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
Elijah and Xavier are ordered to scout ahead at dawn. As they sneak through the “crushed” city, Xavier watches Elijah. Elijah has “crossed the line,” Xavier thinks, “crossed it long ago.” Xavier wonders if it is “up to [him] to stop [Elijah].” Sometimes, Xavier wishes that Elijah would be killed in action. The men in the unit say that Elijah is “brave, a warrior of the highest order,” but to Xavier, Elijah “is mad.”
Xavier has known since his sweat lodge ceremony and Niska’s letter that it is his responsibility to stop Elijah. Clearly, Xavier has been hoping that Elijah will be killed and save him the trauma of having to do it himself.
Themes
Elijah is talking to Xavier, but he doesn’t hear him. “Your hearing has worsened, X,” he says. He asks Xavier to go to the medic with him and tell him about his hearing loss. Maybe they will send Xavier “home as a hero,” Elijah says. “I’m not crazy,” Elijah continues. “This is war. This is not home. What’s mad is them putting us in trenches to begin with. The madness is to tell us to kill and to award those of us who do it well. I only wish to survive,” Elijah explains.
Xavier can’t go home now, and he knows it. He has the perfect excuse, but if he leaves, Elijah with go on killing. Still, Elijah’s explanation isn’t exactly wrong, it is “crazy” to expect men to kill to such an extent and then reward them for it.
Themes
“Listen to me, X,” Elijah says to Xavier. “I 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 stares at Xavier. “I can see that I went too far into a dangerous place for a while. But I see that,” he says. “Does that mean something?”
Here, Elijah admits to losing his edge. He is afraid for the first time after he flies, and he isn’t free if he is afraid. To Elijah, freedom is killing without consequence, but now he is only afraid of death. Elijah also shows something like remorse here, which also suggests his killing is no longer free of consequences.
Themes
