Three Day Road Analysis

Death, sex, and love. The three main plots found within most literature. Three Day Road encompasses all three of them into a underlying theme: addiction. The theme of addiction shows how no matter what one is addicted to it will end badly. From Elijah getting high off killing, the Frenchman thriving off of sex, and Niska’s obsession with the Frenchman; all addictions lead to catastrophe. Elijah is a main character who is developed throughout the novel. Elijah is a strong fighter and hunter, which he learned from Xavier. However, his cockiness and need to impress is evident from the beginning. His desire to be liked and admired by his fellow soldiers and predominantly his superiors, causes him to go beyond what is expected of him. With his ability to speak strong English allows him to take advantage of Xavier’s accomplishments without him being …show more content…
Elijah exaggerates his stories to appear more impressive than he is, while he went out to snipe away from the lines he learned that he gained this power from killing lots of Germans. People became impressed, so he developed in his mind that killing is something to be proud of. For the first while in the novel, Elijah kills because that's what he is expected to do. He loves the praise that comes from it. Halfway through the novel, he begins to scalp his kills, collecting them and turning them into trophies. His mental health begins to be compromised from the effects of the war, due to the actions he was forced to make. Those actions numbed his sense of humanity. He loves the idea of killing. It brings him power, he starts to feel like a god, taking control over people’s lives. This thrill turns into an addiction. He thrives off of each kill, wanting more and more. The addiction feeds him. He turns into an animal whose specialty is to kill. His charisma and likability dropped. Each day he lost more of his humanity. He loses so much that he no longer sees the enemy as people, but