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Inspector Pratt
Carol is the border officer on duty at the Canadian border crossing the first time the narrator and his mother try to pass through. A friendly young woman about Laetitia’s age, she greets the narrator and his mother with enthusiasm and makes small talk with them about Mike Harley, an old classmate of hers who was Blackfoot. When the narrator’s mother refuses to claim Canadian or American citizenship, Carol expresses understanding of her pride in being Blackfoot. However, she insists that they “have to be either American or Canadian.” The narrator pictures Carol against a backdrop of clashing flags, presenting him and his mother a choice on a binary in which they do not fit.
Carol Quotes in Borders
The Borders quotes below are all either spoken by Carol or refer to Carol. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Borders Quotes
The woman’s name was Carol…and I don’t guess she was any older than Laetitia.
“Wow, you both Canadians?”
“Blackfoot.”
“Really? I have a friend I went to school with who is Blackfoot. Do you know Mike Harley?”
“No.”
“He went to school in Lethbridge, but he’s really from Browning.”
It was a nice conversation and there were no cars behind us, so there was no rush.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Carol Character Timeline in Borders
The timeline below shows where the character Carol appears in Borders. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Borders
...narrator’s eye as he gazes out the window of the car. A young guard named Carol greets the narrator and his mother. The narrator notices that Carol must be about the...
(full context)
Carol excitedly tells the narrator’s mother that she had a Blackfoot classmate in school named Mike...
(full context)
In the present, Carol talks to someone on her radio. The narrator and his mother park next to the...
(full context)
