To be honest im still not sure if i liked Three Day Road or not. On one hand the writing is very lyrical and poignant and i have to admit the story itself is very moving. However there were a few problematic issues i personally feel as though the Joseph Boyden maybe presented a very narrow picture of Indigenous people. I feel like the character of Niska plays into the whole “mystical native” stereotype? i also feel as though the book doesn’t give the reader a overall picture of what was happening to indigenous people at that time as Xavier and Niska’s living situation was quite different from the majority of indigenous people at this time. Maybe the author chose to write them this way to try and show the struggle of native people to still live in their traditional ways. However im not really sure about that.
One thing about the book that i did find interesting, was the fact that Niska sufferd from epilepsy. I thought the attitude that the clan had towards this dieses was interesting to compare with the current european attitude about epilepsy. European tradition tends to shame epilepsy for a long time it was thought to be a sign that you were possessed by the devil. And the majority of people who suffered from this dieses suffered in silence. While the understanding of epilepsy has increased since then it is still considered an embarrassing secret. For example my nana suffered from epilepsy and the only reason that her husband found out was because she had a seizure in front of him. this shows that epilepsy was still ver misunderstood. In contrast Niska’s tribe believes that it gives her mystical powers that allow her to see the future amongst other things. While this gift is not welcomed by Niska she acknowledges that it gives her a certain power and status within her community.
I found this interesting mainly because of my personal connection but also because so often we get stuck in this trap of thinking that only westren values and practices are worth learning and practicing. And we forget that our society is extremely problematic when it comes to a lot of issues. Often the west is too proud to look at what other cultures were doing well and learn from them. This reminds us that no society or way of life is without flaws and we must learn from every culture.
Hey Tamasyn, I agree that the different cultures don’t interact enough due to a kind of enthnocentricm and therefore they miss out on the possibility of new perspectives. One point I disagree with you on is how Boyden is stereotypical of some Aboriginal characters. Yes Niska does seem like the ”wildling”, but Boyden provides many other Aborignial characters and divulge their experiences which are not as typical as we’d expect such as Joseph Netmaker and even Elijah. I suppose if some Aborinigal people where stereotyped, you could also say Boyden was slightly stereotypical in the depictions of some of the Wemistikoshiw.