Indian Horse Character Analysis

Aside from the horrible experiences while attending the Residential School, Saul was forced to overcome many adversities while engaging in his passion for hockey. In the beginning Saul discovers that his love for hockey serves as a mean of escape. “I kept my discoveries to myself and I always made sure that I left the surface of the rink pristine. For the rest of the day, I’d walk through the dim hallways of school warmed by my secret. I no longer felt hopeless, chill air around me because I had Father Leboutilier, the ice, the mornings and the

Upon arriving in Manitouwadge, and playing some hockey with the Moose team, Saul recaptures a piece of him, that the residential school had repressed. Saul was thrilled upon hearing “‘Welcome to the Moose.’ Virgil thumped [Saul] on the back, and they all rattled the blades of their sticks on the ice… I was a Moose.” (106) The fact that he was free, and had found a community of his own helped his spirit to rebuild the damage that was done to it. Ensuing the maturing of Saul; along with the complete loss of his identity, he returns to the Moose, where he reflects back on his mistakes, but looks to the future smiling. Virgil helps him realise who Saul’s friends are and that they are always there for him. When they were playing a long-past due hockey game, Virgil “smiled and tapped [Saul’s] stick with his. ‘Together.’ he said. ‘Like we shoulda all along.’ I smiled.” (221) By accepting his past and readying himself for his future, Saul eliminates the regret, which was holding back a big piece of who he is. Finally, Saul returns to God’s Lake where he regains the main piece of his identity that was taken from him by St. Jerome’s- his identity as an Ojibway. He did what he felt had to be done and “offered tobacco to the lake. Where everything started and everything ended, to the cliff that had made this the place of my people, and I offered my thanks aloud in an

“Alcohol addiction stunts the spiritual, emotional and mental growth of a person”~Anonymous. Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, is a book based off the author’s teenage life. The novel is about a poor 14 year old named Junior who faced numerous challenges in his life. Junior has experienced bullying, he was called a traitor for following his dreams, got in a huge fight with his best friend and lost three very important people in his life because of alcohol. Fortunately in the end, Junior got through the pain and lived on but he learned many lessons. One of the lessons Junior learned was that the fall into addiction, in this situation alcohol, leads to a great deal of misery for the individual and those

There is a great variety of characters in the novel, Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese. Readers can clearly see the differentiating personalities, traits and behaviours among each character in the novel. This entices audience members to continue reading, to further explore the vast development of the characters, both static or dynamic.

Midnight hockey is a reflective journey through the hockey season of an old-timer. He journey’s through the process of finding a team and optimal ice time, the struggles associated with injury and reluctance to strap on metal blades and drag himself down the ice. Exploring negative capability and the various reasons as to why he plays or why anyone plays, deciphering certain possibilities such as enjoying a second childhood, addiction to the zone, metaphorical place found only when in the right moment, because of the reptilian brain some players tend to just have, or simply the ego gratification when you blow by a skater and tuck the puck away top shelf. Bill Gaston, hockey vet and possibly ringer in the old-timers league, reflects on all

In life people are forced to make decision that can dramatically impact or benefit life as it goes on. John Grady Cole the main character in the book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy faces situations that would change him. McCarthy makes this character go on a journey that would make him a man based on decisions made by the character. John Grady a young sixteen year old goes out into the western part of Texas with his only partner Rawlins trying to seek freedom. People also have to choose between family or love. John Grady Cole faces this throughout the story with his lover Alejandra. According to Charles he stated that the book has multiple lessons such as,“It becomes a coming-of-age tale, with Cole learning the skills of survival,

So drink up.” (Barb p.72). In Indian Horse Saul shares with the reader what he witnessed and how it had an impact on his life “I saw kids die from tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia and broken hearts at St. Jerome’s … That would never stop, never change, so long as that school stood in its place at the top of that ridge, as long as they continued to pull indian kids from the bush and from the arms of their people. So I the arms of their people.

The summary of the plot of the story is there is a girl named Melanie who is working on a thoroughbred farm with horses ‘colts ‘. She has her ex boyfriend Kevin who has offered to help her out with training them . Although she has her boyfriend Jazz who is working pretty far away . Melanie starts catching some old feelings for her ex Kevin . Things start coming back as they work more and more together with these horses .

The article focused on the formation of Native American consciousness through five personal themes unique to each individual. The five themes are as listed: “Native American language and culture, validity of one's genealogy, adoption of Native American world perspective that aligns with traditional native American customs, one's self concept as a Native American, and enrollment or not in a tribe.” (Horse, 2005, p. 65) Throughout the article horse starts to discuss the oppressive history of Native American groups in the United States and the socio-cultural conflicts that Native American culture have had with “White” mainstream culture. The legal status and cultural change provided an in depth look of how different

Throughout the first few chapters, Saul solely finished talking about the abuse that happened at the school and how he uses the game of hockey to pull himself from all of that. Soon he is offered a position to play on a town team full of white boys but Saul’s skills outshine the rest of the team and is asked to leave. Shortly after, Father Leboutilier finds a former residential school survivor, Fred Kelly, to take Saul to go play on a native tournament team in Manitouwadge where Saul, of course, starts as an outcast and then becomes the star player of the team. Word spreads fast of The Moose (Saul’s native hockey team) and soon every White team wants to play them. The Moose started traveling all around to play white teams and entered in many white

First, I will start off by comparing the settings of both books. In The Indian Horse, the story begins in Saul’s memory. During this time, Saul explained about his ancestry, ancestors and how they came to live at Winnipeg River. At the beginning of the book Saul also explains to us how Rachel and Benjamin his two older siblings are taken away from him by the Zhaunagush which we now know as the white men. After this tragic event, Saul explains to us how downhill things went from then, and all the life that once lived around them slowly seemed to die. The community wanted a way to deal with all this pain, but the only thing they could find was alcohol. In the novel Saul refers to the alcohol as, “Those spirits made the

In the comic strip “Transcending” I’ve highlighted the transition of activities Saul participates in order to escape/ease his pain and trauma hockey, books, bush, and alcohol. This PTSD originates from his experience of the Canadian Genocide of Indians as an Indian. Firstly, Saul restrained his departure from his family with books. At residential school, books allow himself to be restrained when his emotions were burning him from the inside. “What I let them see was a quiet, withdrawn boy, void of feeling.” The books about hockey allowed Saul to be distracted from the reality of his deceased and missing family members. Books also took away the depression from the teachings and events of residential school. Unlike his classmates, Saul did not

The largest joint in the horses is the stifle joint in the hind legs. This joint is a lot like the knee in us, humans. The lower Femur, upper tibia and patella (knee cap) are the bones that make up the joint. Sitting between the femur and tibia is the semilunar cartilages(menisci)this helps with shock absorption and helps keep the joint positioned correctly. The Patella sits on the trochlea a track like structure that sits on the lower end of the femur. This structure purpose is to reduce friction and to transmit extension power from the femur down to the tibia. The quadriceps femoris is the main extensor of the stifle and, runs along the front of the femur connecting to the patella. Three patellar ligaments(middle patellar, medial patellar

In Sherman Alexie’s ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven’ (2005 edition) alcoholism plays a huge role throughout the book. Particularly in the short stories ‘Amusement’, ‘The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore’ and ‘A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result’. Kids on the reservation always start off good with school and sports keeping them busy, but somewhere along the way they always seem to fall off track. That is why things like basketball play such a huge role in their lives; distracting them from partying, drinking, and drugs. If just one person could make it out of there with a scholarship or something of that sort they would have hope. Victor being one of the most talked about character in these stories is a clear example of how his drinking problem affected him. In spite of that fact drinking affects every Indian on the reservation, if they haven’t drank, they’ve been around it all their lives. These stories help support why alcohol plays such a major role in their lives.

For centuries, horses have been one of the most popular domesticated animals. While today, people enjoy riding and racing them, in the past they were domesticated because they were the primary mode of transportation for many.