The Weeping Willow

Beside the sparkling lake

The seeping willow casts it’s reflection against the blue,

A dark silhouette that it makes

Where the water lilies blossomed from the surface of the turquoise hue

 

With the coming of the wind,

Its branches swayed rhythmically

Back and forth, back and forth… soothing the mind

The sorrow and grief are swept away gradually

 

Once, it saw a group of children running ever so sprightly

Heard their running footsteps and innocent laughter

They climbed its branches and hid behind its trunk so thickly

As they played hide and seek and each other they chased after

 

Once it served as a shelter for a lost woman on a stormy winter night

The long sweeping branches served as a protective blockade

Against the world that only seemed black and white

And against the cold and the seeping rain that made her so afraid

 

But now the blunt blade of the axe crunched into the fragile trunk

The tree struggled to retain its posture but failed

Finally, gave in to the pain that was brought as into the trunk the axe sunk

Along with it the memories faded, in the last breath that it inhaled

 

Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iazp2_C9D4

Ending (Entry 9)

After finishing the last paragraph in the book, the ending has left me mesmerized by the novel. This three day journey made by Elijah and his aunt has taken me to explore war, survival, brutality, rebirth, and Aboriginal culture. The ending itself is very sophisticated in that does not give an obvious conclusion to Elijah and his aunt. It merely tells us that they will be home. However the author does not specify where "home" is. We do not know how Elijah survives and frees himself from the morphine addiction. Home could mean his literal home with he used to live with his aunt, but it can also mean home as in heaven. After all, the title of the book is called Three Day Road which means the journey to the afterlife. This title is symbolic as Elijah and his aunt have been travelling for three days.

The right thing (Entry 8)

To me, Xavier's action of killing Elijah serves to be extremely controversial. In a sense, he kills Elijah because he has turned into a monster and someone needs to stop him before he causes further bloodshed. However, does Xavier killing Elijah not make Xavier a monster as well? Technically Elijah just killed his best friend. There is also the possibility that Xavier kills Elijah out of jealousy. Throughout the novel, there has been tension between the two friends, and it builds up gradually. In Xavier's opinion, he is no less talented than Elijah so he cannot accept the fact that Elijah is getting all the recognition and praise. Furthermore, after Xavier kills Elijah, people mistake Xavier for Elijah. Xavier just took Elijah’s identity and replaced him. It is hard to say whether Xavier did the right thing by killing Elijah.

It's Alive!

One of the reasons I chose this novel is because it relates to the historical events that I have learnt in socials. I have to say that the book did not disappoint me. The facts that I have learnt from boring textbooks seem to come alive with the vivid descriptions in the novel. It is as if the author has added blood and pulse to a once dead corpse of nothingness. The one thing that really stands out to me is when the author talks about the U-Boat, which should be familiar to those who took socials 11 and have learnt about World War 2. Unlike the textbook, who blatantly states that the U-Boat sank many enemy ships, the novel describes these U-Boats as “great iron fishes that patrol the North Atlantic” (184). Then the ship will be ripped apart by firing torpedoes and “men struggle in the freezing water before drowning” (184). To me, that sounds like a pretty striking description, much better than the socials textbook. It is clear that  I would prefer a novel to a textbook any day.

Great power comes with great responsibility (Entry 6)

Along with the story of Elijah and Xavier, there is also a sub plot that talks about Xavier’s aunt and her childhood. One of the interesting things about Xavier’s aunt is that she is an ashtum which means that she has special powers that are passed down to her by her father. She takes her father’s place as the windigo, or cannibalism, killer and people come to her for advice and help because she has special powers.  Seeing Xavier’s aunt reminds me of the saying “with great power comes great responsibility”. It may be nice to be “special” and have something that no one else does but she has to sacrifice a lot as well. For example, her father is also a windigo killer and he is killed for it and Xavier’s aunt and her mother becomes outlaws, different from the homeguard Indians living in town. Furthermore, when people come to her for advice, she always has to help them even if the timing is inconvenient.

The Power of Morphine (Entry 5)

The book has again blown my mind! I have never taken drugs before and am not planning too but I guess we are all curious of things we don’t know. What really happens after taking morphine? What are the sensations that one may feel? These were curious questions that I had and as I read the passage about Elijah taking morphine I became very interested. The description is very vivid and exciting. The author writes that Elijah’s head floats away from his body and takes him to other parts of the ship that he is in. I’m not sure if the author is suggesting that it was a hallucination or that it really does happen, it sounds somewhat mystical. Nevertheless it is a very interesting excerpt from the novel.

Mental Preparation (Entry 4)

Watching war movies always make me wonder why soldiers can survive with so much ease in a place where death is happening all the time when in the reality that I live in, people make a very big deal out of even the death of one person. A lot of the times people are haunted forever by a murder such as the character Macbeth from the Shakespear play. So then, why is it that soldiers on the battlefield can easily kill someone and even be proud of their accomplishments? Are they not haunted by witnessing the brutal deaths of their friends? The answer to my questions are answered by Xavier through his reflction of the war. He says that the soldiers here, including him, get by everyday without being affected by not thinking about the brutality of it all. He says that if he lets his mind wander he will surely become mad in an environment like this, so he tries to become oblivious of it all. Having never been to war myself, I do not know if that is really how soldiers mentally prepare themselves. However, it seems llike a good way to coop with the luridness of war.