Three Day Road Quotes

He then got caught as a burglar and was put in prison. As in many aspects of his life, the book gave more details of Malcolm’s life inside the steel bars. Since no one was in jail with him that was interviewed in the film, we could not get a good presentation of others’ views of his experiences in jail. While in prison, Malcolm hears about the Nation of Islam through his family. The leader of the group, Elijah Mohammed had a central idea that all white men were devils. In learning this, Malcolm thought back to all of the white people he had previously encountered. It is easier for us to understand Malcolm’s thought process after reading the book, since the film did not tell us of all of his relationships with white people. Malcolm then converted to Islam.

During the early 1960's, Elijah Muhammad became known as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and was well on the way to establishing governmental order for black people. He always showed tremendous love for the black community.

He becomes immersed in the night life and consumed with everything it has to offer. Just shy of being twenty-one he was sent to prison for 10 years. At this pivotal point in his life, he converts to the Black Muslim religion. The other crucial life altering event took place in 1963 when evidence was uncovered regarding the Honorable Elijah Mohammad’s human frailties and lack of moral character. This revelation prompted a holy journey that yet again changed Malcolm’s thought process that was evident at the end of his life.

He had three main ideas he preached that helped him with sales. He wanted black separatism, everyone to know that white men were evil (which was not hard for African Americans to believe since the idea already lived within their minds), and to show the inadequacy of Christianity to African Americans. By preaching these ideas, he eventually had a following of loyal supporters of his made up religion, who of course paid money to the church. When Fard was arrested in 1933, he “admitted that his teachings were strictly a racket and he was getting all the money out of it he could” (United States 1+). What he preached aided him in his peddling. He did not take his teachings seriously yet he met a man one day that viewed him as God incarnate. One night Elijah Poole attended one of Fard’s sermons and spoke with him afterwards. He told him that “you’re God himself” (Marsh 39). At the time, the movement had eight thousand followers (Marsh 39). At this point, Fard needed to find adamant believers who would serve as ministers for his money making organization. At this time he recruited Elijah Poole, changed Elijah’s name to Elijah Muhammad and developed him into his Chief Minister. Soon after, Fard left Detroit and Elijah took over the movement. Elijah was born in Sandersville, Georgia, in 1897 as the seventh of twelve children. He barely finished the third grade before he dropped out

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,

Elijah is characterized by his desire for praise from the other soldiers in his battalion. Having learned English in residential school, Elijah quickly adapts to the ways of the wemistikoshiw, even adopting a British accent and changing his last name to appeal to his comrades. If you consider the windigo-esque attitudes of the European settlers, this could be foreshadowing his grisly fate. To cope with the stress and guilt, Elijah medicates himself with morphine. When he’s high, the euphoric effects cause Elijah to feel superhuman and confident on the battlefield, becoming “the invincible hunter. . . using his osprey’s vision to spot the enemy” (212). Basil Johnston, a Chippewa educator, has described the windigo of oral storytelling as “gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones.” Elijah has also become thin and hollowed out, trading food for the sustenance of killing and morphine. Having the power to eliminate someone brings forth a sense of energy that “fills his belly when it gnaws for food” (200). Elijah morphs himself into a ruthless killer to ease the effects of the war on his conscience, and in the end, he is squandered by it. After his windigo transformation, Elijah is unrecognizable even to his own childhood friend Xavier.

The experiences that you face not only shape you for the time being but for the rest of your life. In chapter 8 “April 1996, Memphis, Tennessee” in the book The Terrorist’s Son by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles, published in 2014 by TED books, Ebrahim talks a lot about his choice of not following the path that was expected of him. He chose to be a better person than what his father was. He uses his experiences, location, and details to show the audience an inside view of his world.

Malcolm and his family corresponded often, and he began to gain knowledge of Elijah Muhammad’s religion of Islam. He assessed himself and soon realized the quilt and sin of his previous life had prepared him to accept the truth, as taught by the leader of the Black Muslims. From the murder of his father, his own experiences of racial injustice, the knowledge his white grandfather had raped his grandmother, he knew beyond a doubt; there was nothing good about the white race. This information was a blinding light that took weeks for him to deal with directly. Muhammad’s religion taught that white men were evil and referred to them as the devil, believing their destruction by Allah was inevitable. The black race had been lied to and stripped of its identity; therefore, the best answer was to separate from white civilization and find its self-respect. With encouragement from family, Malcolm began writing to Elijah Muhammad. Based on his background, it was not a far stretch to believe Muhammad’s teachings, and soon Malcolm was on his knees in prayer.

Through his readings and new found religion, the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X finds self-pride. He starts to become proud of who he is and where he came from. He realizes that before, all he was trying to do was act like someone he wasn’t and all it had gotten him was seven years in prison. The letters he got from Elijah Muhammad and his family encouraged all of this. He strives to admit his guilt, and “implore the forgiveness of God” (170). He would often “be startled to catch [himself] thinking in a remote way of [his] earlier self as another person” and marvel at how much he had changed (170). All the reading he did “awoke … some long dormant craving to be mentally alive” (179). His trip to prison opened up new doors for him because he gained knowledge that made him rethink his niche in life.

After his encounter with Fard Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad founded his first temple in Detroit, and then moved to Chicago where he set up the headquarters for the Nation of Islam. He was arrested for lecturing against negroes fighting “the white man’s war”, and although he was absolved of sedition, he was later found guilty of draft dodging and served three years in the Federal Correction Institution at Milan, Michigan in 1943 (Mr. Muhammad Speaks, 103). After being released, he continued building the Nation of Islam.

was not the truth. This book showed the harsh reality of war that most people

Xavier Bird, Elijah Weesageechak, and Niska are three Cree Canadians in the fictional novel: “Three Day Road” by Joseph Boyden. Three Day Road revolves around Xavier and Niska recalling their memories as they make their way home after Xavier is done fighting in the Great War. the novel deals with many topics such as being a cautionary tale of war and how it can turn a man into a monster. However, it also touches on topics that seem to be forgotten in the modern world such as Canada’s treatment of Aboriginals. The racism and assimilation against Aboriginals in "Three Day Road" negatively affects Niska, Elijah, and Xavier by leaving haunting memories, changing their behaviour and world-view.

Although both Xavier and Elijah go through many rites of passage, Joseph Boyden clearly illustrates the transformation of Elijah through repeated situations, change in values and friendship.

Warfare in Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road: Excavating the Trauma Within All soldiers that enter the war are challenged with two extremely significant encounters; the one against the opposition and the personal battle within themselves. In Joseph Boyden's, Three Day Road, the unique experiences of ancestral history and cultural assimilation indeed challenge the characters of Xavier and Elijah. Their experiences from a residential schooling system burrow a hatred into Xavier, but more predominantly Elijah, and is revealed as the two friends experience the war together. Xavier’s own ancestry of windigo killers is exposed when the war presents unconceivable problems, but he is able to revolt against most of them due to his strong spiritual

After a war, a nation and its citizens need to heal. It is obvious when looking at healing communities that war does damage to more than just the physical landscape. The novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut highlights destruction caused by World War II. Vonnegut explains this destruction through Billy, the main character, and shows how the war not only changes Billy's surroundings, but also the mindset he holds towards the world he is apart of. Throughout the book, the reader can see the effect of this destruction in Billy’s thought process as well as in his mental health.