Applying Reader Response Literary Theory

The novel, Three Day Road, so far has been breath-taking, I am always wondering what will happen next with such suspense and curiosity. I began reading this book only about a couple of weeks ago and the author, Joseph Boyden, intrigues my mind. I am truly impressed and commend the way he writes because he depicts this story so thoroughly with such description and detail. Boyden is quite talented as a writer and showcases his works through this novel. Essentially, this tale follows these two male best friends of Ojibwe-Cree descent named, Xavier and Elijah, during the first world war otherwise known as World War I. Ojibwe-Cree is a group of indigenous First Nations people originally from North America and they still continue to reside in both Canada and the United States to this day. The novel contains multiple settings which primarily include, Northern Ontario along with the battlefields of the war in Belgium and France. However, another very important and integral figure in this novel who also happened to be the first character introduced is an elderly Ojibwe-Cree woman that goes by the name of Niska. Niska is Xavier’s aunt but she also raised and took care of Elijah, and the novel is written and narrated in first-person from the perspective of either Niska or Xavier. I also did some brief research about the author and the novel, as it turns out Boyden was inspired to write this book due to a man known as Francis Pegahmagabow who was a remarkable sniper during World War I and is of Ojibwe-Cree descent.

                                          

            Based on what I have read so far up to this point; I can infer that the events that transpire during the war hinders the relationship between Xavier and Elijah. Xavier and Elijah grew up together and have been best friends long before the war. I feel as though, they will compete against one another in order to prove to themselves who is superior between the two. Xavier said: “I know I am a better shot than Elijah, that it was me who taught him the ways of the bush. But they are drawn to Elijah and his easy smile” (Boyden 78). Using this quote, I can infer that Xavier thinks of himself to be better than Elijah and I will predict that he will try to prove himself. The kind of thinking that Xavier is experiencing could cause growing tension with Elijah and cause them to drift further apart from one another. Friends being jealous of one another can be common especially during adolescent stages such as, one friend owning more material object than the other. Although, in the confines of war I don’t think you should allow personal emotions to cloud your mind but you should rather focus on completing the task at hand as quickly as possible. I am wondering why he cares so much about Elijah receiving praise and attention if all of it is coming from the wemistikoshiw, also known as the white people to the Aboriginals, because they seem to hate wemistikoshiw so why would their opinions have any merit to them, they should not matter. Also, it seems that Xavier will gain an addiction to morphine during his time at war. Xavier describing what he felt when he used morphine, “It allowed me to leave my body and see what was around me” (Boyden 123). I can not even imagine what one may experience in war and I would not want to but these traumatizing events that occurred during the war must have led Xavier to a growing addiction to morphine. I can picture Xavier feeling indescribable mental and physical pain and him just looking forward to sticking a needle into his body. Once he finishes, I can just imagine all of his pain seeming to magically go away until the next day begins and it feels like hell all over again.

 Boyden has a great grasp on what war experiences are like almost as if he participated in the war himself. I found that it was very easy in to sympathize with how the Xavier would view the world. He was serving the country which he did not have to especially with how Caucasian people would treat First Nations people. Also, he saw his best friend somewhat assimilating with the wemistikoshiw through him spending much time with them. He then seems to use morphine which looks as if he is about to become addicted to it pain killing attributes. So, it isn’t difficult to sympathize with someone that is going through something that I would never wish upon anyone to experience. The author meant for this book to be read by Canadian people because it shows the harsh reality of what people that served out country went through along with how they mistreat Aboriginals. In conclusion, I feel the strengths I have gained through reading this novel are the enhance textual analysis skills and along with my ability to read in between the lines to learn the deeper meaning within the author’s writing.