Connections: The Novel and Us

With an appealing and stunning plot and a powerful theme, the novel “Three Day Road” not only impresses me with its nicely depicted bloody war scenes, but also connects to me. Being zealous about war history since grade two, I have read dozens of books about the two great wars, and I am extremely familiar with all the events that happened during these two wars. However, I have never had a chance to feel the inner sentiment of soldiers who fought in those wars. Thus, I am uncertain about the effect of war on soldiers and I am really curious about their emotional development. This is exactly what the novel “Three Day Road” brings to me. Through the breathtaking storytelling of Xavier, a Cree soldier who has fought for Canada during WWI, we can understand his attitude and his perception toward all the killing and moreover the war itself. This novel provides us, teenagers who have never experienced a real war, with an insightful understanding in war’s cruelty and humans’ fragility in front of it, which is shown on Elijah and Xavier. Elijah’s addiction to morphine, along with his desire to fit in the white community, has turned him into an insane murderer who savors killing. His habit of taking human scalps is an excellent proof of how greatly war can affect a person’s mental state. The novel helps people realize that war is the last thing that people should consider going into.

This amazing piece of literature put up by Joseph Boyden really has a huge influence on readers, since it conveys the cruelty of war and convinces us that peace is one thing that we must always pursue. Interestingly, many films and literal works also possess “anti-war” gists. Movies such as “Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Pearl Harbor”, and “Full Metal Jacket” plus books such as “War and Peace” and “A Bell for Adano” are excellent examples. One movie that I would like to further introduce is a famous American movie called “All Quiet on the Western Front”, which talks about a nineteen-year-old student named Paul Baumer joining the German army with his friends to fight against the French during the first World War. Paul eventually realizes that war is not as glorious and honorable as he thought. The story ends up with Paul and his classmates getting killed in the war. This movie shares many similarities with our novel “Three Day Road”. For instance, both stories are based on the First World War, and they both present WWI as a giant meat grinder that ends multitudinous human lives in a blink of time. They both demonstrate the change of humanity during a war. Most importantly, each of them tells us that fighting a war may bring you honor and glory, but for sure it will mutate humanity.

Lastly, the novel “Three day road” also connects to the world as it conveys two important messages through Xavier’s horrifying war experience and Aunt Niska’s past memories. Firstly, the marvellous and profound culture of the aboriginals should be protected, and their unique identities should be kept and be respected. This is actually an important topic nowadays since the Indian culture, being incessantly interfered with the white culture and ever-advancing technology, is gradually being lost. Secondly, the book warns everyone that war can remove things that are important to people and bring them infinite harm; therefore, war must be avoided.