded attitude about western culture while the Mother is quite traditionally Blackfoot. After the climax of the story the author shows Laetitia’s shift in perspective after witnessing her mother’s actions at the border stop, at that point, “Laetitia said she was thinking about moving back.”(144,King). This shows Laetita’s shift toward her traditional values because she is thinking about moving back and living the life as she did before. In response we see the Mothers shift in perspective toward being open to western culture likely due to Laetitia’s advocating for it, “Mom told her to do as she pleased” (144,King)  showing her own shift toward being open to Western culture and Laetitia’s decision involving coming back to the reserve. The story “Borders” uses Laetitia and the Mother to contrast and compare them and to show the shift in perspective both the two characters experienced....