(photo is Francis Pegahmagabow: Ojibwa World War l hero and inspiration for "Three Day Road" - for his story, go to: http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=history/other/native/peaceful )
Everyone must someday take the journey on the "three day road" - this was a prevailing thought when I had finished reading Three Day Road. It was an excellent novel, though I could not always call it enjoyable. To me this story explored in depth the issues of life and death, and contrasted these two issues within the native and caucasian cultures of that time, and how they all related to World War l.
Everyone must someday take the journey on the "three day road" - this was a prevailing thought when I had finished reading Three Day Road. It was an excellent novel, though I could not always call it enjoyable. To me this story explored in depth the issues of life and death, and contrasted these two issues within the native and caucasian cultures of that time, and how they all related to World War l.
I found the two sex scenes in book interesting in that both of them involved a coming together of the two races and both of them ended in dissapointment for Niska and Xavier, but not necessarily for the trapper or Lisette. I believe Boyden was making a statement here referring to how First Nations people have always been treated poorly by non-native Canadians traditionally. It could also be surmised that a warning is being issued with the relating of how the trapper died because of Niska. This warning could be applied to either men who choose to treat first nation women in a demeaning manner, or the poor treatment of/or towards first nation people in general. The incident caused me to ponder the idea of curses and how many curses have been put on non native people over the years. Do you beleive in curses?
Similair to Broken Ground, I recieved even more insight into the horrors and senseless loss of human life that is war and I gained an even larger understanding of why veterans that I have talked to did not wish to share their experiences. With incidents such as the killing of innocent civilians, as depicted in the scene where Elijah kills them thinking he is protecting Xavier, these incidents, whether or not they are intentional, are not something one would want to talk of later on. Other attrocities include the scalping, the methods of warfare (nerve gas), the treatment of prisoners, and of course racism.
I feel I have gained much insight from reading Three Day Road I am glad that the issues talked about in it are finally being addressed today.
3 comments:
It is interesting isn't it Jim the scene that persues when the Frenchman has sex with Niska in the church and claims to have stolen her power, how he is later referred to as having had committed suicide by diving out from a window because he has gone somewhat mad, and how Niska and her mother believe she may have had something to have done with it, possibly from having had "cursed him" in a way as she had called on the spirits and possibly sent them to torment him. Those sex scenes from Three Day Road not only show the marriage of races but also show also the divorse of them is a sense that Niska was heartbroken by following her deep feelings and so was Xavier.
Good point, Aldea - I like your use of the word heartbroken - maybe in this case the word "betrayed" could mean almost the same thing.
I agree with Jim that Three Day Road is an incredibly powerful novel, but that the word "enjoyable" is hard to put to it. The mixed relationships/sexual scenes that are described here are, as you suggest, quite problematic. It's also interesting that Elijah, who aspires to fitting in more with white ways, and has more mixed-blood characteristics, is the character who succumbs to the Windigo. I wonder if Boyden is trying to tell us something here?
Interestingly, my understanding of scalping is that it originated with whites, though it was picked up by some indigenous peoples... That also puts a whole other twist on what Elijah does. And, while Xavier cannot condone Elijah's actions, the fact that he takes on Elijah's identity, at least as far as the white people's world is concerned, is also troubling. Elijah is seen as a hero by the whites, but Xavier knows better... What do you think all of this is about?
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