Borders Questions and Answers
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Jan 9, 2024
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Borders Questions and Answers
1.) Where are the narrator and her mother going?
The narrator and her mother are traveling to Salt Lake City. To do so, they must pass through the
American or Canadian borders. As they travel, they encounter a conflict of person vs. society
(external), in which they feel the need to defend their identity from the guards. As said in the
story, “My mother announced that we were going to go to Salt Lake City to visit my sister who
had left the reserve, moved across the line, and found a job.” (1)
2.) Why is the mother upset that her daughter moved?
Laetitia's departure upset her mother because she is crossing the border under American
citizenship. In their mother's eyes, Laetitia crossing the border symbolizes her abandoning their
culture and giving up her identity. However, her mother wishes for her to retain her Blackfoot
identity.
3.) What response do the border guards want to hear?
The border guards want the narrator's mother to declare her citizenship as either American or
Canadian. Instead, the mother declines and asserts her Blackfoot citizenship. In the story, it states
that it would be easier if she just said Canadian, “It would have been easier if my mother had just
said “Canadian” and been done with it.” (4)
4.) Why won’t the mother declare her nationality?
The mother refuses to declare her nationality because she has three, the first of which is
Blackfoot. Since the Blackfoot reservation is located on both the American and Canadian
borders, she refuses to be confined to one side. This would represent her giving up on her culture
and allowing colonizers to win.
5.) What is the author saying about the power of the media?
The author implies that the media has the ability to quickly bring issues to the public's attention,
allowing those who are struggling to have a voice, resulting in the issues being quickly resolved.
The media, for example, was able to bring the conflict between the narrator and her mom into the
public eye and raise public awareness of the issue at hand. As a result, the mother was able to
have a say in the matter, and the issue was resolved quickly. If it had not been for the media, the
narrator and her mother would never have crossed the border.
6.) What is the theme of the story? Give proof.
The story's clear theme is to not let borders/obstacles hold you back. This theme is exemplified
through Laetitia and her mother. Although Laetitia's mother chose to be confined by the borders
and let them hold her back, Laetitia chose to overcome them and not allow the borders to keep
her from seeing the rest of the world.
7.) Why are flashbacks used? Summarize what we learn from the switches back in time.
Flashbacks are used to help the reader better understand present-day situations in the story by
providing more details about previous events.
Flashback 1:
In the first flashback, we see Laetitia and her mother in an argument in which we
learn that their father is American. Laetitia then packed her belongings and headed to the border.
Laetitia and her mother had another argument at the convenience store on the way there, during
which we learn that the mother is upset that Laetitia is crossing the border.
Flashback 2:
In the second flashback, we learn that Laetitia would always talk about going to
Salt Lake City. In addition, her boyfriend spent a year there for schooling and would tell her
about it. Her boyfriend, Lester, and her then broke up, but the idea of Salt Lake City stuck in her
mind.
Flashback 3:
The third flashback reveals that when Lester and Laetitia split up, he took all of the
Salt Lake brochures with him. As a result, Laetitia wrote to someone in Salt Lake City and
received brochures from them which influenced her to go to Salt Lake City.
Flashback 4:
In the fourth and final flashback, the narrator and Laetitia were watching television
when Laetitia announced her intention to visit Salt Lake City. The narrator then told their mother,
which angered Laetitia because she had hoped to keep it a secret from their mother. That
weekend, Laetitia packed her things and was driven to the border.
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