Overcoming in Indian Horse In order to mature and grow, one must learn valuable lessons. In Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse, Saul Indian Horse learns lessons that help him overcome his hardships and embrace a new life. Two major lessons learned is Saul having avoided Bad Coping Mechanisms and learning to accept his situations. One major lesson Saul learned is bad coping mechanisms. Saul avoiding bad coping mechanisms is a major thing that helped him overcome everything he went through. In the book we see Saul refusing beer that Virgil offers to him, “Maybe’ he said. ‘Depends on what you have to say for yourself. You want to get a beer and talk it out?’..........’I don’t drink. Not anymore. Used to. Didn’t really work out.” This quote …show more content…
Saul is finally understanding what he went through. In the book we see Saul revisit his past, “I used to live here,’ I said……”Don’t matter. Lots of them used to live here, and you can see how heartwarming an experience the visits have been.’.....’I haven’t seen it since the sixties.” Saul revisiting his past gives him a chance to reconcile with the past and look back at all the places that hurt him or filled with trauma. In addition, showing Saul is coming to terms with his past and finally being able to go back and not be afraid. Saul overcoming his hardships, which were his feelings and trauma from the past, was always something he sought to avoid. Secondly, we see Saul finally accepting himself. At the end of the book we see Saul laugh when he plays hockey after so many years, “I laughed then. I opened my mouth and I let myself peal off a great bray of laughter. Then I scooped up that wad of tape and began to move around faster around the blazing white glory of ice.” Seeing Saul laugh is something that was never shown in the book and at the end of the book Wagamese shows Saul laughing and it is a way of the audience seeing Saul accept himself and leave his past behind. Furthermore, Saul coming to terms with all the trauma that came from hockey and having a sense of joy with hockey after so long. This is Saul embracing his new life; it's like he is opening a new page trying to start over and live past the