Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Three Day Road, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Isolation vs. Community
Racism and Assimilation
Language and Storytelling
Nature, War, and Survival
Summary
Analysis
Xavier’s unit reaches the front trench where men look through periscopes at the other side. McCaan goes to look for an officer, and Xavier, Elijah, and the others are left with two new soldiers, Graves and Gilberto. Gilberto is a large man, a farmer back home, and Xavier is immediately fond of him because his English is poor. McCaan returns with an officer named Thompson and leads them through the trenches, past the snipers, to their new living quarters. It is little more than a muddy ditch, but the men waste no time trying “to make it into something livable.”
At this point in the war, Xavier speaks very little English. He did not grow up at the residential school like Elijah, so Xavier wasn’t forced to speak English. But this is a double-edged sword for Xavier; speaking his Native language preserves Xavier’s culture and identity, but his inability to speak English is isolating and marginalizing. Xavier finds a kinship with Gilberto because he, too, is marginalized through language.
Themes
Elijah and Xavier watch the airplanes circle and learn to tell the difference between German planes and those belonging to allies. The planes “swoop like ospreys” before disappearing in the distance. “I wish I could fly like that,” Elijah says, “like a bird.” At sunset, they are ordered to “stand-to” with their rifles ready. Dusk and dawn are popular times of attack, and the men squat in the trenches waiting for the enemy.
Birds underscore Elijah’s connection to nature through his Native heritage, but birds also represent ultimate freedom to Elijah because they can fly. He sees that freedom reflected in the military airplanes and grows obsessed over flying in one.
Themes
McCaan goes to a periscope and looks across “no man’s land” in the growing darkness. He moves the periscope rapidly back and forth, drawing the attention of the German gunners. Xavier opens his mouth to warn McCaan but only Cree words escape. McCaan is thrown back from the periscope, his eye quickly swelling shut. A large hole has been shot through the periscope. When a medic appears, McCaan “pushes him away.”
Xavier’s inability to speak English nearly results in McCaan’s death. Xavier’s Native language keeps him connected to his Cree identity, but here it distances him from the men in his unit. While Xavier’s alienation doesn’t usually affect others, here the consequences are nearly disastrous.
Themes
