Indian Horse Plot Summary

Introduction

In this presentation, there will be:

• A timeline that marks moments in Richard Wagamese's novel where the theme "self awareness & identity" can be seen,
• An explanation of the lesson that I have found through that specific theme, using quotes from the text,
• An explanation of the moral taught through the eagles, my chosen symbol, with quotes from the text, and finally,
• A connection will be made between Indian Horse and Bryce Courtenay's novel The Power of One.

The Losing of Family and Saul's

Placement into a Residential School

It is quite common for people to lose pieces of themselves after the loss of a loved one. You lose the influence that they bring, and the ties that they possess which connect you to your culture or to different areas of your character. Some loved ones may bring out the worst in you, while others bring out the best. This loss isn't helped by an involuntary placement in a residential school.

Saul loses his last blood relation, and greatest childhood influence, at the end of chapter 10. When Saul's grandmother dies of hypothermia, "frozen to death, saving him," he loses the one who, before dying, would remind him of where he came from, of the people who came before him and their teachings. (Wagamese 36)

The many losses of Saul's at the beginning of the novel, and his young age, do not help with the maintaining of Saul's identity. These factors are then piled on top of his placement into "St. Jerome's Indian Residential School" after the death of his grandmother, when he is found at the railroad depot in Minaki. (Wagamese 36-37) A residential school's main goal is to strip an Indigenous child of their identity, separating them from any cultural influence. Young Saul has very little chance of maintaining his Indigenous identity, like most children who experience the horrors within a residential school's walls. Saul is too young to really be self-aware of the changes in his character and the affect his trauma has on who he is. The stripping of clothes and the cutting of hair (middle photograph to the right), the changing of names to be more "biblical," and the beating of a leather paddle (exa on a back are Saul's first introduction to the ways of identity stripping used in his school. (Wagamese 38-39)

Saul's placement into a residential school

The Discovering of Hockey

Discovery of Hockey

Something that becomes a large part of who Saul's identity is hockey. Some how, while the residential school is ripping to shreds the identities of those around him, Saul is able to build to his through his discovering of the sport.

Saul is introduced to the sport of hockey through a new, younger, priest who joins St. Jerome's staff. This man is Father Gaston Leboutilier. The Father's character is brought into the novel at the start of chapter 15. He convinces the head priest of the school to allow for a rink in the winter, one which the older boys play on.

His first words to Saul are, "Have you ever heard of hockey?" (Wagamese 47). Saul tells him that he has not, but starts to learn of the game through books. He learns of the greats, like "Dit Clapper (top of photographs), Turk Broda (2nd to top), Black Cat Gagnon (third image), and "Sudden Death" Mel Hill (image four)," and his interest of the sport begins, an interest that soon turns to a love, fusing hockey to his identity through his passion of the game.

Saul's Rise in Hockey

Saul quickly becomes aware of the fact that, while he was able to hold on to some of his values, those around him on the team were slowly losing themselves.

He recalls what games used to be like when they played the reserve teams. These games were "always gentlemanly, rough and hard for certain, but clean" (Wagamese 103). The games now, the ones that they played against white teams, were "out-and-out brawls" because of the resentment that was forming within Saul's teammates. When Saul was messed with on the ice, his teammates "fought for him". He recalls a game where he was "laid out after a crushing hit from behind".

Saul tells us that he "doesn't want to be at the games." (Wagamese 103). He notices his teammates grow vengeful, "no cheap shot went unpaid with fists." They lose themselves to the anger that they're feeling. They lose the lessons taught to them as children, to forgive and solve problems using words. It is understandable why we see the shift in their behaviours, but it is still a change in who they are, a negative change in their identity.

Racism when sporting

Saul Loses Himself

Losing Individuality

As much as Saul tries to keep his composure on the ice, he eventually breaks, like his teammates did in the chapters before. There is some pressure placed on him by the team that doesn't help with his struggle to stay calm, "he knew his team wanted him to buckle" (Wagamese 113). That they "wanted [him] to bare his fists and fight," but he wouldn't do it. If he did, Saul would have to surrender everything that the hockey gave him: his vision, his dream, his freedom, his release, and his joy.

Though those are his feelings at the end of chapter 32, they only last until chapter 38, when he's playing with the Marlboros of Toronto, a Major Junior A team that fed new players to the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Wagamese 130) His first fist thrown is one that goes into the face of a London Knights player. He also becomes a "puck hog," losing his team player attitude that used to shine through in each of his many passes. Saul is known as the "stoic Indian" when he doesn't protest the penalties he starts receiving, as a self-proclaimed "fighter," and a "cheap goon" according to his coach.

Saul loses what made the game so enjoyable for him. He loses the game that used to keep him on the right track, that always brought out the best in him, and he's aware of the changes in himself, of what he's losing every time he lets his anger take over, and a punch fly. He has changed.

The Drinking Begins

It is obvious that those who struggle with addiction start to lose themselves once the drinking takes over. This happens to Saul in chapter 44, after he's left Manitouwedge and the Moose. He chooses to sit in bars so that he can be around banter similar to that of old hockey dressing rooms. The men in the bars would "[throw] jibes back and forth, [and] engag[e] in verbal arm wrestles that bristled with energy" (Wagamese 143).

Saul doesn't know when he himself starts to drink, only that it became his "antidote to exile" (Wagamese 143). He would become a "joker a clown, a raconteur" who spun stories that weren't even his own. He became "addicted" to the escape that it gave him. For awhile, he was able to be some place where the "Indian in [him] was forgotten." Saul was separating himself from his Indian identity because all it seemed to bring him was pain and sadness.

This separation didn't last long though, and eventually the drink had him. Saul "spoke less and drank more" becoming known as the "Indian" again, "a caricature everyone sought to avoid" (Wagamese 262).

Alcohol Addiction

Self-Reflection

Saul was now a high-functioning drunk. He would get through a day well enough, then sit alone drinking as night fell. (Wagamese 143) He tells us that things "glimmered, but never shone."

In chapter 45, he meets Ervin Sift, a man who spots him drunk and alone in a bar, and tells Saul to wake up because "he doesn't drink with sleepers" (Wagamese 144). When they're done drinking and eating in the bar near Redditt, Ervin takes Saul back to his farm, where he nurses him through a three-day hangover. Ervin also provides Saul with a place to stay and meals. In return, Saul fills an empty woodman position in Ervin's wood-cutting operation, and is momentarily sober. (Wagamese 145)

Saul is aware of these things, and starts to reflect on "where he'd been, what he'd done, the whole shebang" (Wagamese 148). He starts to become aware of the reasoning behind his drinking. This reasoning is what leads him to run from Ervin Sift's farm, and hope onto a Greyhound heading towards Winnipeg.

Self Reflection

The Rebuilding Process

After Saul leaves Ervin's, he continues to drink. He drinks until he's hit by seizures caused by the alcohol. He ends up in the hospital, where he stays for over eight days. After the hospital, he heads to the New Dawn Centre, the best place for Native people with addictions to get help. (Wagamese 275)

At New Dawn, Saul's rebuilding process begins, and he slowly starts to find himself once more. The journey is slow to begin with. At first he's placed in a sharing circle, but when that proves to be unhelpful, he's given a journal by Moses, a man who works to help addicts at the centre, and whose position is not defined. Saul's whole story is told through his writing in this journal.

The issue that Saul faces is that the journal doesn't help him discover something new like he thought it would, it doesn't create "something powerful that would heal [him]" (Wagamese 152). Instead Saul takes to walking in the woods behind the centre, and that's where he sees the spirit of his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather shows Saul the rest of his long-gone family, all who he lost as a child. That is when Saul's emotions are seen, and he lets them take over. He feels the "incredible weight of grief and longing," and he weeps. (Wagamese 153) This is the start of Saul's healing process, and the beginning of him finding who he once was.

Redemption of self

Finding his Identity

Finding Identity

After the vision of his great-grandfather, Saul leaves the New Dawn Centre with an exact destination in mind. He returns to St. Jeromes, the residential school that stole his childhood, and stole his identity from him for the first time. (Wagamese 154) He recalls all of the trauma that he suppressed and relays to us, the readers, what truly happened at the school, including the abuse that he endured. He lets in the truth, and in doing so, starts to find himself again.

After the school, he continues on to Gods Lake. He stops at an island part way through his voyage. Here is where Saul experiences every emotion, and remembers all of his past trauma, including the one he was always running from, the childhood sexual abuse he endured from Father Leboutilier. (Wagamese 159-160)

After he fully breaks down, he gets back in his boat and heads for Gods Lake. Here he has the strongest connection to his ancestors and his cultural identity. He once more sees the spirits of his lost family member, he hears their songs, and offers an Ojibway prayer, something that he hadn't done in years. He also mourns, giving himself permission to feel what he'd tried not to feel. (Wagamese 161-162)

He returns to the New Dawn Centre for a winter, before making his final trip on his journey of self-identification and healing. He heads for the Kelly's home. This is where he has a community, where he is loved, accepted, and appreciated. He speaks with Martha and Fred Kelly, telling him the truth about his journey and experience at the residential school, and they share theirs. Saul goes and finds Virgil, after his talk with Martha and Fred. He shares his story with Virgil, who he finds coaching a young Native boys hockey team. Later that night, Saul steps out onto the ice for the first time since leaving the Kelly's.

Theme

Theme

The theme discussed in this presentation is self-awareness and identity. The two go hand in hand because when you are self aware, you are able to identify parts of your character. You're able to determine how you're feeling, your reactions, your characteristics, and who and what you love. Self-awareness can be difficult when you are suppressing what is really going on inside your mind, heart, and soul. That, among other things, is why Saul struggled so much with his identity. He was torn from influences that would have helped him grow and nurture who he was. He was also placed in a building created to strip young children of their identity.

I believe that the lesson that Richard Wagamese, the author, was trying to convey through this theme is the real struggle many Indigenous children go through when it comes to finding their identity. The residential school and racism experienced by these children are horrific, and are confusing to children. They aren't given time to accept who they are, and learn about themselves while in the school. The racism makes some of them detest their cultural identity, where they came from, their cultural values, and the colour of their skin.

Self-awareness ties into this lesson because of it's affect on the way someone understands their identity. It may take these children years to learn how to be self aware, and how to think for themselves. After experiencing all of that trauma, it can possibly take them their whole life to learn how to cope, and how to register the events of their past. Within these schools, children lose themselves, and it takes someone who is incredibly strong-willed, and self-aware, to find themselves again.

Symbolism

The symbol, or rather symbols, that I have chosen are the eagles. The eagles are only brought up a few times throughout the novel, and always in the same place. We see the eagles for the first time when the Indian Horse family arrives at Gods Lake, and again when Saul returns to Gods Lake alone, after his time in the New Dawn Centre.

The word eagle is used during the story at moments other than the two above, but I believe those two are the most important. Eagle feathers are mentioned to be on the headdresses worn by fans to the hockey games, as well as when Saul sees his great-grandfather's spirit for the first time. The great-grandfather's eagle feathers create a fan, which the spirit passes over himself, shifting into visions of Saul's parents, brother, aunt and uncle, and grandmother.

I believe the moral that Richard Wagamese is trying to convey through these symbols is that your ancestors are always watching over you. During some of the lowest moments in Saul's life, when they go to the lake because Benjamin, his brother, is sick, and when Saul's journaling at the Centre is not changing anything for him, Saul returns to the territory of his people and the eagles are seen. Gods Lake is the territory of the Indian Horse family, and when Saul returns to the land, the eagles, or the spirits of his ancestors, watch over him.

Symbolism

Connection

Connection

The connection I am making is between Indian Horse and another novel. This novel is The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. In Bryce Courtenay's novel, the main character, Peekay, also struggles with childhood trauma through childhood bullying, and with his identity.

Quote: "I had become an expert at camouflage. My precocity allowed me, chameleonlike, to be each what they required me to be." (Courtenay 472)

Just like Saul lost himself when he gave into the rage inside of him, giving the people the aggression that they wished to see from him on the ice, Peekay changed himself to. When you change yourself for others, or let your rage overcome you, you lose yourself bit by bit. They make these changes in themselves to survive, but are never truly happy with the adaptations.

Quote: "I was a child of Africa, a white child to be sure, but nevertheless Africa's child." (Courtenay 343)

Both Peekay and Saul struggle with their race and the way that it is reacted to by those around them. They are judged and discriminated against because of their different skin tones, and they must learn to accept the colour of their skin and endure the words thrust upon them by others. They are aware of the distance created between them and others because of their skin tone, but they learn to appreciate the connection that the colour has to their identity and their culture.

Wagamese, Richard. Indian Horse. Douglas & McIntyre. 2012.

Work Cited