Blog #7 Overall Thoughts

I thought that Three Day Road was a really well done book it address' topics that haven't been covered by many books well. The issue that the Aboriginal people who fought for Canada in World War I should get a lot more recognition for what they sacrificed for a country that wasn't respectful towards them.

Source: www.mta.ca

The book showed the discrimination that would've been thrown at them in those times by generals and even their fellow soldiers. When Niska was going into town to the store she was discriminated against heavily by not being able to enter the store. People knew that Niska lived in the woods like her ancestors and she looked like a "witch" someone in the book said which is very unfair and disrespectful. Boyden didn't let it end at that though after the store owner got to know Niska he actually liked her and helped her out with writing a letter to her nephew Xavier and Elijah. The store owner changing his opinion about letting her in the store is a great example of the powerful symbolism in this book how if people were just informed about Aboriginal culture relations between Aboriginal people and the wemistikoshiw can change like they are now currently.  Residential schools is also a big issue brought up in Three Day Road. Residential schooling and nuns teaching the Aboriginal children was there to symbolize sickness, because Elijah's English knowledge is what slowly got a hold of him in the army and changed him along with morphine into a wendigo. These symbols, and issues are what makes Three Day Road such a important read as it opens your eyes just a little more or maybe a lot more into the current relationship problems with Aboriginal people today.

Source: http://goo.gl/OeuYS1

Some things I didnt like about the book in my personal opinion was the Wendigo I'm not to big of a fan of cannibalism it's a little hard to read especially for some people. So if you're one of those people who don't like intense violence and really descriptive bloody scenes then it may not be the best read for you, but I have no problem reading it I would definitely recommend trying to push through those scenes. This book I think is an all about good read for anyone really who doesn't mind violence and the couple smut pages in the book. Joseph Boyden did a really good job brushing up on his history, and I can't say from an Aboriginal background perspective, but I've read that most of it is pretty accurate about the Native culture. I would recommend this book for ages 17+, because of the intense scenes and sexual parts of the book, but for anyone who's mature enough I think it brings up Aboriginal relations from back then and now really well which is important to understand.  

A Well Done Three Day Road English Project Trailer:

Blog #6 Setting means a lot

In Three Day Road the setting is a big deal, not just where, but when it takes place. Xavier and Niska's home is somewhere in the woods of Northern Ontario, Canada where they live life on their own away from society with the exception of running into town sometimes for supplies.

Source: www.myphotodump.com

 Niska has been living in the woods her whole life surviving year by year fending, and hunting for herself after her fathers death as well as taking care of others in need. At this time most Aboriginal people were being offered to live on reserves where their own people besides government agents would live. As well if the government were aware that you had a child they would more than likely try to take them away to Residential schools where they would be taught how to live, and talk like a wemistikoshiw erasing from their minds the teachings of their parents Aboriginal culture. Living in the woods gave Xavier, and Elijah an advantage in the war with all their training hunting animals for most of their lives knowing their environment, and how to use it to their advantage to kill animals to survive. The War is a very important setting of the book taking place in lot's of different areas each presenting a challenge for Xavier and Elijah to overcome. The terrain was cruel, and unforgiving with the trench warfare being muddy, watery, and dangerous with the constant bombardment of enemy artillery shells booming in the background.

Source: searcharchives.vancouver.ca

Xavier and Elijah adapted well to the environment  though using it to their advantage as snipers using the sun to block enemy vision, night time to provide them with invisibility, and the ground to provide cover from the enemy. The traditional Aboriginal way of life gave Xavier and Elijah them this advantage in the war that the modern living wemistikoshiw couldn't ever have. It was so important that Aboriginal people joined the war with their natural talent, and should've gotten a lot more respect back then for fighting for their country that has treated them so poorly.

Blog #5 Interesting Plot?

The plot in Three Day Road seemed to move along well except its a bit hard to follow, because of all the flashbacks from the war, Niska's past, and Xavier's past with Elijah. The plot though revolves around Xavier coming back from the war and his aunt Niska meeting him at the train station thinking she was meeting Elijah as she was told that Xavier had died.

Source: http://images.ourontario.ca

Then Niska see's Xavier, and he is in really bad shape, so she starts a long trip to their home by canoe with Xavier, and as this is happening a lot of flashbacks happen which is most of the story. The main theme of the story would be how the wemistikoshiw (white people) affected their culture, and ultimately corrupted Elijah. It's displayed that Elijah, because of being raised by nuns most of his life gave him the ability to speak good English, and also in turn having a better connection with the wemistikoshiw more than Xavier ever could. Morphine a medicine the wemistikoshiw use, Elijah started using it, and you could really see the effect it had on him and how it changed him over time.

Source: genious.com

The morphine got ever more addicting for Elijah, and it slowly changed him and his body into the brutal killing machine with no morals we see at the end of the book. Elijah's death was the climax of the book although this didn't surprise me as the author Boyden was dropping hints one of the big ones being Niska's letter saying "Do what you have too". I feel this was an appropriate climax there was just no way that Elijah could come back from what he's done, and be fine without it being really hard to believe as a reader. Niska being a Windigo killer comes to our attention about midway through the book, and Xavier realizes he also is a Windigo killer like his aunt at the end of the book which is an important part of explaining why Elijah was killed. Boyden has the plot of this book entertaining if you don't mind all the violence with the war and Windigo's, and if not it's still interesting with a lot to learn about Aboriginal culture.

Blog #4 The Magic in "3"

In Three Day Road there are three main characters figures, and everything in the book seems to be in three's.

Source: https://thedailydigi.com

Xavier talks a bit about the symbol three once he starts looking at the world differently while he has some time in the war “It seems to me that everything these wemistikoshiw do is in threes.” (pg. 245)  "wemistikoshiw" meaning white people. Xavier goes on to say how their work parties are made up of three men, the army is divided into three groups (infantry, artillery and cavalry), all their military patterns are done in threes and people even die in threes. Which is a reference to the actual meaning of the term three day road which is the journey from this world earth and the journey to the afterlife. The last reference Xavier speaks is of the Son the Father and the Holy Spirit before he says “I too have begun to see the world in three's... I think that my life has been divided into threes for me by these wemistikoshiw. There was my life before them and their army, there is my life in their army, and, if I live, there will be my life after I have left it and returned home. They must have some magic in their number three. I know that you, Niska, taught me that we will all someday walk the three day road, and now I'm left wondering what connection there might be between their world and mine.” (pg. 245-246). The symbol three and everything comes in three's is really apparent in this book, and I think Boyden meant it to be that way, because of the important concept of the three day road to the aboriginal people. When Xavier kills Elijah after being attacked by him he sends him on the path of the three day road which is probably the biggest reference to the title of the book which also relates to the magic number three. There are so many other references to this "magic" number in the book, but to stop myself from being repetitive the main concept Boyden is trying to throw at us is that everything is connected, and he does this by using the number three.

Blog #3 How the Characters Evolve!

There are three main characters in this book and a lot of side characters that are still important, but Joseph Boyden does a great job making the main characters have interesting stories which are engaging as a reader. Xavier is an Ojibwa Native who starts his life off in residential schooling after being abandoned by his mother Rabbit where nuns tried to convert him to Christianity, and teach him the way white people live their lives.

Source: listverse.com

Xavier is saved from residential schools while he is still young  by his aunt Niska who couldn't bare to know that he was in the residential school. He gladly came with his aunt, and from there he learned quick from his aunts teachings in the woods, and of his Aboriginal culture. Xavier was getting lonely though with just his aunt around, and that's when Elijah came into their lives rescued from the school by Niska. Elijah has no other family that he knew besides the nuns taking care of him, so Xavier and Niska became his family. Elijah spent a significant more amount of time in residential schools them Xavier though, and was brought up by nuns so his English was fluent. Xavier taught everything he knew to Elijah about hunting and Native culture, and quickly they became more than friends instead brothers. When they were grown up they caught wind of a war, and this is where they started their adventure of fighting in the war together. Xavier became solitary and reserved, because he couldn't speak very good English and only killed when necessary unlike Elijah. Elijah in the war became a man who embraced his surroundings, and under the influences of morphine a crazy killing machine who needed kills to satisfy his blood lust. When the time came where Elijah's insanity has caused him to collect scalps and commit cannibalism, Xavier finds himself going to be one of Elijah's blood lust kills Xavier did what he must and strangled the life out him with his gun which is when Xavier realizes that he is also a Windigo killer.

Source: creepypasta.wikia.com

Niska his aunty is the daughter of a Windigo killer, and its customary when the father dies to take on this role, so it makes sense that Xavier was as well it runs in their blood. A Windigo is a tale of legend in Aboriginal culture. A Windigo is created if a person eats another human they become crazy tall creatures almost like Sasquatch, but they transform into this thing that needs to be killed or it will eat, kill, and terrorize many people. This is Niska and her families job to rid the world of Windigo's if it so crossed paths in their lives. Her younger self was betrayed many years ago by a white man, and since then she had taken it upon herself to learn all about her Aboriginal culture, and became a wonderful medicine woman taking care of other tribes and her nephew Xavier.

Turns out someone has done a YouTube video on the Windigo in this book its well done: