Three Day Road

In Josephs Boyden’s book Three Day Road, I got to read about the transformation of three main characters; Xavier, Elijah and Niska. As individuals we see these three go through change because of the events they experience in WWI. Elijah deals with the struggle of keeping in touch with his native background. Xavier challenges the urge to give into the morphine, along with the peer pressure to be someone he’s not by the people he’s surrounded by.
Xavier the main character in Three Day road goes through the biggest transformation. We enter the book knowing Xavier to be a grounded character. At the beginning of this book we see Xavier staying true to his culture consistently and resisting the urge to use morphine on numerous accounts. Xavier believed in doing no harm to those who oppose no harm to him. Xavier was ordered to kill things around him that showed no threat, like the birds nest. Xavier stayed true to his native back ground and did not crumble under the peer pressure of his boss and Elijah. Throughout the book I see the process of Xavier changing into someone who was once grounded and loyal into someone who gives up all hope and faith. Eventually Xavier gives into the morphine after losing his leg. From there Xavier reaches a stage of depression and soon gives up on everything and everyone. He feels he has nothing and no one to live for.

Elijah is Xavier right hand man when they enter the war together. Elijah soon became the ‘’talk’’ of the base. With too many kills to keep count and his English better then Xavier, Elijah becomes the new favorite sniper, leaving Xavier behind in the dust. Elijah more worried about fitting in and ’’being white’’, and soon he cracks under the pressure of his peers. Elijah shortly after forgets his roots to his native culture and does anything to fit in, including morphine. I saw Elijah turn into a character that was a man of culture into a killing machine. The morphine corrupts our original Elijah and transforms him