Residential Schools In Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road

Residential schools were institutions funded by the government for young indigenous peoples. The idea was to kill the Indian in the children, and to create Westernized youth. Many children revolted the idea, while others accepted it. Crucial development occurs in a child's mind between the ages of five and eight. In the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, a story is told of three Cree people who have experienced Residential Schools and who have been forever changed because of it. Xavier, Elijah and Niska are ripped from the comfort of their naturalistic and self sufficient communities and thrown into materialistic environments where they are shamed and defaced. Each of these characters experienced the Residential schools in extremely different

Niska is rebellious, wild, strong, a character easy to love. She is born as the daughter of a Windigo killer and has seen much before she has grown. When a priest notices a young wild girl still wander Moose Factory, he comes to take Niska, she runs wild and even bites the priest. “I fought like a lynx then...” (Boyden, 92). Niska is resilient and gutsy throughout her time at the Residential School. When her hair is being cut, the nun cuts hers shorter than the other girls for a simple fact of disliking the young free child. Niska sneaks in the night and cuts the rest of her hair off and is thrown into a sort of solitary confinement for weeks and is fed only once a day. Niska states she never regrets her actions and when her mother comes to break her out is it clear that she has learned from a family of brave and courageous people. They take off into the forest and Niska is once again at ease,“Slowly becoming wild like the animals around us” (Boyden,

I fear many things in this place. But I do not want to fear my friend.” (Boyden 246) This is a quote from Xavier, explaining his growing fear of his dear friend. Elijahs soul is tarnished and lost, and as the drugs take over his mind and body he loses any love he had left in him. Elijah grows to love to kill and no longer sees these dead bodies as people, rather as a score he must keep. Elijah’s mind has always been pulled in different directions and he never had a chance to create a sense of self. His only friend was reserved and incapable of saving Elijah, but perhaps no one could. In the end of the novel, when Xavier has decided to kill Elijah. I feel as though Niska’s strength is now within Xavier. He has an epiphany and knows what he must do and that it is the only way Elijah can be stopped. Throughout the novel it appears at times that maybe Elijah is the more self assured and Xavier, with his depression and falling in love is the more lost one. I believe this to be wrong, as confused as Xavier might be with his sadness and emotions, he is aware that this is not how life ought to be. He sees the wrong and he feels deeply. Elijah's mind is overtaken with anger and darkness and he knows not how to escape the demons. So much so, he becomes the thing he fears. In this novel we are made to believe that these three people are separate entities. I believe these three people make a