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 and Elijah walk through the deep snow along their hunting traplines. Both boys “have lived twelve winters,” and they are best friends. The night has been cold, and the sun is just about to rise. Xavier is sure and silent as he moves through the snow, but Elijah’s feet are “heavy.” The trees “moan and crack” under the strain of the cold, and “the sound is like dying.” As a trapline comes into view, the boys see a marten hanging just above the snow.
Immediately, Boyden establishes Xavier as a true “bush Indian.” He is confident and capable hunting in the bush, but Elijah is clumsy and unsure. Elijah has assimilated to the ways of the wemistikoshiw (Europeans), and he doesn’t move as easily through the bush as Xavier. Boyden’s language here also foreshadows the death and war to come. Just as in nature, Xavier frequently hears sounds of death on the battlefield.
Themes
Elijah runs excitedly to the marten and grabs it. The animal begins to “struggle” and “twist and snarl.” Elijah and Xavier are startled; neither expected the animal to still be alive. Elijah stops. “What do we do, Xavier?” he asks. “You must club it,” Xavier answers. Elijah picks up a stick and begins to hit the marten, the wounded animal “squealing” with each strike. Xavier’s stomach turns at the sound of the marten’s cries. He finds a heavy chunk of wood and hits the animal over the head. “We had to do it,” Xavier says.
Elijah and Xavier are both young and inexperienced, yet Xavier seems to innately know what to do. He doesn’t want to kill the marten, and this is reflected by his sick stomach, but he needs the fur to survive in the bush. This passage harkens to Xavier’s experiences at war. He must kill to survive (even though it makes him sick), and when Elijah is infected by the windigo spirit, Xavier must kill him to survive as well.
Themes
