Three Day Road Character Analysis

927 Words2 Pages

It is often difficult to relate to events that occur in the past. However, if we can find any similarities between history and the present, we will relate to it more. Joseph Boyden, author of the novel Three Day Road, examines the effects of war through a first person narrative of two indigenous soldiers. The events that the two soldiers experience are comparable to what today’s soldiers face, and they affect them in a similar manner. The emotional and physical effects of war on soldiers make Three Day Road pertinent to the contemporary world. Body parts fly everywhere, one must kill complete strangers, and the unimaginable becomes the norm. These common war occurrences, along with endless others, have disastrous effects on soldiers. …show more content…

In war, loud noises such as the explosion of grenades and gunfire arise constantly. As a result of sustained exposure to deafening blasts, Xavier loses much of his hearing. One morning after arriving back home from war, Xavier describes waking up to “a dull roar like rapids in the distance”(25). Repeated exposure to loud noises has unfortunate repercussions for Xavier, and it emphasizes that war can bring agonizing physical pain to anyone. While Xavier does not face mental deterioration to the same extent as his best friend Elijah, he does go through a rapid transition from being a talkative person at home, to being almost silent when he goes to war. Xavier experiences emotional trauma, becomes extremely quiet,and faces depression over the course of the war. For example, when a moment to collect his thoughts arises, Xavier realizes a personality difference between him and Elijah. Xavier concludes that “Elijah is still darling, still talkative. He still wants to fly”(161). This implies that while Elijah is still talkative and happy, Xavier is not. Moreover, he describes the changes in him since the start of the war, so Xavier’s emotional struggle stems from the events of

Show More
Related

  • Killer Angels Analysis

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    As he immerses his audience into combat with the soldiers, Shaara demonstrates the more emotional aspects of war by highlighting the personal lives of the men fighting. For example, when Shaara reveals the pasts of James Longstreet and Lewis Armistead’s, I started to picture them as the men that they were and not as soldiers out for blood. After suffering a devastating loss of three of his children to fever, Longstreet is tossed into battle. In Armistead’s case, he not only suffered the loss of his wife, but also of a friend fighting on the Union side, General Winfield Scott Hancock. Shaara saves his readers a front row seat to the inner turmoil of General Chamberlain regarding his hindering duty as a soldier clashes with his duty to family as he strived to serve the Union as well as protec...

    Read More

  • Outlaw Platoon Sparknotes

    1937 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book Outlaw Platoon written by Sean Parnell is a soldiers’ tale of his platoon in one of the most dangerous places on earth. This book is a non-fiction riveting work that tells the story of a platoon that spent sixteen months on an operating base in the Bermel Valley, the border of Pakistan. This mission the men were sent on was part of a mission called Operation Enduring Freedom. This book is extremely relevant to the war that we are still fighting in Afghanistan and the humanitarian work that continues. We still have men in this area fighting and losing their lives everyday. It is the focus of ongoing political debates and the purpose of our involvement there is an ongoing question in the minds of many Americans. In writing this book, Parnell makes it clear in his author’s notes that he indeed was not trying to pursue one political agenda over another. His goal as not to speak of all members of the platoon and expose their identities and the types of soldiers they were but instead to showcase some of the men’s bravery and abilities during the war. Parnell believed that he owed it to the men to write something that would show the world what these men go through during combat in an honest and raw account. Another purpose of Parnell’s in writing this book is an attempt at making sure these men are given a place in American war history.

    Read More

  • A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    No one knows what will happen in his or her life whether it is a trivial family dispute or a civil war. Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara are both child victims of war with extremely different life stories. Both of them are authors who have written about their first-hand experience of the truth of the war in order to voice out to the world to be aware of what is happening. Beah wrote A Long Way Gone while Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango. However, their autobiographies give different information to their readers because of different points of view. Since the overall story of Ishmael Beah includes many psychological and physical aspects of war, his book is more influential and informative to the world than Kamara’s book.

    Read More

  • The Guilt They Carried in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

    1414 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the aftermath of a comparatively minor misfortune, all parties concerned seem to be eager to direct the blame to someone or something else. It seems so easy to pin down one specific mistake that caused everything else to go wrong in an everyday situation. However, war is a vastly different story. War is ambiguous, an enormous and intangible event, and it cannot simply be blamed for the resulting deaths for which it is indirectly responsible. Tim O’Brien’s story, “In the Field,” illustrates whom the soldiers turn to with the massive burden of responsibility for a tragedy. The horrible circumstances of war transform all involved and tinge them with an absurd feeling of personal responsibility as they struggle to cope.

    Read More

  • Three Day Road

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    While most soldiers are alone and cannot express their feelings, this leaves these thoughts as a burden which can lead to insanity. However, Xavier finds love during the war, which gives him hope again.... ... middle of paper ... ... This is seen in the final section when Xavier and Elijah start to fight over a disagreement, Elijah attacks Xavier forcing Xavier to kill Elijah, Xavier says, “You’ve gone mad.

    Read More

  • What Is The Importance Of A Lie In Ambush By Tim O Brien

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    Julianna Claire, an award winning poet once said, “War makes men act like fools, and makes fools pretend to be brave.” War is a very difficult and dangerous game. There must be a just cause to fight for, supporters on either side of the war, and clear plan on what the war ought to look like. Though, as much as countries plan their strategies and perfect their tactics, war never seems to go how people think it should. War creates heartache, makes countries question their governments, and changes the lives of the soldiers who fight in them. One such story that address the damages of war, is Ambush, by Tim O’Brien (1946). In this short story, Tim O’Brien tells a story of a young man fighting in Vietnam who kills a member of the Vietnam army. Robin Silbergleid, a neurosurgeon in Seattle, Washington, who minored in

    Read More

  • Impact of War and Violence on Children in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the effects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation in war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as a young boy and the many issues he faces while living in horror.

    Read More

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In The Three Day Road

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Xavier has many of the symptoms that is associated with PTSD and this has a drastic effect on his actions during and after the war, as well as his recovery. His most notable symptom is his drug addiction, as he is recovering in the hospital to when he returns to Niska he needs morphine to survive and he believes that he “will not be able to live without it” (11.3). Xavier has a lot of trouble to adjusting to the terrible aspects of war, the brutal and gory things are what send him down a dark path and led to his shellshock syndrome. Throughout the war Xavier goes about without really being noticed, “A brown ghost” (65.3), Xavier like many others with PTSD are solidarity and withdrawn people. Many of the people that experience PTSD relive the horrifying experience that caused the disorder, Xavier relives a lot of the horrors from his time in the Great War as he makes his way home. Re-experiencing all this makes sleeping nearly impossible for him, it impedes his ability to heal both mentally and physically, and overall makes him sicker. Xavier is experiencing shell shock from his time in the war; he is seeing his dead friends, becoming addicted to morphine and is very withdrawn towards Niska and a lot of

    Read More

  • The Psychological Effects Of PTSD In The Three Day Road

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    Xavier has a lot of trouble in adjusting to the terrible aspects of war, the brutal and gory things are what send him down a dark path and led to his shell shock syndrome. Throughout the war, Xavier goes about without really being noticed, “A brown ghost” (65.3), Xavier like many others with PTSD are solidarity and withdrawn people. Many of the people who experience PTSD relive the horrifying experience that caused the disorder; Xavier relives most of the horrors from his time in the Great War as he makes his way home. Re-experiencing all this makes sleeping nearly impossible for him, it impedes his ability to heal both mentally and physically, and overall makes him sicker. Xavier is experiencing shell shock from his time in the war; he is sees his dead friends, becomes addicted to morphine and is very withdrawn towards Niska and a lot of

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried: A Soldier's Burden

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.

    Read More

  • MLA ESSAY

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    War has a definite effect on the mentality of a soldier, so much so that many result in insanity during or after the leave of combat. Timothy Findley’s The Wars, portrays the “stupidity, futility and the horror of the terrible losses of the First World War, describing war as an image of the worst that can be within a man” (Anne Nothof Interview). Findley portrays mental aspects as well as physical, that lead to Robert Ross’ demises, specifically, the conditions of war, overall aspect of war taking someone’s life and the feeling of loneliness and silence.

    Read More

  • Surrealism In The Sweetheart Of The Song Tra Bong

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, in two of his stories, “How to Tell True War Story” and “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” O’Brien writes about surreal events that are unknown to the average citizens that have never experienced war. Soldiers are forced to go through events that people who have never experienced war could never imagine going through. Soldiers have to risk their lives every day that they're at war to protect U.S. citizens. To defy that, soldiers also spend a lot of their time playing games and joking around. Between playing games, joking around, and facing the obstacles of war come many surreal events that people would think are unconscionable.

    Read More

  • War and Memory in Irene Zabytko?s ?Home Soil?, Bruce Weigl?s ?Song of Napalm?, and Wilfred Owen?s ?Dulce et Decorum Est?

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front and the Horrors of War

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the worst things about war is the severity of carnage that it bestows upon mankind.  Men are killed by the millions in the worst ways imaginable.  Bodies are blown apart, limbs are cracked and torn and flesh is melted away from the bone.  Dying eyes watch as internal organs are spilled of empty cavities, naked torso are hung in trees and men are forced to run on stumps when their feet are blown off.  Along with the horrific deaths that accompany war, the injuries often outnumber dead men. As Paul Baumer witnessed in the hospital, the injuries were terrifying and often led to death.  His turmoil is expressed in the lines, “Day after day goes by with pain and fear, groans and death gurgles. Even the death room I no use anymore; it is too small.”  The men who make it through the war take with them mental and physical scarification from their experiences.

    Read More

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls: A Study of Psychology

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    When many think of wars, the first thought that comes to mind is the land which was fought over and which side won. They never consider the psychological side effect soldiers endure during war. For many, this is the only side they see so there is no exposure except through writers such as Ernest Hemingway. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway captivates the realism of war through his own eyes. Drawing from his own observation and experiences as an ambulance driver, Hemingway shows the psychological damage of war through the destruction of human lives, uncommitted relationships, and lack of confidence.

    Read More

More about Three Day Road Character Analysis

Open Document