Perseverance In Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse

The character Saul Indian Horse in Richard Wagamese's novel "Indian Horse" is an example of perseverance in the face of racial prejudice and adversity. Despite being taken from his family and forced to attend a residential school, Saul finds comfort in hockey and becomes an exceptional player. However, he still faces discrimination on the ice due to his ethnicity. Instead of giving up or giving in to anger, Saul chooses to let the game be his escape and holds onto his dream of playing, even when faced with opposition. Through his perseverance and determination, Saul is able to achieve success on the ice and overcome his struggles with alcoholism.

First of all, Saul has demonstrated the ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Saul and

Saul still encounters discrimination, though, because other players on his team and spectators at the game sometimes make fun of him for being a "red-skin" in a sport that is intended to be "white people's game." During one game, the spectators were hurling trash at the players and calling Saul derogatory things like "chicken" over and over again. Despite this, Saul refuses to let skeptics take advantage of him and copes positively by playing hockey as escapism from the unrelenting reality of residential school. He uses his opponents' words as fuel to become stronger in the sport, and as he says, “It wasn’t anybody else’s game to take away from me.” (Wagamese, 143)

Saul immediately recognized the true impact hockey would have on his life the moment he first stepped on the rink. In Saul's perspective, hockey has a much deeper meaning in his heart as it was considered his dream, his freedom and his source of joy. Throughout Saul’s journey, he is not only confronted by racism and prejudice, but also abuse and trauma. Due to this, he finds it hard for him to live with himself while his surroundings tell him to give way under pressure. Instead, Saul decides to demonstrate his skills and let the audience see what Saul, a ‘red-skinned’ individual is capable of

He gets the chance to play in the National Hockey League after having played hockey for many years. His increased violence and rage are the result of the continuous mistreatment he experiences while playing in the NHL, which is just too much for him to tolerate. As a result, he gets kicked out from the NHL and starts drinking excessively. His drinking had gotten so bad that it was starting to damage his physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Saul ended up in the hospital after experiencing horrible seizures as withdrawal symptoms. “The social workers told me about the New Dawn Centre. They said it was the best place for Native people to get help. It was on a hundred acres or so of land north of the city, and it was calm and restful. I resisted at first. But the doctors told me what a mess I’d made of my body and how another bout of drinking like I did would likely kill me, and for some strange reason, I listened. I don’t recall wanting to listen. I just did. When I got here, though, it was all about getting strong enough to leave. I was as addicted to leaving as I was to the booze. But the funny thing is that as my head got clearer, so did my recollections, and it spilled out pretty much on its own.” (Wagamese,