How Does Elijah Change In Three Day Road

The Road, a post apocalyptic novel,written by Cormac McCarthy, tells the story of a father and son traveling along the cold, barren and ash ridden interstate highways of America. Pushing all their worldly possessions in a shopping cart, they struggle to survive. Faced with despair, suicide and cannibalism, the father and son show a deep loving and caring that keeps them going through unimaginable horrors. Through the setting of a post apocalyptic society, McCarthy demonstrates the psychological effects of isolation and the need to survive and how these effects affect the relationships of the last few people on Earth.

The ability to paint beautiful ideas on a canvas of dark events and imagery is an essential skill in the arsenal of an accomplished writer. In his novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy demonstrates his understanding of this skill. A reviewer from the San Francisco Chronicle described The Road saying, “[McCarthy’s] tale of survival and the miracle of goodness only adds to McCarthy’s stature as a living master. It’s gripping, frightening, and, ultimately, beautiful.” These descriptions of the tale are true throughout the novel, but particularly at the ending of the story. In the final pages of the book, McCarthy continues to engage the reader with gripping and frightening moments, to emphasize the theme of survival, and to reveal beauty and “the miracle of goodness.”

The characters change drastically throughout the novel especially David Strorm. He changes from the young innocent boy to an adult striving for his acceptance. David is brought up in a house hold and community that teaches to not accept deviants. In his adolescence David starts realizing that he is not like the others. He believes that it is ok to have differences, especially when he meets Sophie and the way his community captures her sending her away because they believe she is not the true image of the Lord. “The essential quality of life is living, the essential quality of living is change; change is evolution: and we are part of it. The static, the

Boyden equates Elijah to the windigo in order to symbolize the trauma he suffers . Much like the cannibalistic creature Elijah is likened to, taking human lives “doesn’t seem to bother him” (Boyden 98) in fact he enjoys his role as sniper. As the war unfolds and Elijah is exposed to more and more violence he develops a blood thirst “he can’t satisfy” (Boyden 326). Not only does Elijah exhibit a lack a of control concerning his violent impulses but also a lack of control concerning the use of moriphine. As the novel progresses, “Elijah’s eyes glow with the medicine in his veins” ( Boyden 243) with an increasing frequency. After recognising these signs and determining Elijah had “gone windigo” (Boyden 259) Xavier decides he must kill Elijah as Elijah is no longer the person he once knew. By showing Elijah’s gradual loss of compassion and self control, Boyden is able to use the symbol of the windigo to represent Elijah’s psychological deterioration. Boyden not only uses this device to reflect the psychological toll of war on First Nations soldiers but also the devastating impact of the residential school system. By having the character who suffered abuse at and spent more time in residential school undergo more severe mental degradation and symbolically turn

Notably, life on the road captivates many young adults, because it has a desirable notion of finding one’s happiness throughout the experiences they may encounter. Though life on the road provides a sensation of relief and airness by breaking away from society, it is not a permanent solution to those who want to obtain happiness by running away. In the instance of Chris McCandless, he demonstrates his unhappiness of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and instead feels asphyxiated by both his family and the society that surrounds him. It is only until McCandless decided to break away, did he feel free from his claustrophobic environment. Krakauer narrates, “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (pg.22). McCandless rejected what society and his parents had to offer, because it did not situate well with his sensitive and philanthropist-like mentality. Krakauer characterizes how McCandless could not stomach the fact that there were many problems plaguing society, and yet he managed to live a privileged life while others had to suffer. In McCandless’s society, where wealth and materialistic values were the keys to happiness‒McCandless could not conform. Thus, he broke away, by chasing his own happiness abiet in an unconventional way. However, contrary to how McCandless viewed himself, it

His ability to think right is demolished in the war as his desire for fitting in with the other soldiers' increments. Readers are also aware that he drops his Cree accent while developing a British one when he says “Dear Henry,” Elijah says using their code, “would you be a kind chap and make me a cup of tea?” (Boyden 144)”. His wanting to adapt to the English language and culture, physically distances him from his own. The novel shows that Elijah starts to separate himself from his culture and now, even his language.

Elijah started fighting with Xavier, scared of what his friend had become, Xaiver’s mind thought of windigos and Niska. Finally, he strangled Elijah, took his ID and peacefully laid his Mauser beside Elijah. Right afterwards, Xavier was hit by a shell. Unconscious and lost his leg, he was sent to the hospital to be treated as Elijah. He, then found out that it was because of Elijah’s ID in his pocket. Xavier was allowed to return to Canada after a series of treatments, with an envelope of morphine from the kind nurse. The last chapter returns back to the present in the book, where Niska and Xavier stop beside the river to rest. Niska builds a matatosowin, constructed by heated stones used to call for the spirits and ancestors of the aboriginal people. She called for the spirits, and began to see and feel what Xavier had experienced in the war. The story ends with Niska narrating that they will be home tomorrow. Conflict is concentrated on the fight between Elijah and Xavier. Elijah wants to continue to snipe and kill while Xavier wants to leave because of the heavy bombardment. During the fight, Elijah has an internal conflict between his reasoning and blood thirsty

People will be motivated to make powerful decisions to become something greater and achieve greatness, However sometimes these decisions can put great amount of stress on the soul as well as mentally. Joseph Boyden delved into this idea in the book Three Day Road by using the protagonist, Xavier Bird, and his road of healing and acceptance. Joseph Boyden developed how hard it is to cope with guilt and live unrestrained, however can help those to accept their actions as well as to live with nothing to weigh them down.

In the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, Elijah Weesageechak and his best friend Xavier Bird are Cree soldiers fighting as snipers in World World One. Elijah becomes corrupted by the war, which leads to his own death by the end of the book. The war transforms Elijah into a person that Xavier no longer recognizes. He becomes insane. His transformation was due to the abuse of morphine, loss of his identity and his endless fame in the war. These are just some points that contribute to Elijah’s mentality.

He dies physically after he loses his left leg, mentally after he survives the war and sees flashbacks of his experience there, and emotionally after he kills his only best friend, and brother from another mother, Elijah, during the war. However, he survives because he is spiritually strong and has the mentality that, if he survives through the war, he will be able to go back to his aunt Niska in the bush and strengthen his native spirits according to her teachings. The native spirits that make him feel powerful because he is proud of who he is and wants to live with the traditions that he grows up

Through the traverse of 3 days, the Hoover family takes a road trip that progressions, each of them exclusively and as a three-generational family. The most unconventionally miserable family you will ever experience. Their individual self-centered identities will put them in terrible positions, however soon enough each family member will work together. As we get to be familiar with each of the Hoovers, we see them separately either making progress toward the status of a broken family.

By looking at the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden one can see the struggles that comes with someone trying to live a live unburdened after succumbing to external sources. Furthermore, Joseph Boyden develops on this idea of how hard it is to repair themselves and becoming human once more.

In his novel The Road Cormac McCarthy uses a post-apocalyptic setting to help broaden the debate over moral good and evil. Not only do the main characters in his novel display either good or evil in their actions, but so do the people they encounter on their journey. These encounters are shaped by the moral decisions each individual makes. In this novel’s setting it is hard to define good and evil, but the choices made can still be applied to a non-apocalyptic world. McCarthy uses the experiences of the main characters to demonstrate that no matter what the scenario good will overcome evil.

There are three main things that influence a character. They are the environment the character is in, the people the character interacts with, and the experiences that the character goes through. The identity of a person or a character is never complete. The identity will just continue to grow as you grow as a person. The experiences, people, and environment will continue to change your identity as you go through life. Even if a character in a book is deceased their identity can still be growing because the other characters may find things that change their perspective on a person. Someone will always grow as a person which will change their identity. Authors can reveal identity in many different ways. An author can tell you all about that person in the beginning of the book. A person can go from a happy person to a depressed person because of experience, or the environment they're exposed to. Another way that an author can reveal a character's identity is through objects that they have or things that they wrote on. An author can also reveal a character in a book =through the actions that they make or even the people that they are friends with or interact with on a daily basis. My own identity is quite similar and different to Johnny Cade in the book The Outsiders.

Life on the road is like an adventure an individual goes on either in search for change. Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild provides an example of how life on the road causes change for the individual, in this cause for Chris McCandless. In the beginning Chris McCandless is self centered twenty four year old college graduate. During college, he invests his time and effort in his education and rarely went home. He doesn’t feel the need to go home and especially because he uncovered his father’s lie about his affair. McCandless became very passive aggressive against his father. Eventually his emotions started to come out so he decided to leave his normal life and travel to Alaska. During his journey Chris has encountered many people that formed a bond with McCandless. Towards the end of his journey, Chris is exhausted and qualmish from mistakenly eating a poisonous potato. He ended up decomposing into skin and bones from the poison and starvation. The advantage of life on the road for McCandless was the the freedom he gained, allowing him to become independent, but in the end the disadvantage is the negative effect it has on loved ones or connections built along the way. While life on the road has the advantage of how it causes loved ones to feel worry and questions their motives, the advantage is that the individuals are able to discover themselves and develop into someone more independent; therefore more people who are dependent on society should live life on the road while