Three Day Road Thesis Quotes

We have all seen or read about the political and social upheavals caused by war. Some may have even experienced it first-hand. Throughout history war has had negative psychological implications on those effected. However, there is no greater negative impact of war than the psychological and emotional turmoil that it causes individual soldiers.

“My mind is on fire as I fear that any second, another enemy round will rip into my body and finish me off” (Johnson 2). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) effects the lives of many soldiers after returning home from war. PTSD is a psychiatric condition described in the DSM-IV as, a condition that requires a specific event to have occurred as a criterion for the diagnosis. The criteria for this disorder, according to the book Combat Trauma, can include flashbacks, times where you feel as if you are reliving the traumatic event, shame or guilt, upsetting dreams about the traumatic event, trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event, feeling emotionally numb or not feeling at all, anger or irritability, poor or destructive relationships, self-destructive behavior, trouble sleeping, memory problems, hallucinations, not enjoying activities you one enjoyed and feeling as if you no longer know who is living your day-to-day life.

The soldiers that fought for or are fighting for our country are some of the bravest men and women that there have ever been. These men and women put their lives on the line as well as their own mental health for fighting for the people of the United States. The most common mental disorder that Americans hear about veterans having is PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible,” and “Midnight Movie” by Mike Subritzky, the characters all show signs of PTSD. The Vietnam War is a large part of America’s history and therefore is one of the greatest examples of the effects of war, such as PTSD, on a soldier.

Dehumanization obviously has negative effects on a soldier’s mind and psyche, a fact that the military almost always ignores. A neuropsychiatric disorder known as “combat fatigue” often plagues soldiers in the line of an “unprecedented amount of indirect fire” but is almost never recognized. Many saw soldiers with the disorder as lesser, and “the Marine Corps official history failed to mention combat fatigue, even though it constituted 10 percent of the casualties and had a very negative effect on the fighting.” The trend of refusing to acknowledge that human soldiers also had human brains and hearts and feelings became accepted more and more as the war dragged on.

An American machine gunner, Charles Yale Harrison, says in his novel, Generals Die in Bed: “[War] take[s] everything from us: our lives, our blood, our hearts; even the few lousy hours of rest, they take those, too. Our job is to give, and theirs is to take,” (Harrison, 26). In this example, Harrison explains how war is the most selfish and strongest of all evils; war continues to take everything someone has until they have nothing left to take. The war also created long-term effects for soldiers; one being shell-shock. This term is used to describe the damage of constant loud shelling during war which greatly affected those who were not exposed to shelling frequently (Unnamed). Another term that is still used today is PTSD, (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”), which is used to describe the effect war had on the soldiers afterward (Unnamed). World War I brought major psychological disorders upon the soldiers during and after the war had ended leading to great damage for the rest of the victim’s

In the book, “Three Day Road”, Elijah loses touch with his identity of being Cree, changing into a whole new person. His aboriginal background is challenged as a result of the oppressive atmosphere at the residential school he attends, his debilitating addiction to morphine, and his lust for kill and want to fit in during the war. Elijah, like many young native children, was forced to enroll in residential schools for a majority of his young life. As a result he speaks English very well, even better than his native tongue. Thompson and Xavier wake up early in the morning and are laying around before they make their way to the trenches. Thompson says, “‘You’re a quiet one,’ [...] ‘I’d have said that’s an Indian trait, till I met Elijah.’ We

In Joseph Boyden’s novel “Three day road” he managed to show that nothing is spared from the path of destruction war can bring, How it can manage to leave Earth drowned in so much blood that it can grow “Flowers redder than blood everywhere.. They even grew out rotting corpses” (Boyden 76) This can mentally change a man, and this is the theme Boyden betrayed as Elijah, and Xavier slowly start to deteriorate over the course the 20 year war to end all wars. To start, it has been shown multiple times that elijah was raised in a residential school, and was revolved around the idea that he was imperfect since birth. Despite this ideology he later grew up to be a charismatic and funny person in regard to Xavier who was quiet and secluded.

Mental problems are burdensome for the soldiers, since these burdens cannot be extinguished. When soldiers are at war they are surrounded by responsibility, death and destruction. Adding to all this

War has been, and will always be, a terrible thing. It is something that should be avoided at all costs, and should only occur as a last resort. There are countless lives that have been lost in war, and many of these lives are forgotten, and for most, will always remain forgotten. Soldiers such as Francis Pegahmagabow are buried beneath the pages of history because life moves forward, a country moves forward, and over time, they simply disappear. Other Canadian Aboriginals in World War 1 who have not been well remembered in Canada’s history are soldiers such as Alexander Smith, Jr. and Charles Denton Smith, who both received a Military Cross for their contributions. It comes down to the fact that if other soldiers who participated in the war

First World War (WWI.) “The First World War of 1914–1918 was the bloodiest conflict in Canadian history, taking the lives of more than 60,000 Canadians.”

Since 1961 indigenous people have faced many historic issues. Many of the historic problems was an effort to destroy their cultures and change the way of their life, for example the residential schools. Thankfully many indigenous people are still living after all the harm that has taken place and we are continuing to make an effort for

As we learn more about the cause and effect of PTSD we can better equip ourselves to help those in need. It is a process that has a clear beginning but an unclear ending. A person who can function normally for many years after seeing combat may find it increasingly difficult to sit in a classroom day after day. With raising awareness on not only the severity but the scope of impact of mental health disorders it can eliminate the stigma of weakness and get these men and women who have put themselves second much of their lives the help they

Many soldiers can relate to developing post traumatic disorder because of war. The article “For Soldiers With PTSD, A Profound Daily Struggle” discusses the story of Dexter Pitt who was deployed to Iraq in the year 2004. Pitt was diagnosed with PTSD after a bomb injured him while in Iraq, which left him with many serious injuries that affected his physical health. Pitt shares the story of when his cousin was consistently very energetic, jumping around and bothering him after returning from war and had hit his injured arm. According to page 1 of the article, Pitt says, “I just lost it. I blacked out… picked him up and punched him in his chest as hard as I could.” He was over reacting and made the situation worse than what it should be, and

Canadian women started their path in the military during the first Great War where they played a small but impactful role. They continued to push boundaries and were able to achieve successes such as the creation of the Canadian’s Women’s Corps by World War II. Even with the constant criticism they faced, the female soldiers continued to fight for military equality. Canadian women achieved small successes over time which lead to needed evolution.

When a soldier enlists into the military forces they know they are going in to fight for their country and freedom for everyone. They spend months training and preparing for the war and what to come. They learn to fight, shoot, and kill enemies, but what they do not learn is how to cope with the after math of the war. Soldiers in war every year come home with many post traumatic effects from what they had witnessed. During world war two this was known as shell shock; however what can be concluded is that world war two impacted the soldiers emotionally and physiologically from the time they entered to post war.