Deconstructionist Critique of “Where the Borg Are”

In this blog post I will provide a deconstructionist critique of Thomas King’s short story “Where the Borg Are.” In this critique I will discuss how the text works rhetorically, how the text works to construct meaning, the oppositions in the text, which opposition appears to be favored, if there are any self-contradictions in the text, if there are multiple meanings in the text and if there are ambiguities in the text.

            The text works rhetorically through its structure and language. Through the stories’ structure we can see how the protagonist is able to change the minds of the people around him and convince them of his beliefs. This is mainly demonstrated in the story through Milton changing peoples’ minds about the Indian Act. In the beginning of the story, Milton has a hard time convincing people of the Indian Act’s importance, however by the time the story ends he has the people around him convinced that the Indian Act is important, particularly those in his family and his community. By doing so and structuring the story this way, Thomas King convinces us, the audience that the Indian Act was not only an incredibly important document in Canadian history, but that it also contained many unjust, racist and assimilationist policies. Through the language that is used in the story (a lot of Star Trek lingo), King displays all the ways that Europeans harmed or took control over Indigenous people, not just through the Indian Act, but in general. King also reveals what he appears to believe were the European’s motivations for assimilating Indigenous people and colonizing North America. By using the language that he does, King convinces or at least attempts to convince the audience of the above things.

            The text basically works to construct meaning through the use of satire. Through this use of satire King exposes the ridiculousness of some of the Canadian governments’ policies towards Indigenous people. He does so by comparing the government and their policies to those of the people in a science fiction show (Star Trek), which in itself is fairly humorous and demonstrates how silly their policies towards and treatment of Indigenous people were/are. One of the policies that King takes aim at are those that involved assimilation of Indigenous people into European Canadian culture and society. He does so by comparing the Canadian government’s assimilation policies to those of the Borg (where the title comes from) in Star Trek. Another group of policies that King takes aim at are those that involved the Canadian government profiting off of Indigenous people and their land. He does so by comparing this group of government policies to those of the Ferengis in Star Trek who are only concerned with and driven by profit. King also uses satire in the story to show how different European people and culture are from Indigenous people and culture. He does this mainly through Milton’s grandfather’s theory of how the Europeans were a molecular composite created by combining all the races in Star Trek in a wormhole, thereby implying that Europeans are so different from Indigenous people that they might as well be from space instead of a different continent on Earth.

            When it comes to oppositions in the text, there are essentially two competing ideologies at play. On one side there are those people who think that or come to think that the Indian Act is an important moment in Canadian history by the end of the story. These people are all shown to be Indigenous in the story and consist of Milton, his family members, and members of his community. On the other side are those people that do not think that the Indian Act is an important moment in Canadian history or are unsure of whether or not it is. These people are all shown to be or describe as being white and consist of Milton’s history teacher Ms. Merry and the women who works at the front desk at the library Milton goes to for a copy of the Indian Act. The people who agree with Milton about the importance of the Indian Act are also usually the ones who agree that the groups of people in Star Trek relate to Europeans, such as Milton’s grandfather. While the ones who do not agree with Milton about the importance of the Indian Act are also the ones who do not agree or cannot see how the groups of people in Star Trek relate to Europeans, such as Ms. Merry.

            The opposition that appears to be favored in the text is that of Milton and the people who agree with him. The main reason this appears to be so is because King puts a lot more detail into describing why the Indian Act was an important moment in Canadian history and how Europeans relate to the characters in Star Trek. The opposing view of this does not get near as much attention in the story, but that could also do with the fact that the main character does not hold these views. However, it could also do with the fact that King does not agree with the views of the people who disagree with Milton and does not give them as much attention in the story because of this. Milton’s opinions also appear to be favored because they contain many facts that are hard to argue with, such as the Indian Act was about assimilation, which is absolutely true. While those on the other side’s arguments do not get many details or supporting evidence showing why their argument could potentially be valid.

            When it comes to self-contradiction, there is not really a lot of it that occurs in the text as King is fairly consistent in what he says throughout the story. However, with that being said there are some parts of the text that could be interpreted as contradictory, but for the most part they appear to be completely intentional. One aspect of the story that may be interpreted as being contradictory is the stories discussion of whether or not the Indian Act is important. Milton states numerous times that he thinks it is important while his teacher states that she does not think that it is important, showing contradictory or conflicting opinions. However, these opinions are just part of the characters and are not King self-contradicting himself. Also, the two characters conflicting opinions about whether or not Star Trek characters relate to Europeans could also be described as contradictory. However, these opinions are also just part of the characters and not King self-contradicting himself. When discussing which Star Trek group that Europeans relate to King never self-contradicts himself as he always just adds onto what was previously thought about Europeans by Milton.

            When it comes to multiple meanings in the text, there are a few parts that appear to mean more than one thing. First, when Milton’s teacher states that she’s not sure if the Indian Act of 1875 was a significant moment in Canadian history, it appears as though King may be referencing the fact that many teachers of European backgrounds in the past did not consider topics related to Indigenous people as being important and therefore did not teach their students about how and why they were important. In a way Ms. Merry’s overly harsh critique of Milton’s essay appears to be a critique of how teachers were overly critical of Indigenous students’ opinions and schoolwork in the past. When Milton talks about how the Borg (Europeans) have taken over Earth, it appears as though King is referencing European colonization and how through it, they spread throughout every continent on Earth and gained political control. On that same page when Milton’s grandfather discusses how resistance was futile for Indigenous people, it appears as though King is referring to events such as the Northwest Rebellion where despite their best efforts Indigenous people could not keep the Europeans from fully taking over. When the librarian discusses how most great moments in Canadian history have holidays, it appears as though King is referencing the fact that all great moments in Canadian history are tied to Europeans and western culture (Easter, Christmas, Victoria Day, etc.). Through this King is also saying that moments in history that are important to Indigenous people are not considered as such by the rest of Canadian society, particularly European Canadians. When Milton’s mother discusses how racism hurts some more than others, it appears as though King is referencing the fact that racist government policies and general societal attitudes have hurt Indigenous Canadians more than most. When King discusses how the Prime Directive is always viewed as the good guys, despite the fact that they do not always do the right thing or do things that conflict with what they say, King appears to be referring to how the Canadian government has always been viewed as being good despite doing horrible things to Indigenous people and how the government has often said one thing to Indigenous people and done another thing to them.

            When it comes to ambiguities in the text, I found that by the end of it there weren’t many. King, for the most part tied up all the loose ends that were present at points in the story and answered any questions that I had during it. One thing that King left open to interpretation was what Milton’s teacher thought about the final product of his essay. The story never explicitly stated whether or not she ended up agreeing with the points that he made in it, it only said that he received a grade boost due to the effort that he put in. I was kind of curious throughout if he would end up convincing her by the stories end, just on sheer creativity alone of his argument, however the story never says if he did or not. King also leaves an open-ended question towards the end, which is “who else would they look like?” (King, pg.147) when discussing how the good guys always look like Europeans, but my interpretation of this is that its rhetorical as pretty much always the good guys in movies are white and look European. Other than the above, based on my interpretation of the text, nothing else was ambiguous about it.