Overcoming Racism In Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse

Many Aboriginal children across Canada are distressed as most of them have difficulty finding their inner quality and enhancements in life. This is visible in the life of Saul Indian Horse, the main protagonist in Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”. Saul has many struggles in his life that he had to overcome, He could have come down a negative path, but instead learns from them. Saul’s personal growth is a result of overcoming racism, surviving residential school and his passion for hockey.
Saul’s main problem is overcoming racism. The amount of discrimination shows his will of becoming a stronger individual and his ability to overcome the verbal abuse that he endured from his hockey career. Virgil states, “The white people thought it was their game, the white people thought it was their world.” (Wagamese, 136). By observing this quote it defines the racism that is portrayed in the novel as white people think that it is their game and that only people of their race can play the sport. Saul had faced many problems with the crowds, putting him down because of his pigmentation set many things apart for him. Saul states, “They only ever saw brown faces where white ones should have been, we were an unwelcome entity to their midst and when we won it only made things worse.” (Wagamese, 132) This quote is referring to when The Moose

would play in a hockey game, they were hated because of their race. In brief the racial discrimination made Saul become stronger spiritually and mentally.
Surviving Residential School is another major problem.

He describes that St. Jerome took all the light from his world. The physically abusive nuns and priests enraged him as he hated residential school, Saul states, “When the tears threatened to erupt at night I vowed they would never see me cry, I ached in solitude.” (Wagamese, 55) This quote represents how Saul’s emotions were demolished since going to this school took his purity and his uniqueness. In addition, Father Leboutilier’s encouragement made Saul somewhat enjoy his experiences at St. Jerome’s as his passion for hockey let him escape from the negativity and abuse from the

school.

His love for the sport allowed the flexibility of his personal growth to excel. When Father Leboutilier introduced hockey to Saul, it made him fall in love with the game as he was very attached by it “When I hit the ice I left all of that behind me I stepped onto the ice as Saul Indian Horse.” (Wagamese, 83) Throughout the quote, it demonstrates that Saul uses hockey as an escape to forget about the past experiences in his life, over a long period of time hockey became a large impact for him as his future was heading for the National Hockey League. Eventually, he quit due to being benched for being to aggressive. If Father Leboutilier never introduced hockey to Saul, he would not have been able to leave residential or freely develop his personal growth.