Three Day Road: Weesageechak: Hero Summary & Analysis

Elijah and Xavier are ordered to scout ahead at dawn. As they sneak through the “crushed” city, Xavier watches Elijah. Elijah has “crossed the line,” Xavier thinks, “crossed it long ago.” Xavier wonders if it is “up to [him] to stop [Elijah].” Sometimes, Xavier wishes that Elijah would be killed in action. The men in the unit say that Elijah is “brave, a warrior of the highest order,” but to Xavier, Elijah “is mad.” 

Elijah is talking to Xavier, but he doesn’t hear him. “Your hearing has worsened, X,” he says. He asks Xavier to go to the medic with him and tell him about his hearing loss. Maybe they will send Xavier “home as a hero,” Elijah says. “I’m not crazy,” Elijah continues. “This is war. This is not home. What’s mad is them putting us in trenches to begin with. The madness is to tell us to kill and to award those of us who do it well. I only wish to survive,” Elijah explains.

“Listen to me, X,” Elijah says to Xavier. “I should never have gotten in that aeroplane. Before that I believed nothing could hurt me over here. But I lost something up there is what it feels like. I need to get it back.” Elijah stares at Xavier. “I can see that I went too far into a dangerous place for a while. But I see that,” he says. “Does that mean something?”