Indian Horse In the book Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, Saul gains relationships through community. The Kellys provide Saul a place to call his home and they create a bond beyond just the billet family. Secondly, The land around Saul gives him a sense of family, the land is full of life to encourage Saul to not give up and he's not alone. Lastly, hockey offers Saul love and a feeling of worthiness that he is lacking while being at St. Jerome's Indian Residential School. Throughout this novel Saul has to persevere through some difficult situations, which then demonstrates how family doesn’t come from blood, it comes from the connection that is created. The Kelly family acted as the family he lost. When Saul is chosen to join a …show more content…
In the novel, Richard Wagamese focuses a lot of time on describing the land in each new situation of Sauls lifes. In chapter 5, they arrive at Gods Lake “Our canoes skimmed along and as I wanted the shoreline it seemed the land itself was in motion.” (18), this gives the idea of the land being alive, it provides a spirit relationship to Saul wherever he is. If he looks out and sees the alive-like land it will give him hope that he will be okay and that his culture and relatives will be with him. In chapter 11, Saul is taken to St. Jerome's Indian Residential School. On his drive there he describes the way he sees the land “There were no trees around it, only shrubs.” (43). This demonstrates how the plot and the events were going to change in this book for the worse. The deliberate choice of describing how there were no trees showed the loss in hope and the loss of identity Saul was going to experience. I reached out to touch the broad span of ferns, the trunk of trees, leaves, grasses.” (204), this is said after Saul goes back to God's lake to feel at peace with himself and his culture again. All throughout the long fight of sustaining hope from all of the trauma, he had the land for comfort and when he saw life in the land he felt like he wasn’t alone. The land is a major contributor to Saul's journey, it made him feel connected to his past and gave him motivation for a better