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Essay / Applying Feminist Theory to Three Day Road
Three Day Road is a novel set in and about the First World War and the local Canadians who fought in the war, the role of women during this period, which in 1914 until 1917 is still as clear. It is evident that women's liberation in the modern world motivated the writer to incorporate these specific parts of the novel, as it was composed after much of the women's activist developments that occurred in the 1960s. During the war, local Canadians were repudiated and oppressed while women were not treated the same as men. The heroes, Niska and Xavier, knew what was happening. It is optimal to remember that Niska is both a woman and a local Canadian, so she was separated because she was both a woman and a Cree. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay First of all, I would like to express how Niska was treated by Canadians of European descent. When she walked around the European-ruled town called Moose Factory, residents would point at her and parents would pull their children closer to them as if Niska was a monster to them. In the story, Niska says in a quote, “Parents called their children towards them when I approached…The young men pointed and stared at me when they thought I was not looking” (Boyden 145). It is clear that because Niska was indigenous, European parents viewed her as a threat, but it is important to realize that only men pointed fingers at her and spread gossip about her appearance because she is a woman. During this time, women would only be accepted into society if they met society's expectations of a woman. These standards include specific clothing and a beautiful face, as well as being possessed and obedient to men. Since Niska ignored ignorance and rules, she was an outcast in European society. In a similar section, there was an important point about women in the mid-1910s that the author was trying to make. While Niska was walking around town, an old woman asked her to go home. This woman was Cree, like Niska, and she knew Niska's father, who was massacred in this city by the Europeans, which was the basic reason why she helped Niska. Since this woman lived in this place, she knew the desires of how a lady dresses in this town and gave Niska clothes to hide from Europeans by giving her, “…the clothes of wemistikoshiw [white European] women ], a long cotton skirt, a white cotton shirt, a brightly colored bandana to tie around my head” (Boyden 146). Niska puts on these clothes and no one in town focuses on her or says anything about her. This demonstrates that women must follow these strict rules to meet the standards of a woman in society. The purpose of Niska's trip to the city was to discover her accomplice at the time, a Frenchman. The Frenchman, mindful of his business, exploited Niska's feelings towards him and betrayed her by neglecting her in a church. Since Niska was her father's granddaughter, she carries her father's strengths within her. The reason the Frenchman carried her into the church was to decimate her soul by contaminating her under the European god. After doing this, the man says, "'I took your ahcahk'" (Boyden 149) (ahcahk means spirit in Cree) and "'You're nothing special, just another squaw whore'" ( Boyden 149). The Frenchman spoke out against the contempt of man,.