The ability to rise above past difficulties and experiences and move forward is an underappreciated ability, that can ultimately lead to success in future situations. In Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, a novel about three young indigenous people, Boyden displays the importance of rising above personal difficulties through the characters’ efforts to overcome the racist mindset in Canada at the time, as well as their struggles throughout the first World War . Though many attempt to bury their difficulties in the past, the inability to do so often contributes to a person losing connection with the real world and their loved ones. In this context, real world refers to the everyday life of a typical person in Canada, peacefully with their family …show more content…
Three Day Road displays three characters in particular that are battling with past experiences, and the outcome of their abilities and decisions to overcome or succumb to these memories of the past. Xavier Bird’s inability to escape his past traumatic experiences made it very difficult for him to keep his firm grasp on the real world, to the point that he struggled to differentiate the past and the present. Following his time served in the Canadian military in World War I, Xavier was mentally incapable of escaping the flashbacks and nightmares of such a tragic experience, suffering from the common mental illness of post traumatic stress disorder. Boyden portrayed this vividly throughout the story, describing countless flashbacks that Xavier experienced on his journey home, that ate away at his emotions, until Xavier had little desire to live, and struggled to remember the positive memories he shared with Niska, the only family …show more content…
She also stated that she may not be the hunter anymore, showing that she had let her guard down, and she was infatuated with this man, making her forget different parts of her heritage. Later on, when they meet again, Niska finds out that the man was only in the relationship with her to attack her heritage and her honour, obviously breaking her heart. It is evident that had Niska ignored the lonely thoughts and fought harder to hold on to her heritage, she would have avoided losing the man who she thought she loved, but in the end this would help by contributing to her realization that Xavier and her heritage were the two most important things in her