Examples Of Racism In The Indian Horse

Halil Okur

Ms. Luu

ESLEO

05/30/2023

Have you ever seen someone who is facing racism? Probably not. Even though there is still racism, it has decreased in the timeline in which we live. But there was a lot of racism among people back then. In The Indian Horse, a novel by Richard Wagamese, racism affected Saul Indian Horse in many ways: he lost his confidence, identity, and culture; he becomes more aggressive in the way he plays hockey; he starts to drink more alcohol; and he lost his whole personality.

As a result of the racism faced by Saul and others at the residential school, they lose their confidence, identity,

However, they faced racism even at that café. That was one of the big reasons that made him play more aggressively. Virgil begins to speak after all the things that happened in the cafe and starts to explain what happened back there. He explained how they got beaten and humiliated. And Saul says, "They hate us because we won? […] The white people thought it was their game."

- This hate is not only because they are Indians but also because they are winning in the "white people’s" game.

- In this case, they just won a tournament, and when they wanted to celebrate this in a café, they got humiliated and got beaten by a couple white men because of this "white" folk’s hate for Indians and as a comeback to win the tournament in the white people's game.

- As a result, all of this racism, even in a game, had an immense influence on his mental state and inevitably changed his playstyle to be far more aggressive. Because of the racism he had to deal with while playing hockey, he has transformed his style of play to be more

- After that, he thinks that alcohol might be an antidote to all the pain he has faced throughout his life and starts to drink alcohol.

- However, in the end, he really becomes an alcohol addict and loses his whole identity because of it. He literally loses his personality and doesn't want to find it again. He thinks that being someone you are not is easier than being yourself. So he just spun stories to forget himself while he shares these stories. As Saul reflects on his mental state at that time, he says he became a joker, a clown, and a raconteur who spun stories. And mentions that none of those stories happened to him. Then he continues, "I discovered that being someone you are not is often easier than living with the person you are. I became drunk with that. Addicted."

- He thinks that being himself is harder than being someone else, so he decides to be anybody rather than himself.

- In this case, he is addicted to alcohol, moves from tavern to tavern, and tells stories to forget himself. Because he thinks that being himself is harder than being someone