Indian Horse Richard Wagamese Analysis

Richard Wagamese explains in his essay, “What We Share”, how he found peace in his once troubled life. Wagamese described a time where he felt that his First Nations roots assured that he would live in agony. He felt that the Canadian society was responsible for his anguish, as they were the ones who persecuted his culture. This vendetta against Canada resulted in Wagamese living a life of payback; Every action he took was to spit in the face of society and say, “Look what I can do despite of you” (Hodgkinson, Aker, and Anderson, 18).

The impact of colonization on First Nations peoples in Canada is unsurpassable, regarding every aspect of Aboriginal life and well-being. Throughout Canadian history, the government has been aiming to assimilate and annihilate Aboriginal people by way of racist policies, ethnocentric institutions, discriminatory laws and destructive capitalist behaviours. Because of this, Aboriginal people have suffered many losses, both physically and culturally. One of the main perpetrators of enacting this loss is the education system. The education system in Canada has and continues to threaten the relationship First Nations peoples have with the land. The connection First Nations peoples have with the land is crucial to their cultures, traditions, ceremonies and beliefs. Colonization and colonialism jeopardize this relationship and that is what this essay will address.

In this essay, the articles ‘Listen to the north’ by John Ralston Saul and ‘Which ‘Native’ History? By Whom? For Whom?’ by J.R. Miller will be analyzed, specifically looking at each authors argument and his appeal to ethos, logos and pathos. In the first article, ‘Listen to the North’, author John Ralston Saul argues that current Canadian policy when it comes to our north, and the people that reside there, is out of date and based on southern ideals that hold little bearing on the realities that face northern populations. He suggests instead that the policies and regulations should be shaped by people who know the territory and it’s needs, namely people who live there. In the second

The reading, “We Must Farm to Enable us to Live” explores the many hardships the Plains Cree encountered with agriculture on the reserves, in which they were forced to live on. One of the first misconceptions the reading looks at is how “Nineteenth century European observers tended to see the Great Plains as a timeless land, as a place without history, its

“Most nations consider the notion of land to be an important one. But to Canada 's aboriginal people, it is also a strong cultural symbol. Native identity is drawn from the land: It has been a form of subsistence, and an integral part of creation myths.

Thousands of First Nations children were kidnapped and imprisoned in residential schools during the 1960s. These children were then forced to renounce anything in relation to their traditional lives, such as their native tongue. These objectives were often achieved in a barbaric and inhumane manner. Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse” recounts the fictional story of Saul Indian Horse’s struggle through residential school along with the residual effects on his adult life. Within the novel, Wagamese highlights how one’s traumatic past can have tremendous physical and mental effects, especially in the absence of support.

“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.

In this research paper, I will be explaining how western colonialism and racism destroyed the reputation of aboriginal peoples in Canada. The reason why I chose this topic because it shows the strong relationship to anthropology and after taking aboriginal studies 30, it also shows that I have a clear understanding about the history of aboriginal peoples in Canada, the struggles they have been through over the past decade and the challenges they still face today in modern day society. I’ll be addressing these issues in a couple of paragraphs on the discrimination and the inequalities of these “minorities” and how they had to assimilate into European culture, leaving their way of life behind them.

As Native’s live throughout their lives they face inherent obstacles requiring drastic measures to overcome. Indian Horse provides first person narrative into the exciting life of Saul Indian Horse as he makes his way to the top echelon of hockey excellence. This elite status comes a price however. Natives such as Saul, and Fred Sasakamoose have endured horrid pasts filled with mental, physical and sexual abuse. This abuse necessitates some a means to escape this reality and hockey is used throughout this novel to illustrate how it can be used as a means to mentally and physically escape. Sadly, once Saul’s career is over it becomes evident that a need for escape is inevitable and alcohol quickly becomes the vise that provides it.

For years, First Nations children endured the harrowing experiences of residential schools. It was not until 1996, did the final residential school close down. It took over a hundred years of physical, physiological, and the sexual abuse of thousands of children before residential schools existed no more. Although they do not exist anymore, residential schools continue to cause pain throughout First Nations communities. There are a variety of novels that describe the accounts of residential school survivors, both fiction and non-fiction, each powerful in their own way. Indian Horse, a novel by Richard Wagamese, is one of these novels. The book follows Saul Indian Horse, a boy of Ojibwe descent, and his experiences within St. Jerome 's Indian Residential School. Saul turns to hockey as a form of protection from the fowl memories of his experiences at St. Jerome 's, using the game to ignore the sexual abuse he endured. This denial results in Saul 's pain, which comes out in the form anger on the ice, and which ultimately results in him taking up alcohol. It is only when Saul returns to St. Jerome 's, that he is able to stop the denial, and begin his path to healing. Richard manages to lead the reader down the same path of denial as Saul, therefore allowing the reader to experience the same feeling of shock as felt by Saul in his moments of realization. Saul 's denial of his sexual abuse

Confederation, also known as the Constitution Act of 1867, served as a political purpose and alliance in which made it particularly difficult for European settlers to coexist with preindustrial societies; hence, the years after confederation resulted in confusion about how Canadian government policies would address and affect Aboriginal populations. In contrast to the spiritual and traditional lives of the Aboriginal people, the new European settlers sought to conquer nature and shed traditional values in order to contrive industrialization in Canada; hence, post-confederation policies were largely based on the upper Canadian model. Furthermore, the failure of European settlers to coexist with the Aboriginal populations led to several attempts at civilizing the indigenous people; in other words, the federal government attempted to solve the Indian problem by assuming complete dominance over the Aboriginal populations of Canada. Having said that, the Canadian government’s harsh, prejudiced and paternalistic view of the indigenous people began a cycle of social, physical and spiritual destruction in which fundamentally resulted to economic, social, health and gender inequality. With that being said, the following paper will examine the long, and often bitter series of cultural encounters and exchanges that took place after confederation, such as the brutality of residential schools, health inequality and the Oka crisis dispute.

Protection, civilization, assimilation: An outline history of Canada’s Indian policy by John L. Tobias, 1991.

One of the most contentious issues in Canada’s history is that of the Metis. Some people feel this unique group of people does not deserve any sort of recognition, whereas others believe their unique history and culture is something to be recognized and cherished. The history of the Metis people is filled with struggle; not only struggles against other powers, but also a struggle for self-identification. Despite strong opposition, the Metis people of Canada have matured as a political force and have taken great strides towards being recognized as a unique people.

Indian horse by Richard Wagamese allowed me to open my eyes on the issues of Aboriginal people dealing with all the horrible pains and abusive trauma from the residential school. Before reading this book, I felt like I was educated well enough to understand how much aboriginal people suffered through generations and how much they have lost compared to what they had before. However, after reading this book I was able to see through First nation’s perspective and realized it's not just knowing about what aboriginal people have been through throughout the history. In this novel, the author allowed me to see Saul’s life transitioning ,where in the beginning saul was living the indigenous way of life with his family, but eventually forced to be

For many decades and centuries, the cultural clashes between the first nation people and the Euro-Canadians have always caused tension to up rise. This goes way back to the late 15th century when the first European (the English) settlers arrived in eastern Canada claiming the land, followed by the French. As years went by, more European settlers arrived and this caused more natives to become marginalized physically (through killings), politically and economically. Mourning Dove’s under the whispering pines conveys some of the negative perspectives, such as viewing the natives as savages or subhuman. These perspectives are still very common today and still continue to marginalise native Canadians economically especially native women, as Sky