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Discrimination In Indian Horse By Richard Wagamese

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Words can be presented in many ways that can encourage us, or destroy us. Racism and discrimination are prominent themes in the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Saul Indian Horse has endured name-calling throughout his entire life, entrenched from his time at residential schools. He was made to suffer, and this suffering lasted throughout his hockey career until he grew tired and turned to alcoholism. Saul encounters racist comments throughout the novel that alter his future in hockey, rooting from the time he was asked to leave his first town team, to the abuse endured by white players, and finally when he retaliated. It is no debate to say that Saul had a traumatic past, and he seemed to have a fresh start when he entered St. Jerome’s …show more content…

He was resistant but soon grew close to his new family and teammates. His new team, the Moose, grew stronger as Saul was the secret weapon. They started to create headlines, and town teams grew interested in playing them, even though Saul was reluctant to face them. Soon, they were invited to elite tournaments, and they were invited to the tournament in Espanola. At the tournament, players soon discovered Saul’s weakness. “I knew my team wanted me to buckle. They wanted me to bare my fists and fight. But I would not do that. I would not surrender my vision of the game.” (Wagamese 261). Saul was getting hit left and right but refused to hit back. He knew that he was going to play a fair game because hockey was what gave Saul an escape from the world even if it did not seem like it …show more content…

Saul made it to the Toronto Marlboros, a feeder club for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was not welcome into this team, his teammates would not pass to him, but they would gladly accept a pass to have the opportunity to score. When they played other teams in the league, he was constantly hit. Saul tried to stay calm, but eventually, he gave up. “I flipped my right glove off at the last second and drove my fist right into this face.” (Wagamese 302) Saul changed, he released all his anger into the game. A man who was once a composed individual had become a fighter. He became a puck hog and would retaliate if anyone laid a hand on him. Saul was still a star, scoring twenty three-points in nine games, but he also racked up a whopping one hundred and twenty minutes in the penalty box. Saul ended his hockey career vengeful, as he left the team a

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While on this journey saul discovers how friendships, emotions, and the past play a huge role in remembering and letting go of those who hurt you. Saul Indian horse is a member of the Ojibwa tribe. As a young child saul faced a lot of pain and suffering. Saul physical journey begins at Gods Lake after the tragic death of his older brother Benjamin. His parents make the ultimate decision to leave him with his grandmother Naomi, in order to give

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As socialization's effects are inevitable, we are constantly influenced by groups. However, regardless of the groups we are influenced by, the one concept that is absolute is our reliance on the sense of togetherness that seldom dissolves. The concept is explored in the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese and the short story "Borders" by Thomas King, both of which emphasize characters who have been influenced by cultural assimilation. Indian Horse is a journey of Saul Indian Horse, a young Indigenous child who lost their family due to assimilation and was forced to attend a residential school. “Borders” is a journey of a Blackfoot mother who desires to visit her daughter in Salt Lake City, separated from her Blackfoot background; both emphasizing

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Saul states, “In the spirit of hockey I believed I had found community, a shelter and a heaven from everything bleak and ugly in the world” (Wagamese 90). Thus, hockey serves as an escape route for all the emotional turmoil that Saul has gone through, and he uses the hockey spirit as a tool to facilitate his healing

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People encounter many obstacles in their lifetimes, obstacles that are too arduous to overcome by themselves. They must find a way to get through these difficulties, and there is always something, or someone, that helps keep them sane through these hard hours. To Saul Indian Horse, the main character of Richard Wagamese’s novel Indian Horse, that obstacle is St. Jerome’s Residential School and the very element that kept him sane was hockey. In the residential school, Saul is abused both mentally and physically, witnessing the continued deaths of his Indian classmates. Fortunately, Saul was able to keep himself sane through hockey.

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He fights against the school’s ultimate goal, to break him down and leave him with no other option but to obey the rules. Additionally, when Father Leboutilier reaches out to Saul and encourages him to watch the other kids play hockey, Saul falls in love with the game. Being too young to play, he manages to find other chores to do to gain experience. This does not faze him, at the end of the day he (60) He finds salvation through hockey rather than Jesus, regardless of Christianity being forced among the children.

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In the novel Indian Horse, the readers see many faces of oppression occur, but marginalization occurs much more frequently than others. In the novel, marginalization operates among the other faces of oppression, each working together to amplify the alienation that Saul and the other characters experience. This demonstrates how the faces have a cumulative rather than individual effect. In Indian Horse, violence is a very common face of oppression that occurs throughout the novel, making a large impact on the characters.

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The detrimental and unfair categorization of people by race, gender and more, commonly known as discrimination, affects many in society both mentally and emotionally. Many instances of this act of hatred occurred among Aboriginal and Native Canadians in the 20th century. However, for a little Native Indian boy stepping onto the rink, this is the norm that surrounds him. Saul Indian Horse, in Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”, faces discrimination head on, where his strengths for hockey are limited by the racial discrimination from the surrounding white ethnicity. Consequently, this racism draws him into a mentally unstable state, where he suffers heavy consequences.

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Saul’s life at St.Jerome 's was hell, everywhere he looked there was agony and heartbreak. “We lived under constant threat. If it wasn’t the direct physical threat of beatings, the Iron Sisters or vanishing, it was the dire threat if purgatory, hell…” Page 80. As a result hockey became an escape for Saul, something so pure that helped Saul cope with the nightmare his life became.

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Indian Horse: The Racism that destroys, but creates Saul Hockey is a national sport that unites one another. From the Montreal Canadiens to the Vancouver Canucks, children and adults find excitement in the game. In the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, Saul Indian Horse encounters racism in his hockey career and with society. Saul attempts to bear the stereotypes set on him, which destroys him and thus, Saul struggles in attempt to reconcile mentally, physically and spiritually.

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[Father Leboutillier] was [his] captor, the warder of [Saul’s] innocence.” (Wagamese pg 202) When Saul was young, Father Leboutillier was the only kind adult at St. Jeromes. He introduced Saul to the world of hockey and was much kinder than all the other staff members. When Father Leboutilier takes advantage of Saul, he not only betrays Saul’s trust but the reader’s. Saul has already been through so much and Father Leboutilier was the only one there for Saul.

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