Three Day Road

Three Day Road

by

Joseph Boyden

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Three Day Road makes teaching easy.

Niska’s Father Character Analysis

Father to Niska and Rabbit, and “the last great talker of [their] clan. Niska’s father told many stories when Niska was young, and he also served as the clan’s hookimaw (spiritual leader). Niska’s father comes from “a long line of windigo killers,” and when Micah’s wife and baby “go windigo” (are infected by an evil Anishnabe spirit), Niska’s father is forced to kill them to save the rest of the clan. Niska sneaks into her father’s lodge and watches as he kills Micah’s wife and baby, and even though Niska’s father knows that she is there, he says nothing. He knows that Niska will have to kill windigos one day too, and he wants her to be prepared. The wemistikoshiw (European people) in Moose Factory hear of Niska’s father’s actions, and they come to the bush to arrest him for murder. He dies alone in the wemistikoshiw jail. Niska’s father underscores the cultural division between the native Cree and the wemistikoshiw. The wemistikoshiw do not understand Cree culture or why Niska’s father had to kill Micah’s wife and baby, and they don’t even try. The wemistikoshiw wish to see the Indigenous people completely assimilate to white culture, and they force it in any way they can. Niska’s father reflects this forced assimilation.

Niska’s Father Quotes in Three Day Road

The Three Day Road quotes below are all either spoken by Niska’s Father or refer to Niska’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Isolation vs. Community Theme Icon
).
Noohtaawiy: My Father Quotes

The following afternoon my mother and father prepared the bear for us. Normally we did our butchering outside, but the bear was our brother, and so he was invited in. Nothing was rushed. Nothing was to be wasted for fear of angering him. The knife used couldn't touch anything else. Any of the hair that the bear shed was carefully collected from the floor and clothing, and burned in the fire, whispered prayers drifting up with the stinking smoke. My parents carefully laid the animal on his back on freshly cut spruce boughs, talking to him, whispering prayers for what seemed like hours. They rocked back and forth on their haunches, my father sprinkling bits of powder into the flames that brought into the room a sweet smell I recognized as cedar. I was alarmed when at one point my father began to cry. I'd never seen this before and was frightened, but I remained beneath his heavy moose robe.

Related Characters: Niska (speaker), Niska’s Father, Niska’s Mother
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Shakocihew: Seducing Quotes

The awawatuk accepted that I was the natural extension of my father, the new limb through which my family's power travelled. By the time I was living my seventeenth winter, men would come to me not for what men usually seek women out for, but to ask questions and advice. Most often, they wanted to know where to find game, and so I divined for them, placing the shoulder blade of the animal on coals and dripping water onto it as I had watched my father do. The rare hunter came to me wanting to understand the symbol of a dream and sometimes to learn his future. If I had not experienced a fit in some time, I constructed a shaking tent and crawled into it, summoned the spirits of the forest animals to come inside and join me, so many of them sometimes that the walls of my tent puffed out and drew in with their breath, becoming a living thing all its own. Most often, though, it was the spirit of the lynx that came to me first and stayed through the night, showing through its sharp eyes the secrets of the forest.

Related Characters: Niska (speaker), Niska’s Father
Related Symbols: The Lynx
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
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Niska’s Father Quotes in Three Day Road

The Three Day Road quotes below are all either spoken by Niska’s Father or refer to Niska’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Isolation vs. Community Theme Icon
).
Noohtaawiy: My Father Quotes

The following afternoon my mother and father prepared the bear for us. Normally we did our butchering outside, but the bear was our brother, and so he was invited in. Nothing was rushed. Nothing was to be wasted for fear of angering him. The knife used couldn't touch anything else. Any of the hair that the bear shed was carefully collected from the floor and clothing, and burned in the fire, whispered prayers drifting up with the stinking smoke. My parents carefully laid the animal on his back on freshly cut spruce boughs, talking to him, whispering prayers for what seemed like hours. They rocked back and forth on their haunches, my father sprinkling bits of powder into the flames that brought into the room a sweet smell I recognized as cedar. I was alarmed when at one point my father began to cry. I'd never seen this before and was frightened, but I remained beneath his heavy moose robe.

Related Characters: Niska (speaker), Niska’s Father, Niska’s Mother
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Shakocihew: Seducing Quotes

The awawatuk accepted that I was the natural extension of my father, the new limb through which my family's power travelled. By the time I was living my seventeenth winter, men would come to me not for what men usually seek women out for, but to ask questions and advice. Most often, they wanted to know where to find game, and so I divined for them, placing the shoulder blade of the animal on coals and dripping water onto it as I had watched my father do. The rare hunter came to me wanting to understand the symbol of a dream and sometimes to learn his future. If I had not experienced a fit in some time, I constructed a shaking tent and crawled into it, summoned the spirits of the forest animals to come inside and join me, so many of them sometimes that the walls of my tent puffed out and drew in with their breath, becoming a living thing all its own. Most often, though, it was the spirit of the lynx that came to me first and stayed through the night, showing through its sharp eyes the secrets of the forest.

Related Characters: Niska (speaker), Niska’s Father
Related Symbols: The Lynx
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis: