Indian Horse Quotes

Daniel Birch Mrs. Agostini ENG 2D1 Friday, May 2024 Cultural genocide, Trauma and addiction in indigenous communities What exactly have indigenous people gone through? Indigenous kids, families, and communities went through many forms of abuse within residential schools, all at the hands of the school staff in Canada. The novel Indian horse illustrates the impact that the residential school system had on Indigenous communities in Canada by focusing on the experiences of Saul Indian horse and how he decides to persevere despite all of the things he has faced within residential schools. Indigenous communities in Canada were impacted by the residential school system as the survivors experienced cultural genocide, trauma and addiction to alcohol.

Which means that the quote relates to the theme of cultural genocide. Residential schools stopped them from speaking their own language, wearing certain clothes, and acting in a certain way. Until eventually, these kids forgot their own native heritage entirely, which ruined these Indigenous communities and is why it’s called cultural genocide. Another example of cultural genocide and the effects they had on indigenous communities would be when Saul lists some more of his experiences at St. Jeromes. Saul says he “watched a girl calmly fill the pockets of her apron with rocks and walk across the field. She went to the creek and sat at the bottom and drowned” (Wagamese 55). These quotes show how stressed and torn apart some indigenous kids were from the events of what was happening in these residential schools. Which also proves that these residential schools ruined Indigenous communities and families, as kids were dying that belonged to their native communities. These quotes also connect to the theme of trauma because of the fact that certain kids would rather be dead than stay and face living through these traumatic experiences at these residential schools. Trauma is a big part of this novel as it also relates to the theme of cultural genocide. Trauma is shown throughout this novel in the Indigenous families, kids, and parents. When the government came and stripped them of their heritage, this not only traumatized

Saul says that he “saw kids die of tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia, and broken hearts at St. Jeromes. I saw young boys and girls die standing on their own two feet.” (Wagamese 55). This quote supports the argument that Indigenous kids and communities experienced trauma as they lived at these residential schools. It shows that kids were dying from diseases and killing themselves, which also certainly affected the communities that the kids who died belonged to. The survivors of these residential schools were still struggling with the trauma that they faced and some turned to other things to deal with their past experiences at residential schools. The theme of addiction, more specifically alcohol, is also very prominent in this novel as Saul Indian horse turns to alcohol just like his father did, to deal with all of his past experiences. Saul knows it will not help him, but he still decides that it's the best thing to do. Once Saul begins drinking towards the end of the novel, he dedicates his reason for it being that he desperately wanted to close the gap that he felt between himself and his people, just like others who survived the residential school system. Saul describes how bad his drinking problem had actually gotten when he says that the “Seizures hit me and I collapsed on a sidewalk in Winnipeg. They had to strap me down because the withdrawal terrors got real bad. I saw things I can’t even