There are many issues in the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, however the issue that stands out to me the most is the stereotyping of Aboriginals throughout the novel. Stereotyping is an issue that has been around since the beginning of our race, and unfortunately has continued to be an issue until now and will probably continue for the rest of time. Although some people have broken the stereotypes, ie. blonde scientists or wealthy African Americans, people still tend to treat most Aboriginal people the same way as if they were from the 1900's, wearing tribal clothing and dancing around a fire.
In Three Day Road, despite the fact that Xavier, Elijah, and Niska are from a time where Native Americans would hunt for their food by themselves, they are still stereotyped further in this fiction novel, and I believe Niska is the greatest case of stereotyping out of all of the main characters. Niska's father was the tribes shaman of sorts, and when he was killed by the wemistokishiw his powers went to Niska "After a formal greeting he told me how he knew and respected my father, how he also knew that I was my father's daughter and had inherited his gift." (166).
Niska is from the "Noble Savage" stereotype, "usually possessing some spiritual connection to the land, the Noble Savage (whom American academic Rennard Strickland calls “the first ecologist”) communes in a cloud of mysticism and places no value on material possessions." which is quite accurate to what happens when Niska is summoning animal spirits to see if she still has her powers: "For days I tried to summon the souls of animals to come to me in my tent, but it was as if I'd somehow offended them and I sat there for hours at a time, praying and rocking, burning sweetgrass and searching the blackness for something to show itself to me." (165).
"Indians are “the only population to be portrayed far more often in historical context than as contemporary people.”, an unfortunate fact about Aboriginals. When was the last time you saw a film with an Indian in it who wasn't from a tribe or didn't have some mystical powers? When was the last time you saw an Indian in a film or story that wasn't just a person?
Niska's role also comes with another stereotype: "The most flagrant omission in movies and television is the Aboriginal woman. When she is included, it is most often as a “sexual savage” (who cannot be tamed and must therefore be degraded and eventually conquered)." which I believe is a more dominant issue than the stereotyping of her powers. When the Frenchman that Niska is considering to be her mate leaves her for a time, she goes and finds him in a white-man town, when she finds him he takes her to a church, has sex with her inside, and afterwards says: "You are nothing special, just another squaw whore. I took your power away in this place and sent it to burn in hell where it belongs."(174). She then flees and spends time in her tent where she summons the animals again and asks them to kill the Frenchman, later on she finds out that he committed suicide.
Three Day Road contains a lot of stereotyping of not only Indians, but of the white soldiers as well, however I feel that Niska's character deals with it the most. Stereotyping is a sick thing and it should be abolished from our minds, as all it does is hurt people who are different from ourselves.
Works Cited
"Common Portrayals of Aboriginal People." Common Portrayals of Aboriginal People. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. http://mediasmarts.ca/diversity-media/aboriginal-people/common-portrayals-aboriginal-people
Boyden, Joseph. Three Day Road: A Novel. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.
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