THREE DAYROAD: 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

  1. 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.

  1. 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

  1. 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

When individuals become threatened by the dominant society, their sense of morality is drastically affected, causing them to act out of character. In Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, the various settings to which Elijah is exposed give him diverse degrees of freedomand shape his character to a great extent. In chronological order, Elijah is powerless in the residential school, gains some control living in the bush, and is consumed by his powers in the war. These three settings collectively influence Elijah’s disposition immensely throughout the novel.

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 thepressure 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

6Adversity 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.

7Those 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:
Tell how it clearly connects and helps to prove thesis:
X2 prove the connection using examples from text:
Explain how the examples further prove this PARTICULAR point
Explain how the examples further prove the thesis
Transition to next point. / Second CLEAR topic sentence from directional statement to help prove thesis:
Tell how it clearly connects and helps to prove thesis:
X2Prove the connection using examples from text:
Explain how the examples further prove this PARTICULAR point
Explain how the examples further prove the thesis
Transition to next point. / Third CLEAR topic sentence from directional statement to help prove thesis:
Tell how it clearly connects and helps to prove thesis:
X2Prove the connection using examples from text:
Explain how the examples further prove this PARTICULAR point
Explain how the examples further prove the thesis
Conclusion: (summarize theme/thesis statement)
Refer to supporting ideas(Remind reader how they proved thesis)
Final insightful statements: