Indian Horse Research Paper

Trauma and Healing Indian Horse is a literary fiction novel about an Indigenous Canadian who suffered through the traumatic events of being taken from his family, being abused in residential schools, and experiencing racism in sports. Trauma is a distressing event or events faced by an individual that develops a lasting emotional response. Experiencing a traumatic event can harm a person's sense of safety, self-esteem, and ability to regulate relationships and emotions. (“Trauma”) Through Saul’s experiences, he developed a passion for hockey.

“Indian Horse” is a novel written by Richard Wagamese that follows the life of Saul Indian Horse, a young Ojibwe boy in Canada. Throughout his life, Saul has endured many traumas, such as being neglected by his family, watching the people he loved die, undergoing rehab for alcoholism, and being taken from his family and placed in a residential school. Set against the brutal assimilation policies of the Canadian government in our history, the novel explores Saul’s experiences in the residential school system at St. Jerome’s, where he faces abuse, loss, and the suppression of his cultural identity. Despite the challenges he faces, Saul discovers his purpose and a means of escapism from his life through the game of hockey, which becomes a powerful tool of coping and self-discovery for Saul. Saul’s involvement in hockey serves as a profound coping mechanism amidst the harsh realities of the residential school system.

For this reason, another common mythology is that Canadians were lucky. Not only did the eight-game series test the will of both teams, it demonstrated that there was a new hockey power. Instead of showing complete dominance, Canada realized that there was much to learn from the European style of play. On September 27th, 1972 the nation celebrated as Paul Henderson scored with only thirty-four seconds left in the game. Our best players won an eight game series by the slimmest of margins and it is recognized as the biggest victory in the history of international hockey, which inspired countless books and documentaries. The mythology we long to find is a collection of stories that is of central significance to

As Saul is introduced to hockey, it becomes the only thing that frees Saul from the horrors and extreme maltreatment he and the others receive at the residential school. I chose to use that as one of my inspirations; hockey literally being the light in the darkness for Saul, and something he desperately wants, thus the outstretched hand reaching for the hockey stick, light and freedom. The way Saul describes St. Jerome’s as “hell on earth” (78) is another inspiration I drew from, and decided to show as the darkness that is holding Saul back. There are hands, those of a priest or nun, instigators of the horrific abuse trying to hold him back, and a hand reaching over the top of his head to demonstrate how the school is trying to change his

“At St. Jerome’s we work to remove the Indian in our children so that the blessings of the Lord may be evidenced upon them” (Wagamese 46). These words provide the exact mindset the white people had toward the Indians. In the novel Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese, the protagonist Saul grows up and is accustomed to the period of time where there is a pro - white bias. A bias so strong that the racism becomes institutionalized. This bias in all its forms and degrees crushes Saul’s spirit and turns what could have been a terrific athletic career to years of fighting, searching and drinking. Through the definite racism of his taking, the sexual and verbal abuse he receives from high religious figures, as well as the hierarchy created within the National Hockey League it is clear Saul believes his people are inferior to the whites which, in tail, develops the racism and prejudice central theme in the novel.

From creating the first ever Montreal Gazette, to influencing the NHL, and making its’ way into the Olympics, Canada had created a game that became one of the most popular universal sports across North America and Europe, ice hockey. Hockey players around the world have all been said to credit their success to “Canadian Way”. These Canadian men who were devoted to the game, had influenced many others to have a love and compassion for something that was much more than just a sport. Prior to the first ever-indoor game of hockey, the sport was originally a casual game played outdoors on grass with its roots in Ancient Greece, Persia and Egypt.

On the other hand, the Ojibway people have half-functional vans to carry their hockey superstars. However, this makes me feel proud of Saul’s underdog team that have all odds against them but continue come out on top when it comes to tournaments. Furthermore, the white colonizers treat the Indians inhumanely.

For our book review assignment, I chose to review, Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Identities and Cultural Politics by Richard Gruneau and David Whitson. This book examines the place of hockey in Canadian society. Hockey has been associated with Canadian identity, and Grueneau and Whitson explore this symbolic notion in this work. While they acknowledge the sport as being “truly Canadian”, uniting the country in a common goal and interest, they oppose the views of many, which hold hockey as a naturally occurring phenomenon in Canadian culture. Instead they argue that hockey is a social production that emphasizes cultural struggles of our nation and reflects our identity through its associations with ethnicity, class, race, gender, consumerism

Proof #1: Saul was able to score multiple goals in the last few minutes of the game leaving his teammates in disbelief of what he was capable of doing to do in such a small span of time. After scoring his last goal, Saul got off the ice to remove his skate when Father Leboutilier sat down next to him, “‘Saul,’ he (Father Leboutilier) said quietly, ‘the game loves you.’... The game loves

Although Williams’ reactions to the unexpected changes in both her mother’s and the lake’s natural cycles are different she wanted them to return to normalcy for the same reason—for her sake. Williams wanted to preserve her childhood. Diane Tempest, Williams’ mother, is the personification of her childhood and the Great Basin is the setting upon which her fondest childhood memories were enacted. Williams respond to them differently because, as she says in the first line of the book, “the Great Salt Lake is about twenty-five minutes from our home.”(5) The lake is not only physically distant from the home in which her mother resides, but also functions emotionally as a distant relative.

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

Ice hockey is a major part of the socialization process of young Canadians, beginning when a child puts ice skates on for the first time. The organization of youth hockey at a young age, most likely from the time a child is a toddler, is the institution in which many children in Canada grow up in, besides of course, their family household, unless his or her parents decide to send their child off to another province or city to live with another family in order to play hockey, in which the child must adapt to this new environment. Through enculturation by hockey, children learn the values of the game on both a small scale, the game itself, and a wide scale, a positive outlook on life,

Hockey culture is deeply embedded in our Canadian identity. It acts as a community builder and a social connector, with a special ability to cut across social divisions, young and old, urban and rural, French and English, East and West. Playing and watching hockey is part of the experience of living in Canada, and is at the very core of Canadian community and identity. However, the Second World War brought on many pressures and changes to the game. Young men were encouraged to enlist, but at the same time good players were needed to preserve the quality of the game.

Understanding one’s family history and where you come from is important to any person's sense of self, and is equally important for Saul’s character. When at God’s Lake as a child, a place special to the Indian Horse family, Saul learns more on the history of his family. “[He] could see a camp of a dozen wigwams at the foot of the great cliff. Women were scraping hides stretched out on poplar frames while the children ran around them.” The land is relevant to Saul’s understanding of himself because he only has these kinds of visions where he learns about the past on the land. Upon learning about the land and family history, he takes that with him everywhere he goes. After wandering aimlessly for a decade, Saul comes back to God’s lake where he has a supernatural vision of Shabogeesick where “he swept his arm to [. . .] the lake, the shore and the cliff behind us. [He says] ‘You’ve come to learn to carry this place within you. This place of beginnings and endings.’” In Saul’s vision of his great-grandfather, the significance of the land in his journey is vocalized. In order to know where are you going, you have to know where you have been. The land plays a vital role in helping Saul know where he is going by teaching him his family history and where he has been.

Waking up at the crack of dawn half asleep, struggling as a little kid carrying this enormous bag that is twice your weight, and walking into a freezing cold rink makes you think why do this. All hockey players have asked themselves this but growing up in a rink is a choice that no one regrets. You learn from a very young age that hockey is the greatest sport on the earth. Nothing can compare to the sacrifice, toughness, hard work, teamwork, physical, and brotherhood that hockey requires and creates.