Three Day Road Writing Style

       The use of flashbacks and foreshadowing in Three Day Road help add a idea of time to the story. Joseph Boyden tells the story through his characters having flashbacks or telling stories of their past. He uses foreshadowing to set the tone of the book.  Xavier tells a story about the time he and Elijah were canoeing the same river and there was a huge forest fire. To survive the fire, they had to go up to their heads in the cold river to be safe from the smoke and fire. When the fire ended the landscape was completely changed and the boys found a charred burnt, smelly moose which they had to eat to survive. The fire symbolizes and foreshadows the war. War turns the landscape into and burnt field of mud and leaves death everywhere it goes. It is out of control destruction just like a forest fire. Everything that seems useless in this book actually has a deeper meaning.