Three Day Road written by Joseph Boyden, is a novel that follows the story of a young First Nations man fighting in the war, and a First Nations women living in the Canadian wilderness. The story of these two protagonists are told through each of their differing perspectives, making this novel one that is constantly transforming in order to portray important motifs and themes. Storytelling is one of the primary motifs that is seen throughout the course of this novel and is one of the methods that connects the two characters, even whilst they are apart. Boyden uses the complex motif of storytelling to aid in the depiction of several core themes in this novel. In Three Day Road, storytelling is often related to healing, hunger, and power. In turn, it becomes a type of coping mechanism for varying traumas and hardships that the characters experience.
Healing is a weighted concept in this novel. All of the primary characters in Three Day Road appear to either be in the process of healing, or are in desperate need of. Storytelling is used as an aid to individuals that are faced with troubles due to guilt, addiction or grief. This is most evident in the eyes of Niska. When she is the narrator of the novel, she most often is telling stories to Xavier. On the surface, she uses stories from her past in order to fill the void that the war had created between herself and her nephew, but with deeper analysis, it is obvious that Niska is trying to use her stories to heal Xavier, “I will