Final Post-Indian Horse

Kendra Wragg

English 12

November 5, 2013

Final Post

Indian Horse by: Richard Wagamese

3. “It’s funny how bartenders always tell you to drink up. When you’re lost to it like I was, you always drink down. Down beyond accepted every day things like a home, a job, a family, a neighborhood. You drink down beyond thinking, beyond emotion. Beyond hope. You drink down because after all the roads you’ve travelled, that’s the only direction you know by heart. You drink down to where you can’t hear voices anymore, can’t see faces, can’t touch anything, can’t feel. You drink down to the place that only diehard dunks know; the world at the bottom of the well where you huddle in darkness, haunted forever by the knowledge of light. I was at the bottom of that well for a long time. Coming back up to daylight hurt like a son of a bitch.” (Pg.189) I found this passage to be very powerful because through the use of metaphors the author describes from Saul’s point of view the strong emotions he feels and how drinking becomes his main coping mechanism. For me, this passage made both an impact on my understanding of the novel, but more so a personal impact. This passage really resonated with me because I felt like I could understand where he was coming from in needing to block out all emotions and escape from his life. When he made reference to the place that only drinkers know I felt I could empathize with him because only people who have been down in a well understand what it is like to see the light. The passage has a huge significance in the book because it clearly shows the result and the impact of the residential schools and being removed from his family had on Saul. Showing readers the place that Saul got to mentally, I believe is very significant to fully understand the story.

5. Near the end of the novel Saul is starting to change. For a while he is stuck and does not know how to move on from the traumas he experienced in the residential schools. He finally makes the decision to go back to the treatment centre and share his story so he no longer has to keep so many strong emotions bottled up inside. When Fred says to Saul, “they scooped out our insides, Saul. We’re not responsible for that. We’re not responsible for what happened to us. None of us are…But our healing-that’s up to us. That’s what saved me. Knowing it was my game.” (Pg.210) After that Saul really took control of his life, he stopped drinking and tried to put the past behind him. That really stood out as a turning point for Saul. This change in Saul serves as the beginning to the resolution in the story. Yes I think this change is realistic/plausible. I believe Saul knew what he had to do by returning to God’s Lake and the school to move on with his life. For this change to happen it took time, which is what makes it so realistic, because to overcome such an obstacle would not happen overnight.

Halfway Post- Indian Horse

                                                        

Kendra Wragg

English 12

November 4, 2013

 Halfway Post:

Indian Horse, by: Richard Wagamese             

1.The beginning of the novel takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba where Saul lives with his family. Later in the story the novel takes place at St. Jerome’s residential school in White River Ontario where Saul is taken from his native home. This novel takes place during the 1960s. Manitoba is the home to Saul’s family who are aboriginal Ojibwa’s. The setting is very important in this novel because it is based on a historic event, being the residential schools in Canada during the 1960s.  Therefore, the setting is vital to this novel because if the setting changed the plot would also change. The Ojibway Indians originated in Manitoba, which makes the setting of the novel significant. A lot of the story takes place in a hockey rink, which is an important part of the setting due to hockey’s significance in Canadian culture. The most significant part of the setting in Indian Horse is St. Jerome’s residential school because Saul’s experience at the school is what the theme of the story is based on, and is a vital part of Canadian history. “My people are from the Fish Clan of the northern Ojibway, the Anishinabeg, we call ourselves. We made our home in the territories along the Winnipeg River, where the river opens wide before crossing into Manitoba after it leaves Lake of the Woods and the rugged spine of northern Ontario.” (Pg.1)

4. There are several themes in the novel Indian Horse; however one theme I am beginning to see emerge is staying true to your identity. In the case of Saul, the residential school is trying to rid him of his culture, family, beliefs and his aboriginal heritage. Although the residential school is trying to change him into something he’s not, Saul never forgets neither where he came from nor what he believes in. He uses hockey as an escape from all of the evil in the residential schools. “We were Indian kids and all we had was the smell of those fish on our hands. We fell asleep that night with our noses pressed to our hands and as the days went by and the smell of those suckers faded, there wasn’t a one of us that didn’t cry for the loss of the life we’d known before.”(Pg.54) Even when all the people around Saul want him to be something he’s not, he stands up for what he believes in and stays true to himself and his culture.  “There are times in this world when you have to look hard at yourself. The challenge you feel is the one that burns in your gut. I knew my team wanted me to buckle. They wanted me to bare my fists and fight. But I would not do that. I would not surrender my vision of the game. I would not let go of my dream of it, the freedom, the release it gave me, the joy the game gave me.” (Pg.143) The movie “Schindler’s List” has a similar theme because it again is based on a historical tragedy fueled by racism. In this case, Schindler stays true to his own identity by refusing to treat the Jews the way it is expected of him being that Schindler is German. While risking his life to stand up for what he believes in and not letting the Nazi’s force him to become one of them, he becomes a hero. Although Saul’s story is different, both Saul and Schindler go through similar struggles with immense pressure put on them to become someone they’re not. In then end, they both stay true to themselves.

Introductory Blog

Indian Horse

By: Richard Wagamese

Copyright 2012

Published by Douglas & McIntyre Publishers Inc.

221 Pages

Synopsis

The novel “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese is based on the story of a northern Ojibway man who tells his story of surviving the residential schools and how his experience impacts his life today. “Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him, and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre, surrounded by people he’s sure will never understand him. But Saul wants peace, and he grudgingly comes to see that he’ll find it only through telling his story." [1] Through the story he shares he journey of how he was able to deal with all that he had lost and what helped him to move on.  “Author Richard Wagamese traces the decline of a culture and a cultural way with compassion and insight.For Saul, taken forcibly from his family when he’s sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement.”[2] Throughout the novel the author shares the moving story of Saul Indian horse, and his spirituality that allows him to get through very challenging times.

Link to book review:

http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7535

I chose to read the book “Indian Horse,” because I was interested in gaining perspective through the eyes of an Aboriginal Canadian of what his experience was through the time period of the residential schools. The connection between surviving a past trauma (in this case the residential school), and the ability to move on interested me because I can relate to some of the struggles the character goes through in pursuit of finding peace through sharing his story, and facing his childhood. By reading the book cover it appeared to be an inspiring and touching novel based on significant Canadian history.

  

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[1] Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese

[2] Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese