Borders are an important theme in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. The blurring of borders in this novel disagrees with the teachings of our dichotomous society, leading the reader to feel uncomfortable. There are two major borders in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, gender and culture. Although the blurring of these borders makes the reader uncomfortable, Erdrich does this purposely to cause us to see our borders differently, so that our perception of borders is changed.
Our society is taught that men behave in certain ways and do certain jobs, while women act in other ways and do other jobs, to do otherwise is considered wrong or out-of-place. In The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Erdrich switches some of the roles. There is a woman priest, and a homosexual Native American crossdresser, as well as other role switches. Also, our society is taught that the conqueror is motherly, teaching and protecting the conquered. In The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, the conquerors are seen as oppressive and conniving, looking only for money and oppression. These views contradict each other, leaving the reader feeling uncomfortable. Erdrich uses these contradictions to show that the views of our society are archaic, and that the ideology of our society is skewered.
Erdrich uses Father Damien and several Ojibwe to blur gender borders. Father Damien is Agnes Dewitt, a woman who used to be a nun. She becomes Father Damien and travels to Little No Horse after the real Father Damien drowns. The first Ojibwe that he meets is Kapshaw. Kapshaw notices feminine qualities in Father Damien soon after meeting him, "He was a shrewd man and he sensed something unusual about the priest from the first The priest was clearly not right, too womanly" (Erdrich 64). Father Jude also notices these feminine qualities, "Father Jude blinked. He saw, inhabiting the same cassock as the priest, an old woman" (139).
