379 Blog #6 Deconstruction

In Thomas King’s short story Where the Borg Are, settles on exaggerated narratives to accentuate the reality of being an Indigenous person in Canada. King starts this short story off with Milton a young student of Virgina Merry who for his essay justifies the alikeness of Star Trek and the Indian Act of 1875. Virginia Merry is not fond of this inventive idea and does not believe that the two have any correlation whatsoever. Milton goes home to tell his grandfather about the unjust grade he has received. His grandfather tells Milton that his teacher does not understand the historical significance of the Indian Act because “she is probably not an Indian”.

Milton starts to analyze and dissect the similarities between the Borg in Star Trek and the Europeans. Milton explains that the Borg were known for their assimilation of other races into a “collective” just as the Europeans did to the First Nations people. This story is one that is helpful for adolescents to understand the deconstruction of the Indian Act and Assimilation by comparing it to something they would likely be familiar with. The book talks about the favoured opposition to the Europeans and white people. It deconstructs elements of the Indian Act and shows how the First Nations people were bound to an assimilation document. When we use the deconstruction lense to view this short story, we can see the greed, aggression, oppression, and assimilation that draws strong comparisons. Though we can deconstruct it into these parts, the ambiguous text struggles to reconcile these points.