"If I won't be remembered for how I lived, I might as well be remembered for how I died"

Since I cannot identify the protagonist yet in the story "3,000 Miles", I am going to write about a character named Andre from this story. Andre is a French Canadian who grew up in La Forest, near Quebec City. La Forest is an odd community in itself. Surrounded by "a bunch of trees", La Forest was home to the families who worked for the local mill (pg.1). The mill gave off "a lot of chemicals...and some old-timers started getting cancer...but none of it mattered. This was [their] home"(pg.3). Therefore, the people of the La Forest community were relatively close, except for Andre's family.

Andre lived in a "small, wooden house" with a "rusty Chevy Malibu in the front yard and a collection of old snow-mobiles littering in the back" accompanied by his negligent parents and stoner older brother Michel, who was about 4 years older (pg.5). Michel's best friend is Mario, who let Andre and his friends come over anytime to drink, blaze, and play/listen to metal and Satanic music, which Andre did quite often because there was nothing much else to do. Having senile parents, Mario makes his own crystal meth and sells it. When Andre needs money for something, Mario will give Andre meth to sell, leaving Andre with approximately a third of the profit. However, Andre does not do meth and "[he] stood by [his] decision not to get high" because he thought "it [was] bad enough selling [it] to survive" and "[he didn't] need the extra grief of doing it [himself] (pg.19). In addition to his family and friends, Andre has a girlfriend named Sylvie: "The two of [them] have everything in common, but most of the time [he] treats her like sh*t. She sticks by everything [his does], though, not like other girls [he] met (pg.22). I can tell Andre really cares and respects her because he said, "whenever [Richard, Serge, and I] talk about sex,...sometimes [Serge] turns away in disgust...when my stories get too graphic...I've never done any of that sh*t to Sylvie...she doesn't deserve to be degraded that way. She's a saint"(pg.22). Although, sadly, Andre is coming to a point in his life where he does not know what to do and where to go.

Personality wise, Andre is quite a confident individual, but yet perplexed about his future. After Kurt Cobain (the lead singer of the band Nirvana) committed suicide, Andre felt as if his life was going nowhere. Although, he never really thought about his future until then. Other than looking just like Kurt Cobain with the long, greasy blonde hair, leather jacket, and Kodiak boots, Andre thought of him as much more than a role model or a hero: " Kurt's life was worth... something [he couldn't] put into words, something beyond being a product or a lifestyle that was sold to [him]"(pg.20). Unfortunately, the "only way [Andre]" thought of expressing his feelings was [death] (pg.20).

Entering his twenties, Andre feels like it is time for him and his friends, Richard and Serge, to go on a journey.  Auspiciously, Richard and Serge liked Andre's "idea of going on a trip...because all [they] ever talked about [was] going someplace where [they could] at least imagine [themselves] having fun" (pg.21). Using Andre's meth dealing money, they plan to go across Canada then make their last stop in Seattle, Kurt Cobain's hometown. However, Andre is not going on this trip to search "for some kind of answer. [He knew] the answer" but needed to "figure out a way to express it" (pg.22). He has a feeling that he may decide not to return from this journey. In addition, he states, "If I won't be remembered for how I lived, I might as well be remembered for how I died" (pg.19). This quote proclaims that humans have a natural desire to be remembered in some way. In other words, Andre may feel worthless and forgotten by society if he were to just slowly fade away.

Coming from a small town in Quebec, Andre is someone who wants to feel accepted and supported in life, yet wants to go his own way. Plus, it doesn't help that his parents neglect him and his older brother could care less. Also, the person he looks up to the most, Kurt Cobain, has just died and so has Andre's perception of life. Thus his plan of going on a journey to prove something of himself becomes a reality. All he is asking for from his peers is some recognition and admiration.