Summary Of Indian Horse By Richard Wagamese

Saul; Residential Schools and Hockey
Why is it so important that we learn more about aboriginal history and Canada’s past with residential schools? The novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is an excellent example of how one can use a sport to escape the horrible things going on in their life. The novel goes into detail about what happens in residential schools and it brings to light how terrible these schools were. The story goes into depth about a man’s past at residential school and his relationship with hockey. It makes the reader think about how awful residential schools were and how a sport can help someone through horrible times. It is important for Saul Indian Horse to tell his story because it brings awareness to the reader about

Jerome’s Indian Residential School. When children arrived at the school, the clergy wanted to “remove the Indian from [the] children” (page 46-47). This was really upsetting because the children deserve to keep their spirituality and believe in what they want. To hear about what happened in the residential schools was heartbreaking because the children who got forced to go there were innocent, and they do not deserve to be treated the way they were. As soon as the children got into the school the first thing the clergy did was wash them. Saul felt that they were “trying to remove more than grime or odor. It felt as though they were trying to remove [his] skin” (44). This is awful. The children do not deserve to go through any of these painful things. They deserve to live how they want and express their own culture. The clergy would punish the kids for speaking their own language. Once, the clergy “washed [a boy’s] mouth out with lye soap for speaking Ojibway. He choked on it and died” (48). The reader believes that the children should be able to speak their own language. Residential Schools were anything but fun. It is terrible that something like this has to be part of Canada’s

Hockey. Hockey helped him get through his difficulties and even helped him get out of residential school. In the beginning, Saul was too young to play hockey, so he became the ice cleaner. He would wake up very early to go get the ice prepared for the older kids to play, and make sure he had time to clean the ice and work on his skills. Saul would take the smallest pair of skates and “[stuff] the toes… with newspaper to make them fit” (63). This was a smart move by Saul and it shows that he wanted to improve his skills. Saul was determined to improve his skills, which was very smart because he had to play with the older boys one day. He got to play with the team because a player got injured during a scrimmage, and Father Leboutilier said to Saul, “Well, I suppose you can fill in for the scrimmage” (69), and that was where Saul’s hockey career began. Hockey helped Saul immensely. It helped him have a break from all of his worries and clear his mind; it allowed him to have some fun for once. If Saul did not discover hockey, he probably would have struggled even more and may have