Saul Indian Horse Sparknotes

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Every person changes with the issues they experience, and there is no exception with Saul Indian Horse. A person’s identity is defined by everything that they have experienced, and one experience can change a person a lot. Throughout the story, Saul faces many problems, which change him into a different person every time. From when he was a kid in the bush, to when he was an adult living alone in his truck, Saul has changed for the better, and the worse, throughout the story. At the start of the story, Saul is a normal kid who grew up in an Indigenous family. His grandmother is the outlet for his connection to his culture, but there is still a looming problem. The Zhaunagush have invaded their land and are now taking children away from their …show more content…

Once Saul accepts, he is sent in to live with Fred and his family. At this point, Saul hasn’t had anyone he could connect with about his struggles, but once he plays for the Moose, he finds reliable teammates that he can talk to. Once he meets Virgil, the captain of the Moose, he starts to finally enjoy hockey to its fullest and finds a family. Saul finally knows that hockey is a team sport, and thinks that “The game brought us together in a way that nothing else could, and players and fans alike huddled against whatever winter threw at us. We celebrated every goal, every hit, every pass“ (110). Throughout his time playing on the ice, however, he starts to see a more violent side to the game and life. After they play against a white team and win, they experience more violence and discrimination every game. The game became less about having fun with the game and more about fighting a battle every time. “There were moments when you'd catch another boy's eye and know that you were both thinking about it. Saul could see this discrimination through every white game they played, saying “Everything was contained in that glance. All the hurt. All the shame. All the rage. The white people thought it was their game. They thought it was their world” (136). Saul’s feelings towards the game are now skewed …show more content…

To Saul, hockey has always been a game about working with your team and he felt that the most when he started playing on the Moose, but because there isn’t anyone that will respect him, he will be alone when he goes. When he goes to Toronto, he feels out of place, because he is the only Indian trying for the team, he lives with a white family, and the Marlies don’t have any other Indians on the team. Throughout his time on the team, Saul faces discrimination with no one to console through, so he begins to become rageful feeling distant from his team, saying things like “I wanted to rise to new heights, be one of the glittering few. But they wouldn’t let me be just a hockey player. I always had to be the Indian” (164). He starts playing selfishly and starts fighting with the other team. After this, he gets put on the bench and goes back to Manitowadge. Once there, he plays for the Moose, leaving the Marlies, but he can’t find joy in it anymore, saying “There is no joy in the game now, no vision. There was only me in hot pursuit of the next slam, bash and crunch. I poured out a blackness that constantly refuelled itself”(176). Once he turns 18, he buys a truck and travels around Canada to

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