Many times the protagonists become the victims of the story and are eventually defeated. This is the case in Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road. The protagonist, Xavier Bird, is the victim and is eventually defeated by the powers and doings of the people that he encounters during the war, and also by the uncontrollable forces that act upon him during the course of the war. Ultimately, these two factors overpower him and lead to his emotional defeat.

First of all, Xavier is victimized and destroyed by the many different people he encounters during the war. Xavier’s emotions are hurt when he realizes the truth about his love, Lisette, and his best friend, Elijah Whiskeyjack. When Xavier realizes that Lisette was a hired prostitute, paid for …show more content…

The fact that he feels saddened plays a role in his ultimate downfall. Another uncontrollable force that Xavier faces during the war is his jealousy; no matter what he does, he cannot seem to stop being envious of Elijah. All throughout the novel, Xavier’s jealousy seems to be developing; he feels that no one is paying attention to all that he has done. “I’m clearly invisible to the officers”(178). Also, his best friend Elijah is adding to the problem: “he has not mentioned me once” (243), Xavier says as he realises that Elijah is taking all the credit for the kills. Because of the fact that Xavier is slowly becoming more and more jealous of Elijah, Xavier starts to despise his friend and loses trust in him. This is seen when Xavier is contemplating whether to tell Elijah about Aunt Niska’s letter. He feels that he can no longer trust Elijah. “I want to tell him of the news of Auntie, but can no longer rely on him” (319). This crumbling trust that is caused by the forces of jealousy leads to Xavier feeling alone. Because Elijah is Xavier’s only true friend, and his window of communication, he feels isolated and emotionally hurt. Xavier feels that now he has no true friend and that he is all alone. This leads to his ultimate emotional defeat. Because of these uncontrollable forces that act upon him during the war, Xavier feels that he is defeated, and in fact, he is.

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