The setting of the novel "The Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden is Moose Factory, Canada, shortly after WW1. Auntie is expecting Elijah, a friend of her nephew Xavier. However, she is surprised when it turns out to be Xavier himself who returns. She had received a letter informing her that her nephew died in battle and that Elijah was wounded and lost a leg. Initially mistaking him for a ghost, Auntie realizes Xavier's presence when he collapses to the ground in shock upon seeing her alive. Together, they embark on a journey down the river back to their home in the bush.
During their journey, both Auntie and Xavier reminisce about the past. Auntie recalls her memories from when she was a young girl until the end of the war, while Xavier reflects o
...n his experiences during the war. Auntie believes that Xavier is affected by a sickness caused by the medicine of the white men, which she refers to as wemistikoshiw. In an attempt to heal him, she tells him a story from her childhood about a harsh winter her tribe had to endure. Hoping that the spirits from the story would scare the sickness away. Meanwhile, Xavier remembers how he and Elijah were once ordinary privates in their platoon during the war.
Sergeant McCaan realizes that Elijah and Xavier are skilled hunters who can move undetected in the trenches. As a result, he trains them as snipers, with Elijah as the shooter and Xavier as his spotter. Their exceptional skills gain them widespread recognition during the war. However, the experiences of war take a toll on both of
them. Xavier becomes homesick and longs to return to the bush, while Elijah becomes addicted to the violence and adrenaline of killing. Throughout this period, Auntie continues narrating stories to Xavier, spanning from her childhood to his meeting with Elijah and their journey to war.
Auntie brought Xavier with her from the nuns in Moose Factory when he was a young boy. Together, they lived in the bush as she taught him all about surviving and thriving in nature. Auntie starts to tell a story from her own childhood, which involves her father, who was the last remaining Cree capable of performing the ritual to cure the windigo disease. According to Cree beliefs, this illness affects those who consume human flesh. Auntie recalls a particular memory from her youth when she witnessed her father participating in this ritual.
The text describes a situation where a woman had to execute a young man to cure him and his tribe of the windigo disease. Xavier, who witnessed this act, later approached her expressing his desire for a friend. Reluctantly, she allowed him to go to Moose Factory in search of one. It was at Moose Factory that Xavier met Elijah. During Xavier's summer breaks from school there, he taught Elijah hunting and wilderness survival skills. This is also when they improved their marksmanship as Elijah had stolen a gun from one of the nuns.
Xavier reflects on the memory of Elijah's death and realizes that he was responsible for killing him in the field. The war had caused both Xavier and Elijah to become mentally unstable. Suddenly, a bomb blast throws Xavier away, and
he finds himself surrounded by soldiers and medics. In his anguish, he repeatedly cries out Elijah's name, causing them to mistake him for Elijah since he has his dog tags. As they make their final stop at the river before returning home, Xavier's pain intensifies to an almost unbearable level. They rest on the riverbank while Auntie assures him that they will reach home by the next day.
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