In Joseph Boyden's novel “Three Day Road,” the murderous Windigo plays an important role within the central characters' Cree community. Through their individual and separate experiences, both Niska and Xavier struggle to assert their place within this community by attempting to kill an augmented version of their own Windigo. For Niska, her French lover represents this windigo in a metaphorical sense. Niska's murder of the Frenchman is a blatant attempt to feel like a windigo killer in her community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In her first story, Niska implicitly tells Xavier that she wants to play the role of windigo killer within her tribe. Niska initially presents herself as an outcast, who clearly doesn't fit in with anyone. She is not like other children, who think she is “damaged” and “crazy” (Boyden, 35), and feels “too young to be accepted by adults” (46). Apparently Niska is accepted and comforted only by her father, to whom she wants to "watch over" and "stay close" (36). Even with the chance to discover the world on her own before her “first blood as a woman,” Niska chooses to have “none of that” and instead “[remains] close to [her] father” (36). Due to her lack of self-discovery, her father very heavily influences Niska's sense of self, including how she belongs to her tribe. This effect is demonstrated most prominently when Niska discovers that she and her father belong to a lineage of Windigo assassins. This is done through example when Niska's father allows her to watch as he suffocates Micah's wife and son because they consumed Micah's flesh, and thus became Windigo. Later, he tells Niska that her identity within the tribe must become the role she takes on when she says, “'one day I will leave and you may have to do the same'” (45). Since this is only said to Niska, this quote concretely establishes that the descendants of Niska's family are the only ones who can fulfill this role within the community. Thus, the role of Windigo's killer defines tribal membership for Niska and her family members. This quote is also important because it is the only moment in the novel where Niska's father speaks directly to her. The fact that Niska remembers her father's exact words in this moment speaks to the importance Niska places on honoring the role of Windigo's killer in relation to her father. Niska expresses her desire to fulfill the expectations placed on her family members when she says, “I desperately wanted to possess [her gifts] for myself” (46). This states that Niska desires the aforementioned sense of belonging that the Windigo killer role will bring her. He witnesses that his father's gifts allow the adults of the tribe to "[walk] with purpose" (46) and allow color to return to the children's faces. This gives another purpose to Niska's desire to become a windigo killer, contributing to the collective health of the tribe. Niska feels that she will be able to achieve a position of belonging and contribute to the well-being of the tribe if she emulates her father by killing a Windigo. Niska's French lover is a symbolic representation of Niska's windigo. The Frenchman is not a Windigo as was described earlier in the novel. He does not “eat other people's flesh” nor “become [a] wild beast” (44), but he meets the description in a much less literal sense. Similar to a windigo devouring the flesh, an organ sacred to the physical body, the Frenchman violently takes Niska's “'ahcahk, [his] spirit'” (174), which is obviously very sacred,.