Symbolism In Indian Horse By Richard Wagamese

Everyone needs a coping mechanism to overcome their problems and in Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese the protagonist Saul uses hockey to escape his issues. There is racism still torments people all around the world to this day, and this is no different for Saul, who experienced racism from a young child to a young adult. In Indian Horse Richard Wagamese describes Saul’s journey with hockey, at St. Jerome’s he was first introduced to the game by Father LeBoutillier, he used this hobby to escape from his problems, later leaving and joining the Moose, a community filled with other Ojibwe players, lastly, his hobby turned more into frustration with joining the NHL, highlighting how hockey was both a gift and a curse to Saul.
While Saul spends his

In his first scrimmage with the team he had a shaky start with a lot of disrespect being thrown his way with one defenseman saying “try that s**t again kid” while skating by, these situations fueled Saul’s frustration causing him to give it all he had to prove that he was meant for this team, with more time he made a few great plays that earned him respect from his teammates. In his second year with the Moose, he continued to do very well and even had Father LeBoutillier come and watch some of his games and this is where he would give Saul one last goodbye. Later, in the year the Moose win a very close game against another highly skilled team gaining awareness to every team all around Canada, while traveling to Northern Ontario Saul experiences a lot of racism and abuse from white men in the area, while at a cafe a group of white men said that they don't “eat with Indians” causing them to abuse and attack his teammates and later urinating on them. This racism kept continuing with teams not even shaking hands with the players just because of their indigenous heritage. The amount of prowess and talent Saul demonstrated caught the eye

While Saul tries to practice with the other recruits he again feels neglected and alienated because he is Indigenous, but this time he has already experienced all this harassment before, he’s learned from his past how to deal with this verbal and physical assault and come out on top, and this is exactly what he achieves with using his talents to shut down his bullies. This awareness did not stick with Saul however, the constant harassment and racism he received from players, fans, and journalists were sickening, rather than stating Saul was an excellent hockey player the papers characterize him as “the Rampaging Redskin.” Comments like this drove Saul further away from being able to control his anger and emotions correctly, instead, he started playing like a “cheap goon,” throwing out slashes, being more aggressive than he has ever been, and sometimes trying to pick fights with other players, becoming a player he never wanted to be, resulting in him being kicked from the team. The next time he went back to hockey was his journey back to St. Jerome’s after leaving his rehabilitation called the New Dawn Center because of his alcohol addiction that came after the NHL, while at St. Jerome's he goes into a shocking fact that Father LeBoutillier was sexually abusing Saul while he was at this school, Saul starts to recall to the abuse and racism he endured as a child and