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THE SHIFTING SITES OF IDENTITY NEGOTIATION IN BOYDEN’S THREE Day ROAD
a prostitute. Elijah knew but played along for Xavier’s sake, he says. Earlier, in a
parallel world, Niska has fallen in love with Frenchman, who turns out to be a
racist villain who rapes her. Niska also has to conceal herself when in town to
avoid being a target of racist remarks and assault, she needs to change clothes
and “fit in” to look like a young homegrown Indian." Then in the European
context, charcoal face masking is a survival practice at war,” along with hiding
in a cellar or covering one another on the frontline due to the constant fear of
being found and killed. If we enter the game of invisibility, the lethal game of
hide and seek, we can read the novel on multiple levels. One is the actual physical
visibility the soldiers try to avoid.** The other is the question of their visibility
as human beings in the context of racial divides in the army: “I am especially
proud to note that Acting Corporal Whiskeyjack has been recommended for
the MM for unmatched bravery in the face of the enemy”, but Xavier is then
invisible and frustrated.*° There is even a sarcastic game of invisibility at the end
of the war: Bird tries to save Elijah but cannot, kills the windigo in him, rips off
his ID and keeps it in his own pocket. However, when wounded and still carrying
Elijah’s ID, Bird is mistaken for Elijah, praised for bravery, returned home as if
he was a great Fritz killer. His guilt complex is relieved through the sweat lodge
ritual, when identities are resettled in home grounds.
In conclusion, Boyden’s novel depicts a fundamental aspect of interracial
relations and identity development of Indigenous persons who are intensively
exposed to the culture of Euro-Canadians, and that is the fluctuation between
more social identities and utilizing the “hybrid potential“ in post-racial nations
in North America. Xavier claims that “I am stuck between these two places”*
in a vacuum, that can be resolved by reconnecting with his tribal heritage,
through the sweat lodge rebirth ritual facilitated by Niska. Both comrades
experience a major identity transformation process of oppositional outcomes
and the radical undoing of ethnic stereotypes surrounding them. Similarly
to Silko’s Ceremony, where Tayo’s journey towards spiritual wholeness and
mental health are achieved through a complex learning process, the two
Cree men also attempt to reach those, but only Xavier can actually achieve
both. Rituals and ceremonies of transformation mark those journeys, and the
reader can feel the painstaking process and also understand the relevance of
rituals both in a tribal cultural and in a personal psychological sense. Above,
I presented how a mixed heritage author challenges interracial understanding
and what happens in his protagonists’ identity negotiation in the shifting sites
51 Ibid., 177.
52 Ibid., 187.
53 Ibid., 235-236, 249.
54 Tbid., 255.
55 Ibid., 256.
56 Ibid., 372.
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