Cultural Assimilation And Moral Integrity In Three Day Road

” (77) Elijah continues to attempt to lose the Cree attributes that separate him from the other soldiers. Although, he clings to his hunting skills, wanting to be acknowledged for his Cree talents as an Englishman. Also, in a way to further separate himself from his culture, Elijah begins to false impressions of Cree culture and other native cultures. After a raid that produces Elijah’s first group of kills, Thompson inquires with the soldiers of their sentiments on their first true taste of war, he says, “‘What do you think of the last days, Whiskeyjack?’ he asks, lighting a cigarette , exhaling and looking t the sky. I can see that Elijah knows exactly what Thompson is asking. Thompson is asking if Elijah likes killing. Elijah considers it for a moment. ‘It’s in my blood,’ he finally says.” (75) Elijah claims that the killing of men is in his blood and gives thompson an unfavourable impression of the Cree culture, driving elijah further away from the way of life Niska has taught him. Finally, nearing the conclusion of the novel, Elijah approaches Xavier with what appears to be a bone from an animal. He then asks Xavier to perform a sacred ritual that is a custom to Niska’s bloodline, one that is originally used to track animals for hunting. But, Xavier is not presented with the shoulder blade of an animal, he asks, “‘Where did you find the shoulder blade of a bear?’ I ask him. Elijah smiles, ‘It is not from a bear. It is German.’” (319) It is this

means of survival only, family members were turning on each other. The prisoners turn cold

The book that I decided to read was Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker. The tribal identity in the book was Oibwe from the White Earth Band. Ms. Broker started out the book from the present day in Minneapolis where she grew up. There wasn’t much culture to be seen, and the younger generations were getting too lost in the new world. Ms. Broker made sure to mention that she still taught her children the Ojibwe ways, and told them the stories that her grandmother had once told her. Throughout Ignatia Broker’s introductory chapter, we got a sense of the amount of respect she had for you great-great grandmother Oona, or Night Flying Woman.

Throughout the novel, he repeatedly refuses to conform to the ways of the wemistikoshiw. While Xavier and Elijah both face prejudice due to their Native ethnicities, the two respond to it in completely contrasting ways. Whereas Elijah conforms and abandons his Native customs in order to fit in and gain a place amongst the other soldiers, Xavier firmly sticks to his “Indian religion” and remains unaffected by the pressures put on him by his wemistikoshiw comrades. He refuses to speak English, noting how “their tongue is better for lies” (Boyden, 51), wears his moccasins more than his army boots, remains loyal to his religious/spiritual beliefs, and expresses general disinterest and criticism in regards to their ways. He notes how he finds their medicine odd and refuses to try morphine until it is forced upon him, how he thinks their gods are entities of violence, etc… The divide between the wemistikoshiw and Natives is further emphasized during the scene in which Elijah knocks over a swallow’s nest and kills the three chicks. The Cree have a great respect for nature and animals, so when Xavier is ordered by Breech to sweep out the nest, he predictably refuses. Elijah, on the other hand, grows frustrated by Xavier’s refusal, telling him to “do it” and that “it’s just a bird” (Boyden, 258). By knocking down the nest himself, Elijah reveals that he identifies more with the wemistikoshiw than Cree. In his refusal to carry out orders and knock the nest down, Xavier’s devotion to his Native identity and rejection of wemistikoshiw culture is further

Elijah’s tragic descent to madness forewarns the dangers of assuming an identity drastically different from one’s true morality. From the beginning, Elijah felt that there was a need to fit in with the other soldiers by adopting a British persona when speaking to others. In a shared code with Grey Eyes, Elijah says, “Dear Henry, […] would you be a kind chap and make me a cup of tea?” (144). Although his British accent appears to be a convoluted joke, Elijah is really abandoning his Cree language in favour of a British accent to please his peers. Despite the native language being an essential part of his childhood identity, Elijah succumbs to the white man’s perceived notions of the Cree language being related to witchcraft as he strips away his native language to fit in with the others. This sudden transformation to match a white man’s identity ultimately results in an identity crisis that drives him to insanity. Xavier illustrates this when he notices that,

Trench points his LOx revolver square at the Minister’s headless corpse. Vapor trails out from the gun’s barrel. Trench pants. His heart thumps in his chest like a pounding kettledrum.

In Three Day Road, Elijah is a free-spirited aboriginal who is corrupted by the drugs and murderous opportunities of World War Ι. Elijah is a curious boy who has rebellious moments. In the beginning of the novel, Elijah lives in a residential school for aboriginals run by nuns. He steals things from the nuns like a gun and food and swears at them in his native tongue with Xavier. Even these small moments show that Elijah is defiant and is willing to break the rules to do what he wants, but his actions are still driven out of a childlike innocence. Elijah is smuggled out of the residential school one day by Xavier and his Aunt. Elijah and Xavier learn to gather food and hunt in the bush together and even when they were younger in the wilderness Elijah showed signs of his murderous potential. For example, on a hunting trip Xavier and Elijah come into an opening and find a herd of caribou downwind. Xavier then proceeded to scare the caribou toward Elijah. Elijah fires his rifle over and over until every last one of the caribou is dead. This moment is a clear indication of a seasoned hunter who takes joy in killing and doesn’t do it just for survival. This foreshadows Elijah going on murderous rampages and killing Germans at war. Once Xavier and Elijah go off to war, Elijah tries morphine and begins to change. He becomes competitive, caught up in the thrill of

In the novel the main character was taken from her normal life by the Indians. The main character is Regina, a girl who must go through many changes. Although there were many changes I, as the reader, selected two. One was when Regina was yelled at by Tiger Claw for speaking in her tongue and he told her she is an Indian now which Regina resents, but she understands most words and can speak the language as well. Also, when Regina and the Indian women are getting sap from a maple tree, Regina forgets what the white men called the trees. For example, in chapter seven, it states, “‘Please, may I have more?’ I ask, instantly regretting the white man’s words, for Tiger Claw raises his hand, threatening me. ‘No speak like white man! You are Indian

Elijah told Maxwell everything he had done, he went on to explain the consequences that followed. He talked about

include crying, screaming like a young child, anger, frustration towards others around them if they

Heaving in a heavy, painful breath, his body jolts up, as little knives seemed to cut through his throat, all the way down to his lungs.

Before we can examine the behavior of these children, we need to determine the root cause of this transgression. Growing up, these kids have very limited contact with other people,

Elijah stood near and cried out “How the-” He started “Trick of the light.” Tory explained briefly be for climbing into a nearby rowboat and beckoning Elijah to follow him. He smiled and said “I thought we were being followed!” he started the oars towards the ghostly boat “That’s why I jump Mr. Flynn into that alley but not to worry he should be fine.”

Throughout my life, I have encountered many different situations that have changed my perspective and made me learn true integrity, acceptance and kindness. School has always been a rough place for students and it may be hard for them to be accepted and make new friends. Ever since a bad situation happened to me, I did not want anyone to experience this again throughout their school experience. When I was a freshman, the memory I have that stood out to me was when a friend of mine was being bullied behind her back. I knew that this was not right considering they were my friends also. In class, they were saying things about her and planned to drop her as a friend. I confronted them immediately and told them what is right from wrong. They excluded

superiority. He rules Nora and his children like a parody of a God. He creates and