Birds are symbolic of the connection between nature and the Anishnabe people in Three Day Road, and the similarities between Indigenous characters and birds highlights their cohesion with the natural world in contrast to their alienation from wemistikoshiw (European) society. Xavier’s last name is Bird, and Elijah’s last name, Weesageechak, is mispronounced by the wemistikoshiw as Whiskeyjack, a common name for the Canadian grey jay. In Anishnabe culture, the weesageechak is a legendary “trickster” figure who can take different forms at will. Wemistikoshiw settlers saw such a trickster in the bold grey jays that stole food and “loved to hear [their] own voice.” Elijah, too, is reflected in this description of the grey jay. Elijah is a “trickster,” always looking to crack a joke, and he proves himself brave and bold during the war. It even seems as though he can even take different forms at will, as he is comfortable in both his Indigenous life and the wemistikoshiw ways. Elijah is boastful, and he frequently tells stories, sometimes only to “hear his own voice,” much like the incessant chirping of a bird. Indeed, birds are certainly reflected in both Elijah and Xavier, which underscores the deep cultural connection between nature and the Anishnabe people.
Boyden further extends the metaphor of birds and freedom to airplanes during World War I. Whereas birds represent the freedom and contentment that Elijah and Xavier experience in connection to their culture, the planes they experience as soldiers in World War I are the exact opposite. As a soldier during World War I, Elijah watches the military planes “swoop like osprey,” and he dreams of one day being able to fly. “I wish I could fly like that,” Elijah says, “like a bird.” He claims he “would give his left arm”—an interesting choice of words since Xavier later loses his leg—just to fly. Elijah equates birds and flying with freedom but discovers when he gets a chance to fly that he isn’t that free. “I’ve always known men weren’t meant to fly,” Xavier says after the war. Elijah believes that the war gives him freedom to kill without remorse or consequence, and he has little fear of dying himself. Before going up in the plane, Elijah is fearless; but flying teaches him that he isn’t invincible, and he begins to truly think about death for the first time. The kind of freedom Elijah seeks doesn’t exist, and he only realizes this after he flies. In this sense, airplanes come to replace birds as Elijah’s representation of flying, much like wemistikoshiw culture usurps his own Anishnabe traditions. Flying becomes a disconnection from, rather than a connection to, his culture—a shift that makes Elijah realize just how trapped he is in the societal expectations thrust upon him as a soldier.
Birds and Airplanes Quotes in Three Day Road
Where is he? We spent the whole war together only to lose each other in the last days. A shell landed too close to me. It threw me into the air so that suddenly I was a bird. When I came down I no longer had my left leg. I've always known men aren't meant to fly
The other soldiers often ask Elijah about his name too. And he is happy to talk. His Cree name is Weesageechak. But that is something he doesn't share with the wemistikoshiw. Whiskeyjack is how they say his name, make it their own. He has told me that what they do to his name is what sounds to my ears like a longer word for bastard, making his name a name without a family.
"Whiskeyjacks should fly better," he says.
Elijah looks at him. "How do you know my name?"
"I don't," the man says. "I was dreaming. There was a flock of whiskeyjacks." He looks confused. "They were pecking at something dead."
Elijah stands and walks back to me.
"What did the old man say to you?" I ask.
"He knew my name. Claims he was dreaming of whiskeyjacks."
"It's a sign,” I say.
"Everything's a sign to you." Elijah looks out the window. "Hey, there’s a sign," he says, pointing outside. "It says Abitibi River. But you wouldn't know that, considering you're a heathen."
Elijah kicks at the ground. "Listen to me, X," he says. "l should never have gotten in that aeroplane. Before that I believed nothing could hurt me over here. But I lost something up there is what it feels like. I need to get it back." Elijah reaches his hand out to a horse. It shies away. "I can see that I went too far into a dangerous place for a while. But I see that." He stops talking, then starts again. "Does that mean something?"
"Show us how the grouse danced," Old Francis said, and drunk from the attention, you stood, and made everyone else stand around the fire too. You imitated the big grouse, and everyone lifted their arms and moved around the circle. Do you remember? You called out and we moved around the circle, and then you raised your arms and called out again and we all touched our fingertips above our heads and moved the other way, you rustling your arms like feathered wings and everyone laughing. And that is when I said, "From now on we call you Little Bird Dancer," and everyone laughed and agreed it was a good name for you.
Tonight I do not worry about making camp. I just pull our blankets from the canoe and we curl up in them and watch the fire. In a little while I will have to add more wood to keep the chill away. Nephew breathes calmly. I listen to the sounds of the night animals not so far away. I hear the fox and the marten chasing mice. I hear the whoosh of great wings as an Arctic owl sweeps close by, and after that the almost silent step of a bigger animal, a lynx perhaps, keeping watch with her yellow eyes. I lie here and look at the sky, then at the river, the black line of it heading north. By tomorrow we'll be home.
Birds and Airplanes Symbol Timeline in Three Day Road
