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Indian Horse Sparknotes

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Indigenous Canadians have four times the risk of experiencing severe trauma than other Canadians (“Indigenous People”). The story Indian Horse explores various traumatising circumstances Indigenous people face and examines their effects. In Richard Wagamese’s novel, Saul’s inability to escape the difficulties of his past demonstrates that unprocessed trauma can derail one’s life. Throughout early childhood, his family life exposes him to mental illness and loss. Later, he represses the atrocities of residential school, building inner conflict and self hatred. Finally, the racism Saul experiences throughout his hockey career crushes his dreams and sends him spiralling. These trauma inducing experiences direct Saul to isolation and alcoholism, …show more content…

From a young age, Saul is surrounded by traumatised adults. When describing his life in the bush Wagamese writes “the spectre lived in the other adults too, [...] but it’s most chilling presence was in my mother” (Wagamese 9). The word spectre, means haunting presence, but Saul uses it to describe his parents’ emotional states. They experienced the loss of their identity and children to residential school. Saul characterising this as ‘chilling’ is significant because it demonstrates how he and his parents are disconnected and their inability to care for Saul. As a child, Saul can not understand their neglect is not his fault, so this damages his emotional state. The behaviour of adults around him, such as isolation and alcoholism exposes him to the toxic coping mechanisms which he adopts in …show more content…

Following her death on the way to Minaki, Saul realises how alone he is, stating “[Naomi was] frozen to death saving me, I was cast adrift on a strange new river” (42). Saul understands that he has lost any connection to his old life. The phrase “cast adrift” conveys Saul’s feelings of detachment from his culture and family and the imagery of the river emphasises the sensation of being swept away. This loss is extremely traumatic for Saul as Naomi, the final remnant of his family, is gone. Saul’s early childhood imparted grief that he was never taught to face as the adults in his life could not face their own. As a result, he carried these emotions into adulthood, where they were detrimental to his

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The story “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese has a huge connection to nature. The storyteller ‘Saul Indian Horse’, is Ojibway and a big part of his culture is nature. His family, which consisted of his mother, father, brother, and grandmother, were very close and connected to each other. They all lived together at God’s Lake and had a huge connection with the land. Even just 2 chapters into the book, we see the connection Saul's family has with nature and their land, especially his grandmother.

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In the scene, Father Leboutilier and Saul state, “I’m proud of you, Saul.” We were parked in the hall’s lot by then and he grabbed me and pulled me across the seat to hold me close. I could hear his breathing. When he let me go I could feel his eyes on me,”(Wagamese 179). This demonstrates the effective use of language by the author because while reading this scene readers feel a certain way.

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Tracey Lindberg’s novel Birdie is narratively constructed in a contorting and poetic manner yet illustrates the seriousness of violence experience by Indigenous females. The novel is about a young Cree woman Bernice Meetoos (Birdie) recalling her devasting past and visionary journey to places she has lived and the search for home and family. Lindberg captures Bernice’s internal therapeutic journey to recover from childhood traumas of incest, sexual abuse, and social dysfunctions. She also presents Bernice’s self-determination to achieve a standard of good health and well-being. The narrative presents Bernice for the most part lying in bed and reflecting on her dark life in the form of dreams.

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By learning about the severe beatings, sicknesses, fears and molestations occurring at the school, a sense devastation is created to the reader’s mind, though in Saul’s mind aside from the havoc he has encountered, there is something else he thinks of. Despite the fact Saul faces the most tragic adversities, he pulls himself aside from the fear and acts secure. Amazingly Saul spoke to himself, as he said, “When the tears threatened to erupt from me at night I vowed they would never hear me cry. I ached in solitude What I let them see was a quiet, withdrawn boy, void of feeling” (55). By remarking the fortitude Saul speaks of, it is exemplified that Saul has enough courage to accept the circumstances he is in and move on, showing the reader even though he has lost many things he has learned to show others he is fearless and strong.

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1007 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.

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, ‘They think it's their game. ’”(Wagamese 91-92), although this isn't the first time Saul experiences cultural imperialism, it's a time that impacts him for the rest of the novel. This quote does show both cultural imperialism and marginalization, as Saul is excluded from the team, which makes Saul feel like he shouldn't be able to play hockey, because he is Indian, and that white people own the game. This shows Saul that they feel he is less than them, and makes him feel like he doesn't belong on the team. Another example of cultural imperialism, and how it operates with marginalization, was when sister Ignesia says to Lonnie, “We are going to do something about Lonnie Rabbitt.

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The time spend together was filled with pain and loss because of the firm hold of the residential schools. Saul was able to learn the history and beliefs of his people taught to him by his grandmother, Naomi, despite the lack of hope in his family.

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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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In the novel, perseverance through childhood trauma is repeatedly demonstrated by Saul’s endurance through bereavement in his family, sexual abuse, and prejudice in hockey. Saul’s experience with bereavement in his family is the first tragedy and

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it's how how the holocaust was back thing and how the nazi took over the jews. In the book night, dehumanization is seen by public executions starving the prisoners, and separating the families. My first example is separation of family. In the book nights separation of family was like the little boy was getting separated from his family like his mother and sister. His mother and his sister Tzipora.

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1856 Words | 8 Pages

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is a powerful and moving exploration of Indigenous identity, trauma, and resilience novel of an Indigenous boy named Saul. The story is set against the backdrop of Canada's dark history of residential schools, where Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities and sent to schools to assimilate into European culture. The trauma of this experience is woven throughout the story, highlighting the lasting impact of colonial policies on Indigenous communities. As Saul grows up and confronts the legacy of his traumatic past, he is forced to grapple with his Indigenous identity and the impact of colonialism and cultural genocide on his community.

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939 Words | 4 Pages

Historically, cultural genocide is a reoccurring issue in Indigenous communities. This is true in Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Cultural genocide originates from the belief that certain ethnic groups should assimilate according to established standards. Furthermore, cultural genocide occurs in residential schools through the violating treatment of Indigenous children. Moreover, survivors of residential schools are deeply affected by the loss of their culture, which has a long-lasting impact.

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2034 Words | 9 Pages

Shortly into the novel, it is evident that when Saul was just a child, he was taken away from his family and innocence as he is taken to an Residential School, tossed into a

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1449 Words | 6 Pages

As Jesse describes the events he witnessed as a child, he explains, “The fridge had a few half-drunk beer bottles, an old light bulb, and a hardened turnip. Sometimes he’d go away for two or three days and leave us nothing” (Thistle 18). At this time, Jesse and his brothers, Jerry and Josh, were living with both their parents, and although they had been financially comfortable to a certain extent, they had to suffer from various forms of abuse from their father, which forced them to have to learn how to fend for themselves from an incredibly young age. Unfortunately, the concept of being raised in broken households, is common within the Indigenous populations in Canada, due to the trauma that has been passed down from generation to generation. In the article, “Intergenerational Trauma: Convergence of Multiple Processes among First Nations peoples in Canada,” it states, “It is further argued that the shared collective experiences of trauma experienced by First Nations peoples, coupled with related collective memories, and persistent sociocultural disadvantages, have acted to increase vulnerability to the transmission and expression of intergenerational trauma effects” (Bombay et al. 2009)

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863 Words | 4 Pages

In enduring these complex emotions, this section was the most remarkable part. One of the first apparent emotions the boy experiences with the death of his father is loneliness to make this section memorable. The boy expresses this sentiment when he stays with his father described as, “When he came back he knelt beside his father and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again,” (McCarthy 281). The definition of loneliness is, “sadness because one has no friends or company.”

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