Page 315 [315]
THE SHIFTING SITES OF IDENTITY NEGOTIATION IN BOYDEN’S THREE Day ROAD
From time to time, the Cree protagonists face some sources of frustration,
namely authenticity, identification and validation. What actually underlies
both narratives is the identity crisis of Indigenous persons in conflict with
their surroundings as well as with themselves. There are some concentric
circles of identification, Cree/Indian/Canadian/Brit in Three Day Road.
The identity of the protagonists fluctuates between these definitions and
they especially struggle with the negative definitions others attach to them.
Three Day Road tackles the primary early childhood frustrations of the
residential school and the bush Indian (“heathen”) versus urban Catholic
Indian disparity, and then the army experience. All these perpetuate the
basic problem of Indigenous identity and its challenges in modern urban
culture in North America. While in the residential school the question
is, who can keep any of his or her Indigenous identity despite the cultural
genocide practiced by the nuns and authorities?, the “bushed Indian goes
to town” situation challenges the extent to which one might wish to and
is able to retain her or his tribal heritage. Authenticity and validation are
central every time Aunt Niska goes into town in Moose Factory, Canada.
Assimilation is an escape option as well as pressure both at the residential
school and in town (“So you are an Indian, then? [...] You are pretty short for
an Indian, ain’t ya?”'?). As for the army, there seems to be less pressure to
assimilate, in fact, even invisibility bothers Elijah for a while: “They ignore us
like we are ghosts floating by”.’* Becoming visible, respected and achieving a
great reputation as a scout are essential to him. However, he unconsciously
decides to enforce the stereotypical Indian image that is traditionally praised
for special military skills and attitude. In the army, nobody is really interested
in their tribal affiliation, Native ways of life and thinking. The war situation
does not allow for more personal attention than acknowledging the fact that
the two men are different and perhaps racially still inferior, but certain skills
earn respect for them. The impact of this is to underline the prototypical
racial divides, but does also, at least for periods of time, release some of the
frustration the two Cree fellows had. We can see the same general pattern
emerging in all the 20" century wars fought by the US and Canadian armies:
the contribution of ethnic minorities’ is temporarily appreciated and even
taken as heroic examples for compatriots, however, the fundamental racial
divides remain in place during and after the war.”
13 Boyden, Three Day Road, 35.
14 Tbid., 34.
15 See Chapter 14 in Ronald Takaki: Different Mirror and on the particular race relations that
Canadian Aboriginal veterans were affected by in, for instance, “Postwar Experiences of
Aboriginal Soldiers” at https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1414152378639/1414152548341
#chp7 (accessed 6 June 2017).
* 313 *