Part 6 Summary and Analysis

In the Borders (1981), as he describes an expedition into barely visited land that crosses the border between Alaska and Canada, the author contemplates the nature and value of borders, particularly those that seem as arbitrary as the one he crosses on the journey. There is no difference, he says, in the land on either side of the arbitrary line between the two countries. He also, however, contemplates the idea of bioregionalism (see "Quotes", p. 95). As he contemplates a couple of abandoned, run-down dwellings, the author also describes an encounter with two apparently orphaned swans, beauty in their eyes, animals which he says are unlikely to be alive in two weeks. He then switches focus, describing how, after being back home for two weeks, he receives politically-oriented literature in the mail asking him to consider, and vote on, a redistribution of borders...