THREE DAY ROAD: PROMPTS TO WORK WITH
On May 18th, you will be given 3 of these prompts, of which you will choose one to write a full essay in class on the
18th. In groups, you will review each of these prompts and begin brainstorming to develop and introductory paragraph
for each prompt.
1. Conflict arises when a character’s (or characters’) beliefs or desires are incompatible with the
reality he/she faces. To what extent is a central theme developed in Three Day Road in response
to such a conflict?
X becomes:
Bitter/hostile
Gets punished
Is further alienated
When faced with the harsh reality of war, an individual's personality and behaviour is strongly
influenced, leading to the dilemma of maintaining one's culture or assimilating to the dominant
society. When the person chooses to maintain culture rather than assimilate, the result is an
inability to gain recognition or comraderie, thus leading to being ostracized from the group. In
Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, Xavier refuses to give up his beliefs in his Native culture, and
as a consequence, he can never fully fit in with the other soldiers in the war. In fact, he eventually
becomes bitter and hostile with the others, gets punished for his lack of assimilation, and is even
further alienated in the end. What part of the prompt is missing in this introductory paragraph?
When faced with
the harsh reality of
war, an individual's
personality and
behaviour is
strongly influenced,
leading to the
dilemma of
maintinaing one's
culture or
assimilating to the
dominant society.
When faced with
this dilemma,
What was this
character like
in the
beginning?
Setting
Proof from text
which shows this
particular setting
influences the
character
Scroll down for the smartboard brainstorm…..from prompt 1…then keep scrolling down for the
next 3 prompts
2. With reference to Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, analyse how three
different literary techniques (eg imagery, symbolism, parallelism, irony,
contrast, point of view, narrator) contribute to the development of a central
theme in the novel.
PERIOD 1 BRAINSTORM:
THEME: When faced with negative societal pressure, individuals will
inevitably lose their cultural pride and eventually their overall character
will change to suit that of the dominant society.
In Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, the theme that when faced
with negative societal pressure, individuals will inevitably lose
their cultural pride and eventually their overall character will
change to suit that of the dominant society is developed through
the use of symbolism, imagery and irony. Boyden uses the
moccasins, a significant symbol of the Native culture, plus the
morphine addiction , an important aspect of imagery, as well as
his abandonment of his roots to display irony in this novel to show
how Elijah loses his cultural pride and changes significantly.
3. In Three Day Road, to what extent is a character’s true personality revealed
through confronting a moral dilemma?
We didn’t brainstorm this one, since it is similar to #1
4. Assess to what extent the setting of Three Day Road shapes or influences a
central character.
Brainstorm p.1
intro paragraph brainstorm prompt #4
When faced with negative societal pressure, individuals will inevitably lose their cultural
pride and eventually their overall character will change to suit that of the dominant
society. In Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, the multiple settings in which this story
take place greatly influence the actions and personality of Xavier. Specifically, the time
in the residential school forces him to become bitter with the white culture, the
experience in the bush shapes his beliefs and pride in his native culture, and the horrors
of the war corrupt his relationships and morals, thus losing sight of his true character.
Brainstorm p.4, prompt 4
prompt 5 brainstorm:
Show how Boyden develops a particular motif in Three Day Road to convey one of the
novel’s major themes.
THEME:
Pressure to be valued in one’s society reveals the negative characteristics of a
person’s identity
THESIS: In Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, Boyden develops the motif of the
dramatic marginalization of Native culture to convey the theme that the pressure
to be valued in one’s society reveals the negative characteristics of a person’s
identity. This theme is given life through the examples of the influence of the
French people on both Niska and Elijah, as well as through the symbols of the
medicine bag and moccasins, which all culminate as a motif to demonstrate that
when the characters of this novel face pressure to be valued, their negative
characteristics surface.
The motif of the transformation of native culture
-French soldiers tell E about scalping –he wants to feel valued, so he takes part in
it- reveals his negative characteristics because he becomes savage or acts savagely
to fit in
-medicine bag at the beginning filled with healing herbs…eventually replaced
with morphine paraphernalia –Grey eyes- if he takes the morphine, he feels a
sense of comraderie –reveals his negative characteristics because he no longer has
a conscience –develops into ‘windigo’ character –epitome of negative
characteristics
- Niska is pressured to feel valued by the Frenchman in her ‘relationship’ –
reveals her negative characteristics because she uses her spiritual powers for
wrong purposes
-moccasins – pressure to be valued leads to E telling X that his moccasins are
‘wrong’ – eventually disregards this important symbol of his culture- shows E is
both petty ( doesn’t value X’s commitment to keeping his moccasins in usable
shape); shows he is willing to throw away his culture- loss of self ? Moccasins at
the end- where X tells him they are beyond repair- symbolic of E being beyond
repair because he has changed so drastically in a negative way
6
Adversity comes in the form of various types of pressure and is the most
important factor in shaping character and identity. Assess the validity of this
statement with reference to Three Day Road.
7
Those qualities that make a character heroic may also cause his or her suffering
or destruction. Show that this is true of a character(s) in Three Day Road.
We didn’t brainstorm for 6+7 because they are similar to the other character
prompts
REMEMBER
 NO ‘IF’S –**FACTS ONLY**
 THIRD PERSON ONLY
 PRESENT TENSE ONLY
 CLEAR AND SPECIFIC TOPIC SENTENCES
 NO PLOT SUMMARY
 ADDRESS ALL ASPECTS OF THE PROMPT
 UNDERLINE THE BOOK TITLE
 MUST BE 800-1000 WORDS!
FORMAL ESSAY STRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION MUST INCLUDE



Interesting introductory statement (or ‘hook’)
Thesis statement (Tell me what you are going to prove? DO NOT SAY, “I AM
GOING TO PROVE” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Directional statement (Tell me how you will prove it- what are your three key
points which will prove your thesis?) DO NOT SAY, ‘ IN THE FOLLOWING
ESSAY, I WILL PROVE THAT….BY ….’
BODY PARAGRAPH 1
 Topic sentence ( directional point #1)
 Give an example that proves the point ( should be from the text described in your
own words)
 Provide a quote from the text to support your point
 Explain how this helps to prove your topic sentence AND thesis
BODY PARAGRAPH 2
 Transitional sentence to connect body paragraph 1 to body paragraph 2
 Topic sentence ( directional point #2)
 Give an example that proves the point ( should be from the text described in your
own words)
 Provide a quote from the text to support your point
 Explain how this helps to prove your topic sentence AND thesis
BODY PARAGRAPH 3
 Transitional sentence to connect body paragraph 2 to body paragraph 3
 Topic sentence ( directional point #3)
 Give an example that proves the point ( should be from the text described in your
own words)
 Provide a quote from the text to support your point
 Explain how this helps to prove your topic sentence AND thesis
CONCLUSION:
 Summarize your thesis statement. “DO NOT SAY, IN THIS ESSAY I HAVE
PROVEN…”
 Restate your three main points and explain how they have been essential to
proving your thesis
 Final statement. DO NOT SAY ‘THE END’
FORMAL ESSAY DETAILED OUTLINE
•introductory statement – interesting hook/general info about the novel/author/themes/ideas presented in the
novel
___________________________________________________________________________________
•thesis statement –*Tells what you will prove!*
___________________________________________________________________________________
•Directional statement - Your 3 key points Which CLEARLY will help to prove the thesis
(1) __________________________________________________________________
(2) ________________________________________ (3) _____________________________________
First CLEAR topic sentence from
directional statement to help prove
thesis:
Second CLEAR topic sentence
from directional statement to help
prove thesis:
Third CLEAR topic sentence
from directional statement to help
prove thesis:
Tell how it clearly connects and
helps to prove thesis:
Tell how it clearly connects and
helps to prove thesis:
Tell how it clearly connects and
helps to prove thesis:
X2 prove the connection using
examples from text:
X2Prove the connection using
examples from text:
X2Prove the connection using
examples from text:
Explain how the examples further
prove this PARTICULAR point
Explain how the examples further
prove this PARTICULAR point
Explain how the examples further
prove this PARTICULAR point
Explain how the examples further
prove the thesis
Explain how the examples further
prove the thesis
Explain how the examples further
prove the thesis
Transition to next point.
Transition to next point.
Conclusion: (summarize theme/ thesis statement)
Refer to supporting ideas(Remind reader how they proved thesis)
Final insightful statements: