Intergenerational Trauma In Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road

The assimilative policies put forth by the Canadian government beginning in the late 1800’s had detrimental impacts on the lives of Indigenous peoples. The unwavering abuse and suffering inflicted upon Indigenous cultures through the use of residential schools and racism leaves Canadians with an unchangeable past. The continuous cycle of intergenerational trauma represented through the historical fiction Three Day Road written by Joseph Boyden tells the story of an Indigenous veteran on the battlefield and his later addiction to morphine. Through the split narrative told by Xavier Bird and his aunt Niska, the traumatizing experience of World War One and its aftermath are revealed through the stories told by each character. With the use of

Xavier’s recall to his experience in the graphic and horrific scene of war reveals the immense pain and trauma he holds. The reader is walked through first hand the feeling of being on the front line of war, experiencing the horrors and death constantly surrounding the soldiers. Many of the soldiers in the novel, including Elijiah, used the morphine as an escape from reality rather than its intended purpose as a painkiller. For them, “it is more than medicine”(153), it was the thing that “ate men” (10), leaving them numb against the pain of the war. As Xavier witnessed the change that occurred in Elijah after battling with his own addiction to the drug, he promised to himself to never give into trying it. However, when Xavier is gravely injured in an explosion, his promise is soon broken and he too, shortly becomes addicted to the drug. The morphine begins to control more than just the pain for Xavier and quickly, it turns into an uncontrollable feeling that he cannot live without. Such pain and suffering could never be comprehended by his aunt Niska and this is represented as the narrative shifts to tell her story. NIska understands the things Xavier saw while overseas and knows that she can never relieve him from such deep pain. Once Xavier is released from the army, it is up to Niska to deal with the aftermath of such horrifying experience Xavier

By doing this, Boyden reiterates to his readers the detrimental impacts assimilation has created for Canadians. The story features the tales of war, displaying how hard and traumatic it was on soldiers. The constant gloom of death that surrounds the war paints a horrific and unwelcoming picture that makes readers think deeply of all those that fought in the war. As the narrative switches to Niska’s perspective, this same feeling of trauma and horror begins to unravel. Boyden uses the war as a metaphor to the assimilation of the Indigenous people of Canada. The stories told throughout Xavier’s time while enlisted connect back to the assimilation Niska faced in Moose Factory. The war is used to describe how hard white settlers tried to diminish all of Canada’s Indigenous culture. Boyden uses this metaphor to state that the assimilative policies that began in the 1800’s was an all out war on Indigenous culture. The scene of World War One featured throughout the book displays an army trying to obtain power and overrule lands. This idea is related to assimilation as the Indigenous culture was segregated from society and overpowered by the white settlers. The book allows the reader to truly understand what Indigenous people went through in Canada’s past by looking at assimilation as a war and not just some event in history. Soldiers battled for their life on the front