In the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, the three main characters are dealing directly with post-colonial rule of Natives during World War I, and of years before that when Niska was young. Native Americans were oppressed by the wemistikoshiw (white people) from the minute they found out there was life on the soil they planned to take for their own, to this very day, and so far this novel is doing a pretty good job of showing that by giving readers a look into the lives of three different Natives, with different glimpses into their past.
When Niska was a young girl, her family was driven out of their home in the woods because white people were using all of the animals for their own needs, not saving any for the Natives. Once they reached the town of Moose Factory, Niska was soon sent to the school where the nuns were meant to teach her proper English, and give her manners. However, that went South pretty quickly when she didn't obey all of their rules. The nuns cut Niska's long hair just like everybody else's, short and even."They were going to remove the black hair that reached to my waist as a symbol of wemistikoshiw authority, of our defeat." (93). She didn't take that so well, and so one night when she saw her chance, she went and shaved her whole head, having her sent down into a cell where she would be held until her hair was grown. "After a week of talking to no one and of being given a single bowl of porridge to eat each day, I began to have strange visions. Sister Agnes told me that I would not come out until my hair grew back." (93). Soon after, her mother came and broke through the small window of the room, and freed her. However she would always hold hate deep in her heart from the cruelness of the wemistikoshiw.
Xavier experiences the post-colonial rule almost everyday during his time fighting in the war. The first is when him and Elijah are on their way to the war by train, and they are sent to the back Another incident is when Elijah is bragging about he success to all of the other soldiers, he tends to forget that Xavier is actually superior to him "How soon they seem to forget who is the better shot. None of them know that I am the one who taught Elijah what he knows about hunting." (100). Since Xavier doesn't speak English fluently, he finds himself just sitting back and watching and listening to what's going on around him, not speaking and just following Elijah around in the strange place he doesn't understand.
Elijah is a minor character at the point in the novel so far, he's spoken about a lot but you never get to see his point of view. You can tell he is affected by colonialism because although he is Native, he starts to adapt to the ways of the British, first by taking up their accent "To make it all worse, Elijah's taken to talking in an English accent in the last days. This makes the soldiers laugh, but I wonder why he really does it." (77) He also starts lying to impress those around him "He tells jokes and makes the others laugh and brags that he has now killed men, all of them close enough that he could hear them die. But is it the truth? I don't think so." (77). Elijah starts trying to fit in to the new world that he has accepted, making post-colonialism his way of life.
From each characters side of the story, you see how they are adapting, or refusing to adapt to the post-colonial world that they are now living in. Joseph Boyden does an amazing job at showing oppression in each characters stories, giving you a view of what schooling was like, and how Native soldiers were in the war.
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