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Indian Horse Themes

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The novel Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese, depicts the societal injustices done to the Native Americans in the 1960s. The protagonist, Saul, endures an arduous journey that extends throughout his life. At the beginning of his life, he lived with his native family, only to get ripped away from them by an atrocious residential school. The horrid residential school, St. Jeromes, inflicted detrimental damage upon Saul, physically and emotionally. Saul was able to escape the confines of the school through hockey. His passion for hockey dissipated his problems and took him far in life. Throughout the novel, Saul continuously gets knocked down, but he eventually finds himself and his purpose through extensive healing. In 'Indian Horse,' Wagamese …show more content…

Jeromes, and gave him a family. His sheer dedication to the sport enabled him to succeed in many aspects of life, which he ultimately achieved. However, his hockey experience turned bitter once prejudice became ubiquitous throughout his games. A game of sportsmanship, competitiveness, and love became a game of hate and racism, all due to Saul's Native American roots. Saul created a hockey "family" with his Native American team that allowed him to endure and embrace prejudice for an extended period of time. The team provided so much support to each other that they "never gave a thought to being Indian. Different. We only thought of the game and the brotherhood that bound us together off the ice." (113). Eventually, Saul expanded his horizons beyond his team, which caused him to spiral out of control mentally and physically. He began experiencing prejudice without the support of his team, which led to his breaking point. He was lost and began to acquire bad habits while giving up his passion for hockey. During his spiral, he "discovered that being someone you are not is often easier than living with the person you are. I became drunk with that." (195). Through a process of tremendous struggle, Saul eventually came to his senses and decided to go on an immense journey of healing. Through this journey of pondering and reconnecting with Native roots and biological family in a spiritual manner, Saul filled the empty void within

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“I would not let go of my dream of it, the freedom, the release it gave me. It wasn’t anybody else’s game to take away from me.” (p.g.143) Despite being treated disrespectfully throughout the entire game, Saul chose not to fight back. This reflects his maturity and how he wouldn’t want to be suspended from something he genuinely enjoys.

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Saul’s love and experiences with and for hockey both enable and diminish the theme of

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Hockey arouses Saul’s interest in doing something fulfilling once more. He develops a sense of purpose. The narrator states, “Father Leboutilier brought me hockey books and answered all my questions. His passion for the game was contagious” (Wagamese 58). Thus, hockey gives Saul the chance to start healing emotionally.

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Using hockey as an outlet, Saul escapes the horrendous influence of the school and copes with the many atrocities he faces and ultimately reclaims his true self. For Saul, hockey became a means in which he can escape the abuse from St. Jerome’s. For example, when Father Leboutillier learned of Saul’s interest and skill in the game, the both of them became closer, in which Saul describes Father Leboutillier as a father figure. Saul quotes, “Father Leboutillier was my ally. When the nuns

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When Saul says, “I ceased to be the Zhaunagush. I became Saul Indian Horse, Ojibway kid and hockey player”, it solidifies and represents his dynamic transformation from being an isolated and broken student, to the best hockey player on the team. In addition, this paragraph also pays homage to the value of brotherhood. For the first time since his grandmother died, Saul knows what it's like to have someone he can count on. The passage connects what the reader knows about finding where you belong in life, with our protagonist, who flourishes into a more confident and hopeful

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He is later taken to a residential school, St. Jerome, where he discovers about hockey. Saul's God-given gift in hockey leads to opportunities in the sport, but he faces racism and discrimination, which result in violence and a loss of joy in the game. Ultimately, he decided to be alone and busied himself with work to forget the trauma and abuse he suffered most

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Though he finds comfort in books, each book is only temporary relief. Finally, Saul’s ultimate form of solace throughout the novel is playing hockey. Saul uses hockey to both mask his emotions and let them out. He escapes by getting lost in the game, but ends up losing his vision for the game.

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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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Saul’s life at St.Jerome 's was hell, everywhere he looked there was agony and heartbreak. “We lived under constant threat. If it wasn’t the direct physical threat of beatings, the Iron Sisters or vanishing, it was the dire threat if purgatory, hell…” Page 80. As a result hockey became an escape for Saul, something so pure that helped Saul cope with the nightmare his life became.

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He loved sports and competition. He once said that “It kills me to lose. If I'm a troublemaker, and I don't think that my temper makes me one, then it's because I can't stand losing. That's the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first. " I believe that this shows how serious he took his sports.

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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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The white teams were driven by the motive of not allowing Indians to strive in what they call “their sport”. “The white people thought it was their game” (Wagamese 79). Saul is revealing the belief white communities hold that hockey belongs exclusively to them. They resented the presence and success of indigenous players like Saul. This emphasizes the deeply rooted biases that Saul has to confront, as white teams actively try to sabotage and restrict him from shining on the

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Jerome's, he eventually finds a path to healing through hockey. This sport gives Saul a sense of belonging and identity that he has been lacking. After a game for the White River, Saul reflects on all the intricacies of his favourite sport, hockey, and what it means to be a part of a team. "In the spirit of hockey," he says, "I believed I had found community, a shelter and a haven from everything bleak and ugly in the world." (76).

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He faces discrimination based on skin colour. The racism Saul experienced and residential school both had one message. This message was that his culture is wrong. He experiences racism when playing against white teams. “I saw à lot of the players on the opposing team would not remove their gloves to shake hands after the game”(wagamese, 137), this is when he is playing for the moose against a white team.

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- 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.

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