The three short stories "Borders" by Thomas king, "Saturday Climbing" by W. Valgardson and "Mirror images" by Lena Coakley explore the emotional and daily life problems of the characters who struggle to get along well with their families. Although all the three stories deal with family relationships, pride and media power, they differ in respect to the situation they all are in. Nonetheless, the author shows that out of the process of their struggle all the characters gain pride and grow as individuals and as family members.
Pride is not such a good thing to have and can bring one down at times and the characters in the short stories displays a common trait of pride. King's story talk about a proudly static mother, who is trying to cross the border to meet her proudly dynamic daughter Laetitia but she is not willing to declare her citizenship as American or Canadian because she is really proud of being Blackfoot. "It would have been easier if [she] had just said "Canadian" and had been done with it but [we] could see that she is not going to do that."(24) Her daughter laetitia is full of pride too. She leaves home and went to Salt Lake City to prove that she can live on her own and can do whatever she wants to. The narrator of the story which is Laetitia's younger brother says himself that "Laetitia had a lot of pride and so did my mother."(28) Similarly in Valgardson's story when Barry, the father of his daughter Moira, is stuck halfway up the cliff, he does not want her daughter to know that he is having a hard time. In fact he is glad that she cannot see his momentary weakness. It is his pride that keeps him away from letting her know that he is in trouble. Likewise in Coakley's story when Alice, the first surviving recipient of a brain transplant, meets Mr. Jarred, whose daughter's body has been used in Alice's surgery, feels proud when Mr. Jarred tells her that "[she] looks so different"(18).
