Three Day Road Windigo Analysis

English 1110-03
Aug 3, 2011 Monkey Beach’s Sasquatch and Three Day Road’s Windigo! Both Monkey Beach and Three Day Road are Native American literature. Each author has his own unique way of inserting a presence of a mythical spirit or being into their stories to give the reader a feel for the supernatural. In doing so, the authors are successful at intensifying the experience for the reader. These supernatural characters play a significant role in the plot, and interactions between characters and their communities. This essay will describe, depict, and define these mythical creatures themselves as well as discuss the function they have in the two novels. The windigo was a tribally specific monster, a supernatural spirit particularly
common among the Ojibwe and Cree. According to Blah, a well-known mighty Ojibwa myth is the legend of the windigo, an evil spirit that would posses an individual who would then eventually surrenders to cannibalism. Research on the windigo frequently and consistently described it as “a cannibalistic giant; a person who has been transformed into a monster by the consumption of human flesh”(Knowles). Boyen describes the windigo as humans that ate other human flesh and grew into giants and turned into beasts that needed to consume flesh of other humans to satisfy their hunger in which case their hunger intensifies (44). This suggests a vicious cycle of cannibalism that windigos can neither control nor escape. For the Ojibwa people, becoming windigo was a de-evolution of nature. As mentioned above, the windigo plays a significant role in the formation of the plot and the effects it has on the characters.
The element of windigo in Boyden’s story brings forward many character traits; these traits would not be present in the story without the use of the windigo. Using the windigo gives Boyden the ability to develop depth within the main characters Xavier and Elijah. The two friends are affected by the windigo as they fight in the trenches in WW1. Most significantly to the plot, Gore explains “Xavier believes that Elijah has slowly turned into a windigo during the course of the war”(23). Xavier becomes disturbed about how Elijah’s hunger for killing increases and how he develops a love for killing rather than killing to survive. This creates a good versus evil theme that has an impact on their friendship throughout the story. Niska, the last known windigo killer, sends her nephew Xavier a letter which “he interprets this message as an affirmation of Elijah’s windigo status and his own duties as a windigo killer”(Gore 24). Gore’s interpretation of the novel also discusses how Xavier is to sacrifice Elijah and become the remaining and final windigo killer in the family. Boyden’s use of windigo in his story takes two friends and makes legends out of both characters. One character is converted into a windigo killer and one is consumed by and turned into a
windigo. According to Hailsa legend, Lisamarie learns from mama-oo that Sasquatch came into being after his wife had attempted to kill him in order to be with his brother.(211)However, the wife and her lover found out that the husband had survived and transformed into the b’gwus who would later hunt them down and kill them in revenge.
B 'gwus is the Haisla name for a Sasquatch, a creature that looks like a "large hairy monkey" or as Appleford explains, “Wildman of the woods”(88). This creature is known to inhabit the forest of North America’s Western Coast. In the beginning of the novel, Robinson describes the Sasquatch when Lisamarie see it as a “tall man covered in brown fur… with many teeth that were all pointed”(16). Appleford talk about how Robinson uses the Sasquatch in her novel as both traditional and popular culture. Although Robinson explains that the Sasquatch can sometimes be called Bigfoot, Yeti, Abdominal Snowman, or Loch Ness monster (317), he is also “associated with Haisla cultural values, spiritual power, and real terror”(Appleford 89). In the story Monkey Beach, the use of this creature, weather used in reality, in a dream, or in a vision, is used to enhance the main
plot. In Monkey Beach, the function and/or use of the b’gwus (Sasquatch) gives Robinson the ability to write her novel with intensely deep connotations and cultural connections using an engineered framework. Appleford states that Robinson uses presumed cultural knowledge in her book using her words to paint a detailed picture using specifically designed tools that allow her to bounce between cultural and narrative stories (85). In this case, she has chosen to use the b’gwus because of its specific cultural history. B’gwus are believed to be other” traditional resonances, especially the inherent tension between "wealth woman" as judge or scourge, and "land otter woman" as a symbol of spirit possession” (Appleford 89). In doing so, both Aboriginal and western cultures are pulled into play and used to develop the plot and Lisamarie’s character; whos the protagonist and the narrarater of the story. The Sasquatch also represents Lisamarie’s inherent “connection to the spirit world” as well is a representative of nearly every theme, story, or idea used to create Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach (Rossler). In conclusion, both Aboriginal authors use the presence of a cultural supernatural agent to enhance the impact the stories have on the reader. Works Cited

Appleford, Rob. " 'Close, Very Close, A B 'gwus Howls ': The Contingency Of Execution In Eden Robinson 's Monkey Beach." Canadian Literature 184.(2005): 85-101. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 31 July 2012.
Boyden, Joseph. Three Day Road. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. Print.
Dobson, Kit. "Indigeneity And Diversity In Eden Robinson 's Work." Canadian Literature 201 (2009): 54-67. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 July 2012.
Gordon, Neta. “Time Structures and the Healing Aesthetic of Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road