Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is a powerful and eye-opening story that magnifies the struggles faced by Indigenous people in Canada, particularly focusing on the impact of residential schools. Wagamese creates energy, passion, and suspense with his writing techniques; he uses the setting to influence mood in the story. The plot always keeps you guessing and the characters represent something greater than themselves. Indian Horse encapsulates the thoughts and feelings of Saul, and makes it easy to relate to the reader. Wagamese has created a truly gripping novel that will have you thinking about how residential schools affect Indigenous people in more ways than one. Wagamese uses the setting in Indian Horse to depict the mood in the story mirroring the way Saul is feeling with the descriptor words of the setting all while thickening the plot. The attitude of the novel is guided by how the setting is described. “The walls were sickly green. At every landing were doors of frosted glass so the light was pale and gave …show more content…
Wagamese’s ability to create an unexpected turn in the story makes the plot impossible to guess. The reader goes through the entire story believing that Father LebPACier is a good guy and that he is the reason Saul is a successful hockey player. Although this is partly true, he is the reason for the trauma in Saul’s life. “I used the game to shelter me from seeing the truth, from having to face it everyday”(Wagamese,199). Hockey kept Saul from thinking about the rape and abuse he received. Finding out that those things happened to Saul was something the reader could not see coming. Saul solves his problem and begins the healing process at the end of the book. “But our healing-that’s up to us”(Wagamese,210). Saul talking to somebody in Fred Kelly who experienced the same thing, helped Saul realize he is not alone and that talking about it