Analysis Of Thomas King 's Borders, The Young Boy And His Sister

This narrative text is based off the film The Sapphires set in Australia in the 1960s. In The Sapphires we see a flashback of Kay’s childhood and how she is part of the Stolen Generation. I will use this storyline as the starting point for my diary entries. The film gave me background knowledge on Stolen Generation and their experiences they faced. However, I need to know extra information so I will do further research about the Stolen Generation, in order to give an accurate description of their experiences. This narrative is targeted towards everyone. It is designed to inform them about the Stolen Generation and how they changed when forcibly moved to an Aborigines White Institution. This piece of text will be written in a diary entry form. I will use informal and conversational language. I will also use descriptive language when describing objects and sceneries throughout the text.

Respect for Aboriginal culture and traditions which is part of the Aboriginal reconciliation and integration movement in Australia is highlighted many times throughout Crow Country and illustrates the best and worst of Australians. The way different characters show respect towards aboriginal culture and feelings contrasts two different attitudes. Today, opinions about aboriginal life and culture are shared through politics, social media and protests. Kate Constable’s book portrays extreme behaviour with racism and provides the reader with a perspective on just how cruel people can be. We have a very superficial understanding about aboriginal culture and this novel encourages readers to explore aboriginal culture and beliefs.

The main idea of Sawaquat’s essay is the importance of realizing your identity. Growing up in Michigan deprived Sawaquat of his Native American heritage. What little he knew about his Ottawa ancestors was of stereotypes such as when he attended a powwow only to find out that white people were the attendees (paragraph 10). Sawaquat also talks about his time in the army and how in order to fit in with his fellow white soldiers he had to act like them which further diminished his identity (paragraph 7). The final story Sawaquat discusses in his essay is when his neighbor questioned why he did not look like a real Native American and at that point, Sawaquat realized that he was trying too hard to become what others envision a Native American to be and he is the only one who can shape his identity.

The first program I watched, Living Black, was an Indigenous current affairs program highlighting issues affecting Indigenous Australians, in this case addressing the issues of family and identity through a woman who was searching for her birth family (‘Finding Family’, 2016). Family and identity are very important to Indigenous people, as without them you cannot have a sense of who you are and where your place is (Dudgeon, Michael Wright, Yin Paradies, Darren Garvey, & Iain Walker, 2010). This is a post-colonial issue that has stretched into the 21st century,

Your Citizenship please? At a point in time, people encounter this question when you are about to cross the border into a different country, whether it is by car, train or plane. It questions one’s identity as to who they are. Most people answer with the current country they live in but does one ever answer with the country that they were from? “Borders” by Thomas King, is an intriguing story about a mother that has pride in her culture and values where she comes from. Along with her two kids, she resides in a native community. The mother has to declare her citizenship at the border, where she persistently presents herself as “Blackfoot.” The story, “Borders”, illustrates how difficult it is for Aboriginals to maintain their cultural

Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person or a group’s culture comes to resemble those of another group. As the each participant throughout the film narrate their harsh experiences, it is evident that this process was brutally enforced and implemented by the Canadian government. The system separates the children from their families at a young age, and forbade them to practice their Aboriginal rituals or speak their own language, and were taught that these ways are primitive and uncivilized. (Hanson, n.d) This process can be analyzed through the concept of socialization agents, which is defined by the people and institutions that influence ones attitude and behaviour. Families are considered to be primary agents of socialization, since they are the earliest source of learning and emotional connections. They play a critical role in forming individual behaviour and passing on culture from one generation to the next through language and rituals. (Tepperman, Albanese & Curtis 2012. pg. 57) However since the children were separated from their families at an early age, they became alienated from their roots, and the ties through which aboriginal culture can be passed

Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms

In “Borders” by Thomas King, the story portrays identity as something very valuable. The title of this short story, “Borders” indicates two borders; one of them is a physical border and the other is a metaphorical border. The physical border is the obvious physical border amid Canada and the United States, while the other is a metaphorical border between someone's identity and citizenship, The mother immensely proud of her blackfoot heritage, furthermore she displays makeship nationalistic views. It is rare and improbable for a young woman to leave the reserve, which suggests that blackfoot people do not hate or despise living their. Accordingly they have no aspirations to move out. The mother feels strongly against America and would not betray her own identity by identifying as an American or a Canadian. In Thomas King’s “Borders”, the story shows proudness of citizenship and it portrays where you are from is a key piece of who you are and your identity.

Within the stories “Compatriots” by Emma Lee Warrior and “Traplines” by Eden Robinson, it is shown through further examination that both stories share similar concepts. Both stories demonstrate prominent examples of loss of Aboriginal culture, identity, and the use of stereotypes. Loss of Aboriginal Culture is shown throughout both stories, showing the lack of respect and love the characters in Compatriots and Traplines go through. In Compatriots, identity is a major factor the characters within the story deal with, as it touches about the question: What does it mean to be a true Aboriginal? In Traplines, the struggle to find one’s identity is shown throughout the main character Will, and his journey, as he finds it difficult to figure out where he belongs.

To expand on the intricacy of the speaker’s life, symbolism is applied to showcase the oppression her ancestors etched on her quilt were facing for their “burnt umber pride” and “ochre gentleness” (39-40). Once again, the theme of absence is introduced as there is a sense of separation among the Native American culture as their innocent souls are forced onto reservations and taken away from their families. This prolonged cruelty and unjust treatment can be advocated when the speaker explains how her Meema “must have dreamed about Mama when the dancing was over: a lanky girl trailing after her father through his Oklahoma

“Borders”, by Thomas King, takes place at the Canadian - American border. The main character is a mother who is Blackfoot. The mother refuses to identify herself as either Canadian or American; instead, the mother insists that she is Blackfoot, and because of this she and her twelve-year-old son have to stay in amidst the border offices of Canada and the United States. The title of this short story, “Borders” indicates two borders; one is the physical border amid Canada and the United States and the other is a metaphorical border between someone’s identity and citizenship. In Thomas King’s “Borders” The story shows proudness of citizenship and it portrays where you are from is a huge part of who you are. The three arguments that I will argue to prove this thesis is that the mother is proud that she is a Blackfoot, It is rare and improbable for a young women to leave the reserve, and that the mother dislikes the Americans because she was proud of her own people.

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

The play the dreamers is about the impact on modern Aboriginals since the settlement of the “white” community it focuses on the

Each individual makes up the society as it is, and various characteristics and beliefs makes up an individual. Although, individual lives together with a variety of personal ideologies, emotions, cultures, and rituals, they all differentiate one person from the other making up one’s own identity. This identity makes up who one is inside and out, their behaviour, actions, and words comes from their own practices and values. However, the profound history of Indigenous people raises question in the present about their identities. Who are they really? Do we as the non-native people judge them from the outside or the inside? Regardless of whether the society or the government were involved in their lives, they faced discrimination in every

Belonging comes from an understanding, or the knowledge that an external sense of being comes from an internal sense of connection and safety. This critical analysis will portray how the text “Stolen” by Jane Harrison relates to the concept of belonging. Stolen is a play that tells the stories of 5 Aboriginal children that were stolen away from their families and were forced to grow up in institutions, following the European way of life. The children were segregated from their communities and treated as inferiorly. Their worth was seen as minimal and only useful to Europeans as slaves. “Stolen” is an example of not belonging to the environment that one is living in. The children are stolen from their parents, their culture and traditions,