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Kipwahakan: Captive
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Three Day Road, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Isolation vs. Community
Racism and Assimilation
Language and Storytelling
Nature, War, and Survival
Summary
Analysis
Elijah and Xavier are given permission to continue working on their sniper skills, and Thompson is amazed as he watches them work. He can’t believe how still they are. Elijah tells Thompson it is because they have hunted all their lives. He is wrong, but Xavier does not correct him. Xavier is “the only one of the two” who has “truly hunted for a lifetime.”
Elijah lived on the reserve until adolescence, whereas Niska came to get Xavier when he was just “four or five winters.” Xavier went to the bush about the time he would have begun to learn to hunt had he been born there; Elijah was on the reserve considerably longer and therefore has not “truly hunted for a lifetime.” This again underscores the divide between Xavier, who maintains a deeper connection with his Indigenous roots and Elijah, who is more willing to embrace wemistikoshiw culture.
Themes
By summertime, Elijah’s kill number grows. Xavier is “learning to come to terms with what [Elijah] does,” and that he is Elijah’s “accomplice.” As they sit in the dark trenches at night listening to gunfire, Elijah “has the smile of the mysterious on his lips.” Xavier notices that Elijah sleeps very little and only talks of hunting. The others in the unit have “begun to treat Elijah like he is something more than them.” He brags about his kills and the men think he is a hero.
It takes Xavier some time to accept the killing that is expected of them, and he is only able to do this because he convinces himself it is a matter of survival. Elijah, on the other hand, enjoys killing, and his “mysterious” smile is evidence this. He is already going windigo. He has isolated himself from Xavier and his Native identity by conforming to the wemistikoshiw army, and the level of Elijah’s conformity is reflected in just how popular he is among the men.
Themes
At nighttime, Xavier and Elijah patrol the line, sneaking up on the enemy. This is what they “like best” and “what [they] are best at.” In the dark, Xavier feels like he and Elijah “are owls or wolves,” and Breech says it is because their “Indian blood” makes them “closer to that of an animal than that of a man.” Rumor has it that the war will soon be decided in France, and Elijah is excited to get there. He is “afraid the war will end before [they] arrive.”
The reference to owls again underscores Xavier’s connection to nature. Xavier is good at sneaking up on his enemy because he has experience sneaking up on game in the bush, and Elijah is good at it because Xavier has taught him what he knows. Breech, too, makes the racist connection between Indians and animals, and assumes that Xavier and Elijah’s skills are inherent rather than acquired through experience and cultural practice. Elijah’s excitement is further evidence that he is going mad and turning windigo.
Themes
A British officer is sent in for training, and he asks for the best shooters from each company to step forward so they can determine the best shot. McCaan selects Elijah and Xavier, and they step forward with several other men. They are placed in groups of ten and told to shoot at balloons in the distance. Elijah and Xavier easily hit their balloons. The group of men thins, and they are told to line up behind beef tins 150 yards downfield. Again, Elijah and Xavier quickly shoot the tins.
Again, Elijah and Xavier have spent much more time shooting than the average soldier. In addition to prolonged target practice in preparation for sniping, they both hunt for sustenance. Unlike the wemistikoshiw who get their meat from a market or butcher, Xavier and Elijah must hunt for their dinner.
Themes
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The officers huddle together and try to think of a new way to challenge the shooters. Elijah clears his throat. “Sirs,” he says. “Place matches in the ground twenty paces from us and the man who can light the match with a bullet wins.” Elijah smiles “the same trickster grin” he’s had since childhood, and Xavier knows why. This is a game that is “impossible to win.”
Elijah knows that Xavier is a better marksman than he is, but Elijah doesn’t want the men in his unit to know this. By suggesting an impossible task to decide the best shot, Elijah is confident no one will win, and the men in the unit can go on thinking that he is the best.
Themes
The matches are placed and Elijah and Xavier line up. There is only one other man left in the competition. They each take two shots attempting to light the match and miss. The third shot, the British officer says, will decide. If no one lights the match, no one wins. Elijah readies himself and fires. The bullet comes close but clearly misses. Xavier stands at the line, releases half a breath, and fires. A flame bursts from the match and the men begin to cheer.
Xavier’s ability to light the match by firing a rifle at it cements him firmly as the better shot, but the men in his unit seem to quickly forget this, and they continue to treat Elijah as better than Xavier. This certainly bothers Xavier, but here he gets the satisfaction of Elijah knowing the truth—and Elijah doesn’t forget.
Themes
“Your new name is simply X,” McCaan says to Xavier, smiling, “and when men ask you why, you tell them, X marks the spot on any target you wish to hit!” The company laughs and cheers. “X marks his spot!” McCaan yells again. Xavier stands in the middle of the cheering mob. “None of these who are here today can call me a useless bush Indian ever again,” he thinks. “They might not say it out loud, but they know now that I have something special.”
Xavier’s nickname as “X” is the only thing that remains in wemistikoshiw memory about this day of shooting. They continue to call him X, but they never treat him as if he is special (like they do Elijah) regardless of his skill, because Xavier resists assimilating to wemistikoshiw culture.
Themes
