The border motif appears throughout the story, and it provides the central conflict for the Salt Lake City trip storyline. The function of the border is to divide territory along boundaries and control who can pass through based on citizenship and identity. Citizenship and identity is the main theme connected to this motif. The border in the story divides two settler-colonial nations, the United States and Canada. The border signifies where one state ends and the other begins indifferent to Indigenous perceptions of identity and citizenship, which predate the borders that divide their traditional lands and restrict their movement. More abstractly, the border addresses issues of citizenship, status, and belonging in the story. The time that the mother and son spend in limbo between Canada and the US represents the experiences of Indigenous groups and immigrant groups who may experience a loss or denial of identity at border crossings.

The media resolves the central conflict in the Sale Lake City trip storyline. Its presence in the text has a dual meaning—it symbolizes ignorance of Indigenous issues but also the galvanizing power of public attention to make a change. The presence of the media ties to the themes of injustice, identity, and visibility in the text.