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Whereas this story was written during a period of rapid advance in Aboriginal rights, the First Nation’s people still were not compensated for the sacrifices made by them. The levels of respect shown to the Native community were close to none, and the ‘immigrants’ to Canada were still trying to assimilate them into different cultures. Presenting the story from a child’s view represents the author showing an unbiased opinion towards the scenario exemplified in the story. The mother is trying to preserve her Blackfoot identity throughout the story, while Laetitia tries to reveal the world that is outside of the reserve. While the mother is doing the right thing by preserving her identity and wants it to live on for generations to come, there is a world that exists outside of the reserves.
Being a minority in any part of the world can be challenging, but being one in your own country is more of a heartbreaking challenge. Living in North America, one of the most diverse continents in all of the world. It can be difficult to prove your identity and not let any external factors affect who you portray yourself as. The author portrays this issue in the community by representing the border agents as being negligent and not knowing what the Blackfoot identity is. The mother is put in a place where she will have to choose to cross the border by changing her identity or sticking to her identity. As she is stuck between Canadian and American soil, she chooses to stick to her identity, even though she risks being detained and possibly arrested. As we’ve seen in today’s day and age, as soon as the media gets involved in any matter, it results in getting the community’s support and usually getting the outcome in your favor. Living in a democratic country means when elections come around, they cannot foresee any matter, disregarding the severity of the matter. “The car was not very comfortable, but we did have all the food and it was April”. During the timeframe of this story, in April 1993, the federal elections also took place with leaders who listened to the communities around this timeframe. The case of the mother and son stuck at the border needed to be looked into as soon as the media had picked the issue up. The community had backed the mother up with her decision and the political leaders along with the border agents were forced to influence the decision in favor of the mother to let her and her son into the States and back into Canada when it was time to avoid a negative effect on the elections that were being held months coming up.
Preserving your culture for generations coming up is a dream that every person sees. While some may go to extreme heights to protect themselves from being assimilated into a different culture, others allow themselves to be affected by extraneous factors that could eventually lead to the extinction of the culture. As you may have heard the metaphorical term ‘thinking outside the box’. It’s important to find a balance between sticking to your traditional values and keeping yourself open to opportunities and learning new things. The mother in this story is portrayed as being very obstinate and not ‘thinking outside the box’. Laetitia herself is also very headstrong, but it is justified due to her mom’s behavior. As she tries to talk her into traveling to the States, the mother has also responded with “We got everything right here”. Laetitia’s mother has been depicted as the cause of conflict in this story, she has extremely negative opinions on basically anything outside of her Blackfoot community, which has resulted in her not being able to grow as a person to face the outside world. If one questions our ability or rejects our idea to act, we tend to think about that certain thought more and more. That rejection motivates us to take it upon ourselves and the action to make an identity for ourselves in the community. Laetitia took the initiative to leave the house and head down to Salt Lake City because the anger was building up inside her from her mother being opposed to her thoughts and ideas. After spending time with Laetitia in Salt Lake City, the mother states that “Laetitia said she was thinking about moving back, and Mom told her to do as she pleased, and Laetitia said she would”. Over time, as we see in the story, the mother realizes she was wrong to a certain extent and knows that her kids need to have exposure to the world, not just the Blackfoot reserve, while still maintaining their identity for generations to come.
Kids tend to have the most unbiased opinions as they haven’t been taught yet to be biased towards one side or the other. The author uses a 13-year-old to recite the story. Humans tend to be more sympathetic towards kids on a general basis and tend to find their stories more interesting. Well, that’s a small part of why the author chose to write from a 13-year-old’s point of view. The bigger picture here is that the kid is seeing two completely different opinions, and he is in the middle of the spectrum as his opinion is unbiased. He hasn’t been taught to only follow the Blackfoot traditions, but neither has he been exposed to the lifestyle of a city. His observations gradually reveal the nature of the mother and daughter and show that he is unable to understand the significance of the conflicts that take place. During the ages 11-14, a kid is referred to going through a phase called early adolescence, when the brain develops to think, learn, reason, and remember, basically, it is a very crucial stage while a kid is growing up. The author uses a 13-year-old kid and quite a lot of flashbacks in the story to display them in a suspenseful and engaging manner. This also affirms the point that the kid is 13 years old as his brain is still being developed and uses flashbacks to connect the dots between what is going on around him. Authors use a variety of symbols to make the prose more engaging and have an analytical side to it. During the visit to the border, the child is also focused on the guards' guns every time he crosses the border, symbolizing power and control. Representing that the kid was raised to this point being exposed to firearms and realizing how dangerous they are, Thomas King is trying to imply how important it is to raise a kid in the right environment without being taught to discriminate against any creature.
The author has tried to prove more than one point in this story, using lots of real-life events that took place, and to some extent, figurative language. One of the main points that the author is trying to prove is that it is difficult to escape the identity of the place you live in. As for us living in Edmonton, we cannot escape being used to cold weather as it is a part of our identity. Similarly, the mother cannot escape the Blackfoot identity as she resides there and believes in what her identity is. Nevertheless, we should always respect one’s identity while being open to thinking outside of the box. Earth is a diverse place with lots of different opportunities. Be open to learning more while not forgetting where you started.
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