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.

Criticism (Entry 3)

So far in the book, I feel that Joseph Boyden shows a cynical attitude towards the wemistikoshiw, or the white men, through his use of language and the structure of the novel. Boyden starts us off in the beginning of the novel with Xavier's aunt trying to find her nephew. We see, in her perspective, her fears of the white people. The imageries and literary devices that are used to describe the city that she is in conveys to us a sense of harsh and rude abruptance. Furthermore, the idea that the father of Xavier's aunt is taken away by white men from and imprisoned does not give the readers a very favourable impression on the wemistikoshiws either. Besides the plot and structure, the use of language is also aplplie by Boyden. Hints are dropped to us constantly in the book about the negativety of the English language. For example, when Elijah tells a lie to Xavier, he speaks in the English tongue. Xavier believes the reason for this is because the English tongue is better for speaking lies. The cynical attitude of Boyden can be interepreted as a critism for the white men and the English language. On the other hand, it can be interepreted as a resistance to assimilation and a dignified attempt to preserve Aboriginal culture.

Three Day Road (Entry 2)

The novel did not focus only on the two characters Elijah and Xavier and their experiences in war. It also shared with us Aboriginal culture, such as the substitution of English words with Aboriginal words. As I was reading about the aboriginal woman who ate her husband out of hunger, I began to wonder about the culture clash that the author has presented. The father of Elijah’s aunt killed the Aboriginal woman as punishment but the father of Elijah’s aunt is locked up because he killed the woman. So this leaves me with the question of who is really at fault? Is there anything wrong with killing a woman who has gone against her morals and ate her husband? But is there anything wrong with eating a man out of natural survival instincts? The author has presented to us two opinions and ideologies while at the same time he illustrates how serious the consequences of a culture clash may be.

Three Day Road

The Canadian novel that we chose to read is “Three Day Road” by Joseph Boyden which depicts the terrifying experience of two soldiers who were in World War 1. I chose this book because it is a realistic story of the war. Having just learned about the World War 1 in socials, I feel like I can connect better with the events described in the book. Also, all the information I have learnt in textbooks are facts so it would be interesting to read a book that will thread together all these facts that I have learned  into one vivid and realistic story. As this book touches upon the discrimination of aboriginal people, I hope to delve into the topic of how aboriginal people are faring in present day life as a way to relate this novel to our daily lives.  As well, as this book talks about the gruesome conditions of war during World War 1, I would be interested in determining how soldiers fight nowadays and what conditions they have to undergo.