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Elijah and Xavier have been in the army for several months already, and they have already built a reputation as the snipers because of their superior skill of shooting. Although Xavier is the better sniper due to his years of experience of hunting, Elijah is the one who enjoys most of the attention because of his superior English and most importantly his willingness to kill the Germans. At the same time, Xavier finds out that Elijah is secretly taking morphine, though he is not yet addicted to it. At this point, Xavier has gotten used to death, he has seen his comrades being shot and he has nearly been killed by a bullet. On the other hand, Niska keeps telling Xavier her story after she escapes from the reserve, she finds out that she has inherited her father’s supernatural power-she can contact spirits in the forests and ask them about the location of the animals in the forest, thus allowing her to live with another clan.

Up to this point, I already have a decent knowledge of the characters. Xavier, who is raised by his aunt in the bush, learns the tactics of survival and hunting since he was little, whereas Elijah, who is raised by the nuns in the residential school, only learns the skills of hunting after he becomes friends. When Elijah and Xavier enters the army, they are grouped in the same category because of their common ethnic background, however, they are two opposite people because of their different believes and moral. For instance, Xavier who grew up in the bushes only kills wild animals and human when it is necessary for survival. Whereas Elijah, who is proud of his shooting skill, views killing as a way to gain respect or even sport. Apart from that, Xavier’s opinion on his identity as a Native is different from that of Elijah. Xavier has no shame in being a Native, this is not the case for Elijah, who grew up in the residential school and knows how to blend into the white Canadian society, which is what caused him to be ashamed by his identity.

I’m surprised to see that Elijah and Xavier can become such great friends when their personalities are so different from one another. Personally I prefer Xavier who is quieter and more mature, what I like the most about him is his kind nature, for he refuses to kill Germans even though this is despised by the other soldiers. Unlike the others, Xavier understands the real meaning consequence of killing and avoids it; this trait of him is what determines the difference between him and Elijah. I also notice that the life in the trenches for the soldiers has become more and more violent and realistic, I am even used to seeing a soldier chatting and laughing with the others and killed the next second, I think the first thing I learned in this story is that: death is sudden and unpredicted, there’s no foreshadow for death in real life, it just happens.