Niska’s Influence Throughout Xavier’s Life in Three Day Road

During your life, many people influence you in different ways, shaping who you become, for good or for bad. Some people influence you so much that they change your life entirely. Niska is one of these people for Xavier in the book Three Day Road. She completely changes his life through her influence and teaching. In Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, Niska influences and supports Xavier through his childhood, through the war, and in the aftermath, and without her, Xavier would have been a much darker and more evil person.

Xavier, a native Canadian, is the main character of the story. His mother gave him up to a residential school at a very young age, and the nuns there treated him harshly. His mother was in no condition to take him back, so his aunt, Niska, who lived in the bush, decided to rescue him from the residential school when he was around five. She successfully recued him, and he lived with her in the bush, near Moose Factory. During the summer, a boy he knew at the residential school, Elijah, came to live with Niska and Xavier, and Elijah and Xavier became like brothers. As Xavier and Elijah got older, their friendship persevered. When they were older, World War I started, and they decided to enlist together. They went to the war together and became a sniper team. Elijah achieved many kills, but as the war went on, this killing consumed him. Eventually his sole purpose was to kill more Germans. He became addicted to morphine, and began scalping the Germans that he killed. Eventually, this drove Elijah crazy, and Xavier is forced to kill him. After Xavier kills Elijah, a shell hits him, and has his leg amputated. Xavier wakes up in the hospital, and becomes addicted to the morphine that the doctors give him for the pain. ...

... middle of paper ...

...ial school because she could not take care of him. The residential school was a dangerous and abusive environment for Xavier, but Niska rescued him from it, saving him the scarring experiences he would have had if he had stayed there much longer. While Xavier was with Niska in the bush, she taught him many important skills and beliefs that were critical for Xavier’s future life. As Xavier grew older, he left Niska and went to the war, but the values and skills he learned from her stayed with him there, and in his darkest moments he used what he learned from her to cope. After the war, Xavier was left broken and sick, but Niska found him and began helping him on the long road to recovery. She helped him heal through stories and through prayer, kindly nurturing Xavier back to health. Niska was critical to Xavier’s life, and she completely changed the path of his life.