We all have been looking forward to this reading week break, hoping to relax and get our mind off the excessive workload and midterm pressure we had before this. I am glad we got this opportunity so we can relax a bit and get back to the serious work ahead of us. Which includes our final exams and many of the major assignments for our courses this term. By now we are used to writing a lot and our works have improved significantly. I feel that the close reading assignment coming up will give us an opportunity to see where we stand now.

I would like to talk about Joseph Boyden’s “The Three Day Road” and the close reading assignment, in this blog posting. The entire novel is extremely interesting and there are so many different themes that it gets hard to decide what would be the best to pick. After much consideration I decided that I would emphasize on the end of the book. The reason for that is not only what we learn about friendship but also how it is so unexpected and plays a very important role in the novel. I now see the novel as a whole different story after reading the end. This shows us a lot about how important decisions change the lives of people, even though the intention may not be wrong but just one wrong decision here or there can completely change everything. The relationship between Elijah and Xavier, and how Xavier had to kill his own friend is a very important theme and it teaches us that in times of trial we should not forget what we really are.

Another important theme in this novel is the idea of elimination of the Aboriginal peoples. I feel this theme is important because Aboriginal Culture and issues is a major part of our CAP LAW AND SOCIETY.

I read about the Annual Women’s Memorial March that is held on the 14^th of February, which is also Valentine’s Day. I feel that this is necessary to remind us all about the mistreatment of the Aboriginal women, and women in general. It is heart rending to know that over 60 human beings have disappeared in that manner. This march honors those women and their families who never received justice even till now.

I’m sure everyone has plans for the reading week break and I hope they work out well and we all have a great time. I aim to work on this close reading assignment in the reading week, along with catching up on some of the history readings, and most of all relax so that the next couple of weeks, and the upcoming assignments go well.

I have read and seen many pieces of work that revolve around World War I. There are different perspectives, different stories, but at the end of it all I take away one common thing from them all. That one universal factor that makes these stories so alike yet so unique, is experience. Experience that protagonists, or in this case characters remember vividly, with so much attention to the details of things that happened. Three Day Road is a very interesting take on the War. I see it as a cultural definition of relationships formed and molded by time and place, by ethnicity and the drive to avoid steering away from cultural barriers. Even after the end of the war, it seems as though there is an ongoing conflict going on within Xavier and Nisaka. It is an epic story of the relationship between friends, between families. It shows how war can transform characters, or elevate certain immoralities as in the case of Elijah. His passion to kill, turning from enemies, to civilians and eventually to friends is a portrayal of the sad repercussions of war, of the mental state of soldiers, and the effect of drugs on one’s personality. The constant moral and cultural struggle within Xavier as he witnesses Elijah’s downfall while being associated with the same kind of liberties and surroundings is the true definition of a storm within. Which brings us to the question of the change in Xavier’s character throughout the novel, and why this change occurs in a person who could have had the same fate as his friend.

Contrary to what the question demands, I don’t really think Xavier changes much. We see him as a remorseful character, which is part of his moral code that links back to his upbringing and close connection to his cultural values. He feels bad about killing at war, regardless of his participation and evident role in the war. He does not compromise his beliefs over the advent of war, over the hatred for the enemy or in the company of someone like Elijah who we see keeps changing gradually, turning into “something that he’s not”. We do, however see some minor changes with regards to his morphine addiction and eventually losing faith in his ability to live after he returns to Nisaka. But with the help of her stories and motivation he fights to live, and that just proves that he is a man of strong character since the very beginning. As a child, he resisted to change when the nuns tried to eradicate the cultural values his family had, he stuck to speaking his own language and not believing the claims of evil lingering in the Cree heritage. As an adult, he resisted to becoming a war beast, he resisted to his drug addiction as he resisted to dying. Which clearly shows us that the resistance towards becoming someone else has been part of Xavier’s character all along. He has always been someone who cherishes where he came from and will do whatever it takes to keep that alive within him.