As For Me and My House, and Three Day Road by Sinclair Ross and Joseph Boyden

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Through comparing and contrasting the novels As For Me and My House, and Three Day Road by Sinclair Ross and Joseph Boyden the habitual theme of obsession is present. According to the oxford English dictionary it defines obsession as, “an idea, image, or influence which continually fills or troubles the mind; a compulsive interest or preoccupation; the fact or state of being troubled or preoccupied in this way.” (OED) This is significantly present in both works, since it is exemplified through the characters of Philip, Elijah, and Xavier. It stands as a positive and negative effect as it entails a form of utopia, but at the same time it resembles how obsession takes over the minds of these characters. In Three Day Road, there is Elijah and Xavier’s obsession with killing and morphine, and in As For Me and My House there is Phillips obsession with his art. Through a close reading of both works it can be argued that the theme of obsession in As For Me and My House, and Three Day Road signifies the true dark connotation of trauma and love and how these characters deal with the troubled realities bestowed upon them. This is seen through the use of morphine to escape the trauma of war and from grotesque injuries, and Philips use of his art to escape from his wife Mrs. Bentley. With the dependence on these phenomenon’s it represents it being a cruel and unconstructive act and how this obsession is relied on as a need. Lastly, through the theme of obsession and the harsh realities present in both works dealing with these obsessions presents an identity crisis with the characters.
The recurring image of obsession in Three Day Road is exemplified by the characters utilizing morphine as a form of escape. In Three Day Road, as Xavier and Eli...

... middle of paper ...

...ened skinning knife from its sheath and pulls the man’s hair back and removes his scalp with careful motions as simply as he would remove the skin from a pike.” (Boyden, 210) This relevantly represents the grotesque image of scalping. Elijah becomes addicted with scalping and gathering people’s flesh as awards. He is confident of his measures although they are cruel. Murder is like a contest and the scalps he gains are his prizes.

Works Cited

Boyden, Joseph. Three Day Road. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2008. Print.
Compton, Anne. ""As if I Really Mattered": The Narrator of Sinclair Ross's As For Me and My House." Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne [Online], 17.1 (1992)
"Obsession, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. 12 March 2014.

Ross, Sinclair. As for Me and My House. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2008. Print.

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