The novel "Three Day Road," by author Joseph Boyden, was an enthralling and seductive read. It was one of those rare novels where I found myself not only wanting to know what would come next, but needing to know. The three main protagonists: Xavier, Niska, and Elijah were all emotionally charged characters, each with many levels and layers of emotion. This novel was incredibly magnetizing from start to finish, due to the structure, consisting of a series of flashbacks intertwined with the present. These flashbacks from Niska and Xavier revealed how the both Xavier and Elijah came to live with Niska, how the boys became such great hunters , and how Niska came to accept her destiny as a Windigo killer.
One of the most interesting links in this novel is the link made between Elijah and Xavier's hunting abilities. The boys learned how to hunt animals with one another at home in Canada and then later use those skills to hunt humans in the war. This link made by Boyden, was absolutely brillant and revealed the true gruesomeness to the acts that were committed in the war.
I enjoyed the Canadian perspective on the war in this novel and furthermore, the Native perspectives presented. I felt that it was an important element to the novel that Boyden made it clear to his readers, the important role that Canada's Native played in the war.
In addition to all of these factors, was the different reactions to the war that Elijah and Xavier experienced. For Xavier, he was reasonable about his actions, killed because he was in a posistion where he had to or he would lose his own life and felt remorse for his actions. Elijah however, was unreasonable, killed for personal glory, and felt no remorse for his actions.
Lastly, Niska's stories told to her Nephew Xavier on their journey home about her past familiarized the reader to her. It was interesting to learn how the events of the novel came to be through Niska's memories. Not to mentiont those risking sections where she recalls her sexual past and decision to become a Windigo character.
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Hi Rachelle,
I agree with the hunting link. These two were expert hunters; killing animals for food, for survival, was necessary. It could be argued that the sniping Xavier and Elijah did was also for survival. To a degree, yes. But for Elijah, it became a sport. Xavier was able to keep from becoming seduced by the 'thrill of the kill'.
Definitely Elijah and Xavier were different individuals, but I think we might be forgetting an important difference as to why they "seemed" to react to the war differently. It must not be forgotten that Elijah was on morphine a lot and Xavier was not. Would Elijah's character have evolved to the same extent if he had resisted the morphine?
I agree that this novel was a difficult one to put down due to our unlimited desire to know more, to need to know more - whether it be the truth or just a fascinating read.
The link between Elijah and Xaviers hunting abilities I think is harder to make that what is written. I think the link is not a link, not even a comparison but a contrast of skills due to circumstances. The circumstances that makes Xavier a hunter capable of getting into the zone of the kill, stalking the prey and trying to mimic the stealthy skills of a predator. While Elijah comes from a slightly different background due his circumstances, forgetting his traditional hunting practices due to his desire to make the nuns proud of his ability to learn their language = Elijah hunting the nuns with language while Xavier hunted the animals with silence.
I think hunting is a very important theme in this novel, and that the author is looking at hunting very much from an indigenous perspective. Hunting animals is one thing - and it should still be done appropriately, paying attention to the proper rituals and processes. Hunting humans is something very different - something that only a Windigo does. I think that killing a human being in the context of battle is one thing; hunting them for sport or whatever, as Elijah does, is something quite different, and dangerous for the hunter as well as the hunted.
This is, in fact, what happens to Elijah, but he doesn't realize the danger that he is in, though Xavier does, from quite early on. Perhaps Elijah's mistake is in trying to fulfil white expectations of him in the war...?
I'd like to talk about the morphine a little more, but I will leave it until later...
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