Paper Example on War's Adverse Effects: Addiction in "Three Day Road"

Introduction

There is usually nothing positive brought by any war. War has numerous adverse effects, such as destroying families, and there is nobody who returns home without injuries. According to Three Day Road, Joseph Boyden shows the real results caused by war. Joseph uses Xavier and Elijah as the main characters in the novel to show how war can lead to conflict among people with a strong bond. This paper will elaborate in detail Xavier and Elijah’s addiction as a result of the war. There are a lot of devastations in the human brain caused by the addiction to a particular drug.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In the novel, Xavier and Elijah are best friends and have a similar brotherhood relationship. According to Joseph Boyden, the strong relationship between Xavier and Elijah is broken by war. Both Xavier and Elijah get exposure to western culture, and each of them becomes addicted to different things. As a result of morphine addiction, Joseph is forced to lose his morals, and this results in a conflict between the two friends as they hold on to different ideologies.

In Three Day Road, Xavier holds on his traditional ideologies and refuses to be influenced by western culture. On the other hand, Elijah is entirely changed by the new culture: This becomes the great cause of the difference between Xavier and Elijah as they hold on to different cultural grounds. The battle between Xavier and Elijah on who has a strong ideology is a display of the effects of western culture and civilization.

Morphine Addiction

The human brain is greatly affected by drug addiction as continuous use of a given substance alters the brain’s normal functioning. In the novel Three Day Road, Elijah develops morphine addiction due to continued attractions to the drug. According to the book, Morphine played the role of both steroid and tranquilizer to Elijah. The continuous use of Morphine by Elijah result in an addiction. Joseph Boyden says that Elijah used Morphine to run away from the intensified war.

Elijah developed a strong need for Morphine. Even the times that Elijah is not in physical suffering, and there is no essentiality of the medicine, “His body screams out for the needle” (Boyden 2006). Elijah lost control of Morphine’s body overuse, which led to an effect in his judicial capacity. Joseph Boyden further shows that as a result of morphine use, Elijah killed both the child and her mother using a gun. As a result of Elijah’s action of shooting the mother and her child, Xavier became furious about the operations performed by Elijah. When Xavier asked Elijah about his actions, Elijah said that “I did not know it was a child was a child” (Boyden 2006).

Morphine addiction made Elijah forget that his actions had consequences. The difference in cultural ideologies between Elijah and Xavier increased the conflict that existed between them. According to the novel’s plot, it is evident that Elijah was modernized, whereas Xavier maintained his traditional way of thinking. Xavier’s difference against morphine use by Elijah resulted in the beginning of their battle brought about by different cultural beliefs.

Cultural Addictions

Numerous clashes may arise due to cultural beliefs bearing a contradiction against the actions performed by others in society. Elijah and Xavier differ in customs as Xavier was brought up in the bush by Niska, and has been addicted to the Indigenous ways of thinking and performance. On the other hand, despite Elijah being inherent, he was an orphan who was brought up at a boarding school. Elijah has no idea if his ancestry is from the traditional society or the western culture.

The western people emphasize the achievements generated by the war, whereas the traditional society is mainly concerned by peace, and harmoniously living. Elijah wanted to make all efforts to fit in the white men community. He proved his belonging to western society to the other defense forces by attending the murdering riot. Xavier being a close friend to Elijah, he realized that Elijah has dramatically changed and addicted to becoming inhuman.

The morphine addiction made Elijah to scalp people after killing them, and he went forward to gather parts of the body, and the hair of the dead as symbols of crown gained after the successful killing. Elijah performed the execution for different reasons: seeking approval, glory, and attention from the other white soldiers. The killing actions performed by Elijah had an inner battle with Xavier as he was against the killings done by Elijah. Xavier knew Elijah had become, “Something inhuman” (Boyden 2006). According to the novel, Joseph Boyden states that “Xavier is known to have originated from the linage of Wendigo murderers” (Boyden 2006). He makes struggles to hold on to the legacy of his family.

It is clear from the novel that Elijah has entirely distorted to Wendigo; however, due to the friendship ties between Elijah and Xavier, it is evident that Xavier spares the life of Elijah. In his novel, Joseph Boyden shows that there rose Jealousy between Elijah and Xavier since Elijah was struggling with the spirit of Windigo. In contrast, Xavier made an effort to uphold his linage legacy as a Wendigo killer.

Addiction of Jealousy

Jealousy refers to a bad feeling that can generate damage to oneself and makes it clear an individual’s dark side. According to the novel, it can be said that Xavier had a jealousy addiction. Xavier envied Elijah since most people viewed Elijah as a superior soldier compared to Xavier. Despite Elijah having an idea that Xavier is a better soldier to him, Elijah uses his manipulative power to make Xavier appear as a “useless bush Indian” (Boyden 2006). According to the novel, Xavier had poor communication skills, and he was not able to communicate to the superior, and this gave Elijah an advantage as he well presented himself to the excellent soldier.

Despite the Xavier having the information on what is going on, he chooses not to interfere; this presents Xavier as a culturally sound man, which makes Elijah develop Jealousy. Xavier still had all his cultural values with him compared to Elijah, who had adopted the Western culture to the fullest. Elijah could have used any means possible to ensure that he gets validation from the superior soldiers. Elijah’s main goals seeking validation did pose not only a significant threat to himself but also the other soldiers.

According to the novel, Elijah could leave his spot to attain the highest number of kills and explain that, “He was out there killing Fritz” (Boyden 2006). This act shows that Elijah was so selfish that he only minded his gains and forgot about the other soldiers. In the novel, Elijah has an addictive personality as he mainly targets to entertain others.

Conclusion

According to the paper, it is clear that both Xavier and Elijah had a great relationship at first. However, as a result of the war, the two friends were separated with different addictions. Western culture and civilization resulted in the development of Morphine, which was an addictive drug. The continuous use of Morphine by Elijah results in addiction, which leads to a disagreement between the two friends. Their addiction to different cultures as a result of the war also increases the differences between Elijah and Xavier. Elijah had a belief in the modern way of doing things, whereas Xavier has still upheld traditional ethics. War has many negative impacts on society.

References

Boyden, J. (2006). Three Day Road. Canada: Penguin Group, Canada.