Introduction
Issues of identity and citizenship have been fierce in the USA since the moment European settlers inhabited the new continent and imposed their regime on the Native Americans, forcing them to move to reservations. African Americans have been fighting for equality since the moment of slavery abolition, and still despite the strongly fixed freedom in the Constitution they are subject to all kinds of prosecution and discrimination.
For this reason motives of identity imposition are widely spread in the US literature. The work of Thomas King is not an exception as it relates directly to the topic of identity protection within the borders of North American continent. The story titled “Borders” is devoted to the description of an awkward situation a woman faces when crossing the American-Canadian border refusing to accept American and Canadian identity. The theme discussed in the story is the way identity is protected by Indigenous peoples in the territories of the USA and Canada and the ways governmental impositions restrict it.
Main text
The struggle for equality and recognition marks the plot of “Borders”, showing how the determination of one woman may break the whole legislative system grounded on exclusion of minorities. The protest against belonging to either the Canadian or American nation is clearly felt in the narrative – hostility with which borders are treated is evident from the very beginning of the story describing the way Laetitia moved to Salt Lake City. This action is called “moving across the line”, which is very expressive and adds the tone of separation both from the Canadian and the American nation (King 131). The “line” here means a strict division that exists between the life beyond the measures of the reserve – mother disapproves of Laetitia’s decision from the very start and protects the benefits of living in the reserve on all pages of the story.
The resistance mother shows to claim her own identity as American or Canadian and to impose her Blackfoot identity can be seen in the verbal conflict with Laetitia before her departure:
“You can still see the mountain from here,” my mother told Laetitia in Blackfoot.
“Lots of mountains in Salt Lake,” Laetitia told her in English (King 133).
By this short dialogue the characters are perfectly shaped: Laetitia is a representative of a progressive generation that wants to intermingle with the American nation and to start a new life beyond the borders of the reserve. She starts speaking English before the departure, thus marking the change in her views and shame of being a Blackfoot. As a result, she really achieves her aim by getting a good job and renting a good apartment. Nonetheless, it is shameful for mother to understand this shift, and she does her best to retain all signs of the Blackfoot identity because of her inborn pride.
In addition, there are some visual elements used by King to show how mother refuses from the American identity and wants to stress her Blackfoot belonging; it seems that she gets prepared to the fight against the overall North American regime of Aboriginal exclusion from the very beginning. Even the very thought that she may be taken for an American or a Canadian causes outrage in her:
“So I was surprised when she bought two new tires for the car and put on her blue dress with the green and yellow flowers. I had to dress up, too, for my mother did not want us crossing the border looking like Americans” (King 133).
The author used both linguistic and visual means to reproduce the picture of the woman who perceived her identity as her personal battlefield, her pride and her privilege, and who was determined to prove her rights to protect it. However, the beginning of the dispute at both borders shows how helpless the woman is against the law enforcement authorities of both countries. It is enough to recollect the reply given by a representative of the Canadian border police who initially was polite but still required one of the identities to be named, either Canadian or American.
She assumed that it was an obligation of each citizen, which was totally wrong from the point of view of an Indian woman: “I’d be proud to be Blackfoot if I were Blackfoot. But you have to be American or Canadian” (King 138-139). By these words the officer contradicts herself – she assumes the right for Blackfoot identity pride, but refuses to accept it on the legitimate level.
One more prejudice becomes evident from the talk of the mother and Stella, another woman from the border police. Stella talks the mother into saying which citizenship they belong to and promises not to put it into the form and not to tell anyone about it (King 136). This is also a contradiction – in case the identity is not fixed anywhere, there should be no need to find it out so fiercely. It seems to be larger than a conflict at the border – it is the issue of mutual recognition of Native Americans, Canadians and Americans in which two latter nations try to suppress the former by making its representatives take some side and subdue to their subordinate position.
Conclusion
Obviously, the story reveals the deeply rooted identity conflict that is still intense on the territories of Canada and the USA. Indigenous peoples have the right to identity as they live in reserves, thus marking their separation from both countries and non-acceptance of their regulations. The issues of racial segregation and identity imposition come to the fore in the story of King; they find a bright reflection in the lonely fight of one woman marking the ray of light for all other minorities and showing that true perseverance and firmness in position is certain to yield positive results, even though the cost of the victory may be high.