While many people are born "border dwellers," Agnes DeWitt seizes the opportunity to forge a new identity in The Last Report on the Miracles at Small no horse. Born a normal woman and identifying as a normal woman for most of her life, she takes on the personality of the priest, Father Damien Modeste, and plays this role for the rest of her life. However, even though she takes on the role of Father Damien, Agnes still retains her female identity and never sacrifices one for the other. He takes on male attributes without sacrificing his feminine attributes and takes on attributes of a priest without sacrificing the natural human tendency to "sin", especially when he has a sexual relationship with Father Wekkle. Agnes DeWitt maintains the characteristics of a border dweller, straddling the rigid divisions between gender, religion and identity while simultaneously playing the roles of Agnes and Father Damien. Before Father Damien's death, Agnes lived as Sister Cecilia, a nun who taught music. However, Agnes only lived as Cecilia for six months before deciding to take on the persona of Father Damien, a character she inhabited for the rest of her life. Therefore, Agnes technically lived with three separate identities, but rarely referred to herself as "Cecilia" when she became Father Damien. This calls into question how important Sister Cecilia's identity is to Agnes if she could transition into Damien's priestly role so quickly. Agnes herself describes Cecilia as “…empty. Diluted…” (Erdrich 14). However, when Agnes becomes Father Damien, he states: "She was transformed every morning with a feeling of loss which was finally defined as the loss of Agnes" (Erdri... center of paper... better for his rejection). link any gender to any religion; determines that a person is an amalgamation of genders and religions Although these people known as border dwellers are not generally accepted in their societies, Father Damien finds LittleNo Horse a safe haven for him as he questions his own. As Agnes states near the end of her journey, “There it is – the reason she was called here in the first place” (Erdrich 309). occurs because she determines that she was actually a border dweller. This awakening is crucial to the development of her character because, despite having entered the reservation as a priest with the intent of reforming the Ojibwe, Agnes learns more from their religion and implements some aspects of it in her daily life until. his death.