In Thomas King's short story 'Borders,' a Blackfoot mother struggles to maintain her cultural heritage under pressure from two dominant nations. The narrative is important, both to the mother and to the dominant white society. Stories are used to maintain and transmit cultural information and customs from one generation to the next. Additionally, stories can be used both positively and negatively. They can trap individuals in certain ways of thinking, but they can also act as catalysts for social change within society. Stories are a means of transmitting information, acting as a way to transport cultural heritage and customs into the future. In his essay titled “You'll Never Believe What Happened,” King says that “the truth about stories is that it's all we are” (King Essay 2). This statement contains a powerful truth: without stories, a society transcending the limits of time could not exist. Cultures could appear, but they would inevitably disappear without means of preservation. Subsequent generations would be responsible for creating language, customs, and moral laws, all from scratch. at the heart of society's existence. Humans are the containers of stories, responsible for ensuring that centuries of accumulated knowledge do not disappear. However, the very fact that stories persist in humans can be problematic if, for example, there are any. five people in the world who knew English, and these people died without having taught the language to anyone else, so English would disappear with them; This is the dilemma that the Blackfoot mother faces just before Laetitia leaves for Salt Lake City, with whom she speaks. the mother. Although the mother speaks... middle of paper... perceptions their ancestors had centuries earlier. Stories are not set in stone, which means that all stories, even powerful ones, can be changed. The Blackfoot mother refuses to accept the dominant stories that society imposes on her and, as a result, her access to the border is restricted. But by persisting in favor of a viable third alternative, the mother is able to shape the dominant assumptions of society. She tells her own counter-narratives, introducing an “alternative to the narratives of the nations [she] refuses to acknowledge” (Andrews and Walton 609). It presents a story capable of changing the meta-narrative that governs Canada and America; the mother succeeds in changing the fundamental beliefs of both societies and is able to free Canadians and Americans from the restrictive and dichotomous way of thinking.