Identity In Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is about identity. Throughout the book, Wes Moore questions why he and the other Wes Moore had such different lives, even though, they shared a name. In doing so, it caused him to look deeper into his background and himself and wonder how he ended up where he was, along with the other Wes Moore. According to Wes Moore, “As I’ve puzzled over the issue, I’ve become convinced that there are some clear and powerful measures that can be taking during this crucial time in a young person’s life” (Moore 179). He had discovered that he and the other Wes Moore had similar upbringings, but the choices he made differed from the other Wes Moore’s choices. They’ve both made decisions that influenced how their fate would end

The Amish are a community of people that nobody knows much about, but everybody wants to learn more about. In her essay “Becoming Literate: A Lesson From the Amish,” Andrea Fishman attempts to outline some of the principles of Amish culture and the way that the Amish raise their children. Her uncertain focus leads the reader to a whirlwind of thoughts while reading this essay and could confuse many readers that are paying close attention to her content. Fishman bases her essay around differences between the Amish child and the mainstream child and goes into detail about how each child is raised learning to read. She attempts to discredit the way that Amish children are taught to read, yet also praises the Amish and how they bring up children. Trough unfocused content about Amish reading strategies, Fishman fails to convey that children of all lifestyles grow up reading the world.

In the reading “Son” by Andrew Solomon, horizontal and vertical identities are compared and dissected through the lenses of society’s perceptions. A vertical identity is when “attributes and values are passed down from parent to child not only through DNA, but also through shared cultural norms”, while a horizontal identity is when “someone has an inherent or acquired trait that is foreign to his or her parents” (370). Solomon being a gay, dyslexic man brought up as an anti-Jew Jew, has well delved into the controversy of the ethics between what is considered an illness versus what is accepted as an identity.

Through the Medicine Wheel, we are reminded of our lifelong journey that is continuous upon birth and living through youth, adulthood and senior years. In Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse, the protagonist Saul experiences many obstacles which shape and develop his character. Saul’s life can be divided into more than the four stages of life to better understand his journey.

Death, sickness, and torture among humans. The Germans were extremely cruel people during WW1. Jews were taken from their homes and put into concentration camps where they were forced to do work or die. In The Devil’s Arithmetic the tragedy and harshness of these camps was brought to life. Using real life details mixed with made up things, The Devil’s Arithmetic is a story full of suspense and truth that shows the pain and suffering in the camp. I believe that the book and the movie are good but the book is better. You can decide later.

“‘Foward! March.’ My father was crying. It was the first time I saw him cry. I had never thought it was possible” (Weisel 19).

Family members and close friends impact people’s lives in immeasurable ways. Octavia E. Butler uses this to develope Lauren in Parable of the Sower through interactions with the people around her. Growing up in a bleak area of a now dismal United States, her faithful upbringing contrasts with the necessary survival mentality demanded by the outside world.Two effectual characters in Lauren’s journey are her father, Reverend Olamina, and her younger brother, Keith. These two characters represent extremes of both devotion and destruction as they influence Lauren to choose her own path as an adult. Each character has a separate impact on Lauren as she matures into adulthood.

Joseph Boyden’s novel Three Day Road demonstrates how effective betrayal is at destroying our hopes and beliefs.

Even for most soldiers they would be quite uncomfortable killing a human, but Elijah does not even think twice about what he has just done. He even tries to justify that his actions were right and it had to be done. Guilt is no longer a part of Elijah and it is seen when he feels no remorse for killing an innocent child. Elijah possessing no guilt adds on to his ineffective way of coping with his adversities. Elijah disregards human lives by treating humans as a motivation for his own satisfaction which results in mental instability. This is seen when the squadron was short on food and Xavier asks Elijah if he is hungry. Elijah responds by saying, “I have found the one thing I am truly talented at and that is killing men. I do not need food when I have this.” (Boyden, 320). This quote signifies that Elijah views killing men as a sport rather than an assigned job. During the food shortage, he starts to live off the feeling he gets from killing people. This results in Elijah becoming mentally unstable which further hinders him from coping with his adversities effectively. Elijah choses to forget about his culture which results in a loss of humane beliefs. This is seen when Elijah and Xavier are going to push into No man’s land as they were putting charcoal on their face. “Elijah and I sit together, away from the others, and charcoal our faces. It’s our ritual. It’s what I call wemistikoshiw smudging ceremony. Elijah laughs at me. No Indian religion for him. The only Indian Elijah wants to be is the Indian that knows how to hunt and hide.” (Boyden, 137). This shows that Elijah doesn’t believe in the Cree culture and doesn’t practice their beliefs. The loss of humane beliefs impacts him in a negative way because he can’t differentiate between right and wrong. In Cree culture, there is a strict rule that you can’t take the lives of others for one’s satisfaction. However, this

One reoccurring theme that is present in the Holocaust is a change of identity with everyone involved. The incidents people confronted, especially the Jews, during this harsh time was life changing and traumatic. The identity of many in the concentration camps changed; young and innocent children developed into mature men. Elie Wiesel in the novella, Night, faces a change of identity within himself and the surrounding people, the Jews, through a variety of events that he encounters.

Many people may not know much in the way of their identity. The challenges can help people learn about themselves through the actions they take and what they can achieve in the face of adversity. Learning about your identity is represented quite well by Santiago in Paulo Coelho’s fantasy novel The Alchemist. The the start of the story Santiago is lost with no goal in life and has little knowledge of what it outside of the plains and towns of Spain. Then Santiago is faced with massive amounts of adversity in the form of a threat of death he learn about his identity and learns that he can face and overcome the challenge. Ultimately Santiago has developed his identity through the soul of the world and alchemy and has achieved his personal legend

Imagine a world where everything seems perfect but truly it is not as pleasant as it appears. In The Giver by Lois Lowry shows us a community in the future with no feelings at all. Jonas a twelve year old boy knows his life as it is and one evening he learns the truth about the community. Jonas set’s off into a adventure to change it all. Character,conflict,and symbolism makes the reader see thru the eyes of a twelve year old in a place of slavery disguised without anyone knowing it.

In Julio Polanco’s poem, “Identity”, the author develops the theme that one should be true to himself through the extended metaphor of ugly weeds feeling beautiful. The narrator wanted to be freed from the burden and pressure of trying to fit in so he’d “rather be a tall, ugly weed” (Palanco). This expresses the idea that inward appearance trumps outward appearance and inner beauty is achieved through being yourself. The metaphor conveys how he wanted freedom and to live an adventurous life without being forced to be something other than himself and that had a greater meaning than beauty.

Three Day Road is a novel by Joseph Boyden, first published in 2005. The story is set from Niska’s teenage days in the early 1870s to the pre-WWI years, the war itself and the immediate post-war time. It takes place in Northern Ontario and on the battlefields of France and Belgium. We follow two parallel narratives, Niska’s and Xavier’s. They are both Cree Indians. She is one of the last Canadian medicine women to live off the land. Niska is a proud, strong and independent character who does not give in during a time of cultural interference from the white people. Her two boys, Xavier and Elijah, have fought in the Great War and one of them has returned. Xavier is an invalid and addicted to the army’s morphine when he comes back to Canada.

Authors like Joseph Boyden teach readers about aboriginal culture, tradition and discrimination thorough a native perspective; this is shown through the book Three Day Road. Three Day Road is an award winning novel which shows the struggles many solders faced during WW1. This is exactly portrayed by the two main characters, Elijah and Xavier. Xavier is deeply rooted in his native culture and tradition. Whereas Elijah is more outgoing and likes taking risks as he begins to identify with the “white” culture. All of the challenges and ordeals they face lead them to alter their cultural identity so they would be seen as better solders, in order to overcome their obstacles they turn to addiction and under all the pressure they fall into a competition which affects their friendship and puts their lives at risk.