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Three reasons why Saul Indian horses’ trauma will change your outlook on life
Sauls entire life has been a roller coaster of trauma and emotions. Each trauma has been worse than the last. Starting from Sauls adolescence him and his brother were separated at an early age due to residential schools. After a brief period Sauls brother Benjamin escaped residential school finding his way home. As Saul thought his life was climbing up it took a turn for the worse as Benjamin had tuberculosis which caused him to pass away shortly after returning home. Soon Saul was then taken from his grandmother and forced into residential school himself where he was raped and further traumatized. All these traumas forced me and hopefully the person reading to look at like with a more positive perspective on life. This incredible novel changed the way I view life and the struggles I face.
The 2 Key Lessons Which Only Saul Can Teach You
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Recall your memories, what is the biggest loss you have encountered in all your life? Well, apparently, the loss that Saul Indian Horse faced is larger than you could ever imagine. It is depressing and a total tragedy, but still! Through reading this book, there are a lot to gain and learn from.
Never Underestimate Mental Health
People tend to think that being depressed and stressed is just a very small matter, and we do not need to worry about having these emotions, which is very wrong. When the sorrow accumulates, the burden could be enormous, causing people act dangerously and develop harming habits and behaviors. What Saul faced were the death of brother, disappearance of sister, death of grandmother, loss, and injustice in the games of sports that encourages him, rape of the only man that ‘support’ him at school, violence and trauma in the residential school and loss of identity. It seemed that nobody else had bothered to take care of Saul and chose ignorance. Those incidents burned him out, and he got on the addiction of alcohol, and took quite a period to get rid of that habitual craving. Not to mention other result, small as overspending or binge eating, severe like hurting ourselves or even have suicidal thoughts. Any pressure and gloominess should never be neglected, and someone should step forward to talk and comfort to alleviate the anxiety and avoid people from dealing the darkness alone.
Culture preserving
During reading, it is not surprised that we can often see some ‘special’ words that we do not quite understand. Those are the Ojibway language. For instance, we have Zhaunagush, meaning white man, Manitous, meaning a spirit of gods, Shabogeesick for slanting sky, etc. other than that, there are also some Indigenous clothings and tools mentioned, conveying many traditional customs. The language is very pretty, and appreciative to us, who do not usually get in touch with these phrases in daily lives. The details let us investigate the story in depth. We should treasure and preserve the precious history, not letting it decline.
Well, in a nutshell, it is a decent book to read. There are still a few more things to pay attention to, like morality crush and education, racism and injustice, family, and transcendence, etc. I am sure you have heard about all of them before, comment your thoughts in the interaction section, and we can discuss more. Stay tuned to my next blog post and do not forget to subscribe the page. Until then!
3 Things that could have happened if Saul never met Father Liboutier
Since depression could last years, I believe Saul could’ve gone through it for several years maybe even until he turns into an adult because he wouldn’t have the proper support without Father Liboutier
Early/Long Depression
The first few days Saul spent in the residential school made him feel depressed until he met Father Liboutier. He gave Saul a chance to “freedom” because Saul had Father Liboutier to protect him, he took risks which helped him gain bravery while also giving him a chance to connect with his memories. The first time he played hockey, he remembered the times he spent with his grandfather, before playing, he didn’t try to remember because the school would abuse the kids, while slowly stripping them from their culture. Saul also made several friends through hockey, for an example Virgil and Freddy, they were two important characters because he slowly helped Saul with his alcohol addiction. Even if Saul found out about hockey, he wouldn’t be able to play because he had to beg Father Liboutier to play. If he was somehow able to play, he would still be unsettled when playing because he wouldn’t feel the safety that Father Liboutier gave him. If he wasn’t there, he wouldn’t be able to “enjoy” playing, changing this one teacher would also change his personality because he wouldn’t be as confident/brave.
Mental illness is one of the main reasons of suicide which may have occurred if it wasn’t for Father Liboutier.
Running away from school/Suicide
After seeing years of kids/friends dying he may have wanted to escape like the other kids did in the future. Since he would never have a true way to enjoy school because of hockey, the deaths of the children would eventually get to him. He may run away cause he’s afraid of getting abused and killed. Another way he could have escaped the school is by committing suicide, this is because he might give up on life because everybody, he loves is dying which might cause him to think “what’s the point of living, if the only thing I do is suffer.”
Around five hundred thousand people get PTSD in Canada each year and I think Saul could have been a victim to PTSD in the book.
He might have gained PTSD/hallucinations
Even though Saul went through the events, I don’t truly remember him going through PTSD, I think it was because Father Liboutier was able to “cover/hide” it. When Saul played hockey, he felt free and felt like no one could lay a hand on him while playing because Father Liboutier was protecting him. Without that “shield” he would get caught and abused which would probably cause him to have nightmares about it in the future. Since his friends also would also die right after he made them, he wouldn’t be able to escape by playing hockey, this might cause him to hear their voices while he sleeps which may cause him to go crazy.
Around five hundred thousand people get PTSD in Canada each year and I think Saul could have been a victim to PTSD in the book.
3 Things that could have happened if Saul never met Father Liboutier
Since depression could last years, I believe Saul could’ve gone through it for several years maybe even until he turns into an adult because he wouldn’t have the proper support without Father Liboutier
Early/Long Depression
The first few days Saul spent in the residential school made him feel depressed until he met Father Liboutier. He gave Saul a chance to “freedom” because Saul had Father Liboutier to protect him, he took risks which helped him gain bravery while also giving him a chance to connect with his memories. The first time he played hockey, he remembered the times he spent with his grandfather, before playing, he didn’t try to remember because the school would abuse the kids, while slowly stripping them from their culture. Saul also made several friends through hockey, for an example Virgil and Freddy, they were two important characters because he slowly helped Saul with his alcohol addiction. Even if Saul found out about hockey, he wouldn’t be able to play because he had to beg Father Liboutier to play. If he was somehow able to play, he would still be unsettled when playing because he wouldn’t feel the safety that Father Liboutier gave him. If he wasn’t there, he wouldn’t be able to “enjoy” playing, changing this one teacher would also change his personality because he wouldn’t be as confident/brave.
Mental illness is one of the main reasons of suicide which may have occurred if it wasn’t for Father Liboutier.
Running away from school/Suicide
After seeing years of kids/friends dying he may have wanted to escape like the other kids did in the future. Since he would never have a true way to enjoy school because of hockey, the deaths of the children would eventually get to him. He may run away cause he’s afraid of getting abused and killed. Another way he could have escaped the school is by committing suicide, this is because he might give up on life because everybody, he loves is dying which might cause him to think “what’s the point of living, if the only thing I do is suffer.”
He might have gained PTSD/hallucinations
Even though Saul went through the events, I don’t truly remember him going through PTSD, I think it was because Father Liboutier was able to “cover/hide” it. When Saul played hockey, he felt free and felt like no one could lay a hand on him while playing because Father Liboutier was protecting him. Without that “shield” he would get caught and abused which would probably cause him to have nightmares about it in the future. Since his friends also would also die right after he made them, he wouldn’t be able to escape by playing hockey, this might cause him to hear their voices while he sleeps which may cause him to go crazy.
THE *SECRET* ENDING TO INDIAN HORSE THAT 99.99% OF READERS MISS
Throughout first nations focused novel, “Indian Horse”, a growing Saul Indian Horse faces many challenges. These sprouted from his time at St. Jerome’s Residential School in Northern Ontario. Like most Indigenous children in the past, he was taken by white people away from what remained of his family. Saul’s brother died after escaping from a school, his parents left since they were whitewashed by the schools, and his grandmother died while protecting Saul. Luckily, Saul was blessed by the arrival of Father LeBoutillier and his love for hockey. Hockey became a way for Saul to cope will the dangers that the school threw at him.
Saul eventually stops playing hockey and he becomes dependent on alcohol. He can’t seem to find stable ground in his new life as a ruined man. He suffers the stereotype that most indigenous are labeled with. In this state of living, he reflects on his time at the residential school. As readers, we think that LeBoutillier had helped Saul through tough times, but the father is revealed to have assaulted Saul in many ways. Father LeBoutillier was always pictured as the one to save all the children, but in the end, he was still just a catholic worker at a residential school. Though this event is quite shocking, I feel as if most readers understand enough to make conclusions.
Saul ends up going back to god’s lake, where the destruction of his family began. He begins to have visions of all his dead relatives bringing him gifts and lifting Saul to the clouds. Even though the Indigenous people have visions like this, I believe that Saul has lost most of his Indigenous past. He then goes back to town to meet up with his friends from the school. He first meets with Sam and his wife, they discuss LeBoutillier and Saul quitting hockey. Saul explained that hockey was a way to escape LeBoutillier’s torture and after there was no LeBoutillier, there was no need left for Hockey. Hearing this, Sam told Saul to meet with Virgil, who was his rival in his hockey days. They then play a game of hockey with Saul’s old team.
As I’ve said previously, Saul has lost most of his Indigenous heritage, and more. This made me believe that the visions that he was having were caused by something else. I suspect that Saul’s alcohol addiction and the abuse that the experienced either made him go crazy, or made him overdose on drugs and alcohol. This vision-type event might also have occurred when he reunites with the hockey rink. His returning friends could have just been his imagination as he was remembering his past in his final moments. It doesn’t matter if the readers of his story have different theories, we can all agree that Saul Indian Horse has had a miserable life.
THREE REASONS WHY SAUL BECOMES THE MOST RESPECTED CHARACTER AT THE END OF INDIAN HORSE
Saul overcoming his experience #1
Saul is an amazing character at the end of the story. He shows everyone that he can accept that he got raped. That is a crucial step towards the next path in life, but sometimes you need to forget the past and focus on the future. We see how during the novel, Father Laboutilier helps the indigenous people escape, but at the ending, we find out how he sexually assaulted Saul. Our first reactions on hearing about how Father Leboutilier rapes Saul was shocking. We were surprised that Saul did not tell anybody until the end. The fact that he kept that in suffering when he should have told people how that made him feel, so he could overcome his experience was sad.
Sexual assaults in our world #2
This obviously relates to the world when victims of sexual assault only speak out when they are ready to, and not when they just experienced their tragedy. We see how Leboutilier could have easily removed him from the team if Saul told anybody he got raped. So, blackmail is a crucial part to the victims in our world, and blackmail is crucial to victims because if they do not tell anybody about their problems, then the person will keep doing it. For example, Aly Raisman, an Olympic gymnast, spoke out in court about how Larry Nassar treated her along with 200 other gymnasts. She was ready and determined to speak out not only for herself, but for all the other women who experienced this assault. To overcome experiences like these, we need to share this information with people, so we can move on in life without holding information like this in.
WHY INDIAN HORSE IS ONE OF THE CANADIAN BOOKS EVER
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is a historical and informative story. It tells the story of young Saul Indian Horse and his journey through residential school, his journey of self-discovery through hockey and his awareness of his past trauma. This book was amazingly written and shows us a raw and true story of the children and adults that went through the residential school system in Canada. Saul found himself in hockey and became his escape from the residential school, mentally and literally. He struggled so much in his young life but continued to persevere through his trauma and addiction. This is an amazing story and every Canadian should read this book.
Indian Horse
One of my ALL-TIME Favorite Books
Richards Wagameses, Indian Horse has an amazing story and captivating plot that takes your emotions to a whole another level. This book takes the readers on an emotional rollercoaster, taking you through the pain and grief that the main character faces throughout his lifetime. Saul, The main character of the book loses his parents, his level. This book takes the readers on an emotional rollercoaster, taking you through the pain and grief that the main character faces throughout his lifetime. Saul, the main character of the book, loses his brother, his sister that he did not even get to meet his parents, and his grandmother that supported and protected Saul through all the pain he was suffering from. His mother blamed his grandmother for the death of His brother Benjamine, and his father were extremely dreadful alcoholics. As Saul grows up, he ends up finding a sport called hockey. This sport changes the way Saul fights through all his emotional damage. He uses hockey to cope through his pain. Through the time Saul spent playing hockey, he began to grow increasingly, finally becoming the best player on his team. Saul was then chosen a few weeks later to play for the NHL lower league. This caused him to lose his way in the sport as fans of other teams verbally abused him and his talent. Saul then took a break from hockey and started drinking. He slowly became a very heavy drinker like his father once before. Saul was scared, broken, and had no one left to help him through this very dark part of his new life. After all the drinking he decided he wanted to change and go back to see his foster parents. He also went back to his ice rink where everything started.
Three Pieces of Advice I Would Give Saul to Prevent his Downward Spiral.
- Ask for Help
Saul clearly needed help after leaving the hockey league, but instead, he isolated himself. This was the first step that led to his addiction. If he had reached out, he could have gotten the help he needed to understand his past. Reaching out would have eradicated his isolation and given him people he could rely on. Therefore, working through the trauma in healthy way with strong support systems.
- Come to Terms with His Trauma
Saul went through a very traumatic long-term event. The school, his cultural assimilation and his sexual assault were all buried deep and washed down with alcohol. If he had reached out and received the counselling/therapy he needed early on, his descent might have been avoided. Instead of spending years trying to escape his past and reality, facing and coming to terms with the wounds of his past would help him live a somewhat normal and satisfactory life.
- Find a Community
Being torn from his family and having his own culture taken away and degraded right in front of him left a hole in his being. Finding a community would help fill that part of him that was killed when he was a child. Helping him forgive and grow as a human being. Many people have similar stories of what they went through at residential schools, so indigenous communities where people share their stories and collectively heal would be immensely beneficial for him and could lead to him finding people he can depend on instead of alcohol.
REASONS WHY THE NOVEL “INDIAN HORSE” SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN ALL SCHOOLS
In our day and age, we consistently see more and more recognition for indigenous history and oppression. There’s no better way to spread awareness than through an amazing piece of work, done by a talented Indigenous writer. Richard Wagamese, the author of “Indian Horse” does a perfect job of displaying realistically what those of Indigenous roots go through. As we all know, schools are essentially obligated to offer an Indigenous history unit of some kind. This causes for the wrong teachers, to teach the wrong things. With most teachers projecting misinformation onto their students, it’s extremely hard for students to truly connect to the issue. Many students may overlook this issue, due to being retaught the same thing every single year. Being retaught the same thing over again, leads to desensitization. We do not want the generations of the future to look at Indigenous history with boredom. However, there may be a solution to this. If you’ve read the novel, you would know how many serious issues this book covers, all linked to racism and discrimination against Indigenous backgrounds. This novel could change the entire aura of the Indigenous unit taught in schools. Not only does the novel touch very important subjects, but we are also able to stay engaged using the element of hockey, a universally loved sport. I think that kids should study the hard truth of what it looked like, and still looks like to be an Indigenous person growing up. I truly believe that Indian Horse is the perfect novel to be taught in schools. With Indian Horse we see, addiction, addiction recovery, discrimination, hatred, and much more. Kids should always have something to take with them with every unit. Indian Horse could leave a mark in so many young minds, helping them feel a bit of what Indigenous history looked like.
3 Reason Why Saul Became Who He Is
The pain he went through
His life had been dominated by the residential school he had ever attended. To cope with their traumatic experiences, his parents drank. This had led to the family being unstable. Before his birth, his sister was taken away. Saul had to watch as the authorities seized his brother Benjamin. When Benjamin escaped the torture of residential school, his return is tainted by illness, which Saul later learns is tuberculosis. Instead of helping students succeed, Saul learned that residential school breaks the spirits and physically and emotionally separate the Indigenous people from their culture. Saul was sexually abused by Father Leboutilier, the person who Saul had loved for him. A connection with someone he looked up to is destroyed, and he loses his innocence. As a result, his trust and behaviour are affected.
The love he does not have
When Saul needed his family the most, he was abandoned. His parents had left him with his grandmother after Benjamin’s death. After a harrowing journey out of the bush, Saul is ripped out of the frozen arms of his dead grandmother and taken straight to St. Jerome’s. After leaving St. Jerome’s, Saul was put into a home with Fred Kelly and joined the team’s town, Moose. Instead of receiving love and support, he realized life was easier for him when drunk. He thinks it becomes funnier and more manageable for him to forget about the pain he’s been through. He soon becomes homeless, which causes his depression to get worse and makes him feel alone. He harms himself when he chooses to run away from his problems. Despite all the family, culture, and innocence losses, Saul was about to find resilience. He was able to open up to his past trauma, recognizing his negative impacts, which brought Saul a positive outlet. However, the past will never be gone, and the scar will always be within him, but he was able to choose to move on.
The racism he has been through
Although Saul earns himself a spot on a hockey team, he is pushed out by racism because of the boys and their parents. They think “it’s their game,” and the “Indians” shouldn’t be playing it. Saul encountered additional discrimination as he moved on to another team, Moose. Saul’s playing elevates the team to a higher level, and they soon find themselves playing teams in mill towns, where many white people played. Saul starts to worry that he and the team will lose their sense of camaraderie and joy as the game becomes more aggressive. He feared losing the sense of fun that the game brought him. He became known for playing with aggression. Through all this, Saul lost his hope in hockey and gave up his chance of becoming a pro athlete. These events led to the loss of one of the greatest hockey players because of the discrimination society had brought upon him and his culture.
TWO THINGS
I WISH WOULD HAPPEN
TO FATHER LEBOUTILLIER
Indian Horse is a fiction that is about the first nation child Saul getting rid of bad life and racism by playing hockey and he finds his life and value at last. In the fiction, there is a person Father Leboutillier who looks quite different at the beginning and the ending.
Character introduction
Father Gaston Leboutillier, helps Saul a lot. So, is the Leboutillier in the Indian Horse really the one who helps Saul?
However, it surprises me when I read chapter 49. Father Leboutillier actually abuses Saul all the time and teaches him hockey is just a way of hiding his evil cases. Thus, I wish two things could happen to him.
Two things I wish happened to Father Leboutillier
- First, I believe in 20th Canada, I believe no matter if it is first nation kids or not, abuse is not allowed. I wish when Saul finally has a peaceful life, he can prosecute Father Leboutillier and other ones in the resident school. In the book, the iron sister may be scary because she beats kids, However, I think Father Leboutillier is more disgusting, he does awful things, secretly. Thus, I wish people in the resident school including Father Leboutillier can be sent to jail.
- Second, I wish Father Leboutillier can be exposed by the media and people. In a legal aspect, people Father Leboutillier should go to jail. However, I think it is far less than enough. To make people know what did resident schools do, the media need to expose these people in school.
TWO WAYS INDIAN HORSE SUMMARIZED CANADIAN HISTORY
- Residential Schools
When we think about Canada’s history, typically we think of Canada as being a happy, multicultural country that was and is accepting of everyone. However, that was not the case for a while. One of the main negative things of Canada’s history is the residential schools that the first nations people had to go through. Saul Indian Horse suffered a lot in the residential school, from experiences, such as sexual, verbal and physical abuse. Residential schools existed over one hundred years ago and the last one closed only twenty-five years ago. For some reason, European colonizers decided to colonize the land of the First Nations to own more territory, while taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent Indigenous people. This makes me wonder, why? Why did the Europeans think abusing and killing people for their land was okay? Why was it okay to punish little children for speaking their native language? All this led to unfortunate suffering that should have never happened had there been respect for one another.
- Racism
Not everything in Canada is perfect, one thing being that there is still racism to this day. In Canada’s past, the hatred of other races and/or the color of a person’s skin determined how a person was treated. I believe that everyone is born equally and therefore should be treated equally, despite the skin color you have. However, in Indian Horse, Saul is racially abused while being a top end hockey athlete. Because of his Indigenous background, white people thought of him as being inferior and a minority in society. People did not like the fact that he had a special talent, so they tried to put him down for not having white skin color. Unfortunately, this racism still exists today; the only difference is that in some communities it is more subtle and more systemic.
TWO REASONS WHY INDIAN HORSE IS THE BEST REPRESENTATION OF THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
- More than just the outside perspective
Oftentimes, when reciting the history of discrimination, the focus is on the numbers. “How many people were injured?” or “How many people were killed?” are all questions popularly used to teach but are in fact not effective at all. Nobody can truly sympathize with the affected because there is no true connection. However, if the focus were to be put on a specific story, we would be able to understand much more clearly.
In Indian Horse, this is seen as we follow along through the story of Saul, part of the Ojibwe tribe. The entire book is seen through his own lens, from the start of his childhood all the way to his mid-adulthood. Through each action taken, the horror of residential schools becomes evident as now we grasp every little detail that happened and the emotions of Saul to generate the perspective the general media never had.
- Reveals the aftermath of the damage inflicted
The dreadful circumstances many minorities are forced into are known by many. Such as, the concentration camps of the Holocaust, which are still to this day, one of the most well-known events of discrimination. The only problem being some people think once exiting that “hellhole”, would free the problems. In reality, everything that transpired will remain, no matter how much therapy is done, or time has passed, it can never change, and it is not different with residential schools.
Early in the book, it is discovered that the siblings of Saul, Rachel and Benjamin are also heavily affected by the residential schools, with them both being taken away. Although it is terrible for his siblings, it affected the people around them as well. Saul’s parents were devastated when this happened, and along with the death of one of them, it can never be truly forgotten. Furthermore, after Saul departs from his St. Jerome’s and starts to dig into what occurred to him, he rediscovers the sexual abuse he suffered. These inflicting events of the past can be ignored from time to time, but can never be changed, thus never forgotten.
TOP 3 REASONS WHY INDIAN HORSE IS THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN!!!!
Indian horse by Richard Wagamese. Have you heard of this sensational piece of literature? If yes, then you have probably read it and can agree that it is one of the most influential and interesting books ever written! If you haven’t, here are three reasons why it is. Reason number one is it’s real. A gut-wrenching heart-breaking story, that is the reality of the history of Canada. Residential schools are a huge part of the history and this story touches on the dark parts of them. Touching and sickening. A super important element to any story is a real problem that it talks about, which is the first reason behind why it’s the best book every written. Next, Indian Horse captures emotions perfectly, while manipulating you into feeling exactly the way our protagonist, Saul, is feeling. He writes in a confusing manner when he’s confused, or shows the point of view of what was happening to him. You live through what’s going on in his life which is an outstanding literary device. This draws you into the book even further. The final reason why Indian horse is the best book written, is because it has a shocking ending one would never see coming. It has a wild change in direction where Saul’s actions will make the book impossible to put down until the second, you’re done. It’s an outstanding roller coaster and everything falls relatively into place. If you’d like to experience the gut wrenching, yet outstanding book “Indian Horse”, I highly recommend.
The 3 ESSENTIAL Steps to Creating a Great Protagonist
Character. It’s a crucial part of any novel that can make or break the entire story. A weak character makes you question why they are there, and a weak protagonist…well a weak protagonist makes you question why you are reading the book. Richard Wagamese however, found the sweet spot with his character “Saul” in Indian Horse. He has motivation, his experiences change him, and the payoff once his character fully develops is amazing. What else can you ask for from your protagonist? So, how can you create a protagonist like Saul?
1 – Motivation
When creating a character, the first thing you need to think about is their motivations. Saul, for example, has some of his family taken away, some abandon him, and others dying trying to save him. Following on from that, he gets sent to a residential school, where abuse is prevalent. He then finds hockey and it’s an escape from all the bad things in his life. He’s motivated to play because if he can’t he’ll remember everything about his tragic life. It doesn’t matter if you are nothing like Saul, you feel happy when he’s happy, and when hate enters his happy place of hockey, he has to find another way to make the memories go away.
2 – Experiences
Nobody likes a stale character, and it doesn’t matter how good your motivations are, nor how good your payoff is, if your character doesn’t change and isn’t influenced by the story around them, the character will be boring, nobody will be invested, and none of the big moments will hit as hard as you want. While Wagamese focuses on tragedy to fuel Saul’s experiences and character growth, anything that makes your character feel strong emotions will work. In Saul’s case with tragedy, at the beginning, he’s pushed forwards by tragedy, letting it form everything in his life, including his introduction to hockey. As he progresses through the divisions, Saul suffers through more and more, letting it change not only Saul’s surroundings, but his actions up until the final few chapters when he finally breaks free to truly find himself a life free of suffering and tragedy.
3 – Payoff
Of course, none of that matters if your character’s great setup has no payoff. Under the Dome and many other Stephen King novels follow this pattern. A beautiful character-led story with a terrible ending and no payoff, ruins the story and character(s) in the mind of every reader. But Wagamese and Saul sidestep this trap perfectly with an ingenious, yet incredibly hard to pull off twist. Wagamese makes Saul tell his own story in a framed manner, as we see him later in rehab, yet he finds the end of the framed story before the novel ends, meaning we have more story where Saul finds out more for himself. After all that Saul suffered through on and off the ice, more gets revealed in a shock twist, and in the end, after all his silence, anger, and attacks towards the world around him, he begins to accept it, the perfect payoff for both the character’s motivations and experiences.
In all, to create a great protagonist, all you need to do is make them make sense, make them real. Saul is perfect because despite his extreme prowess as a hockey player, the things around him affect him, and we can see and feel as this rising from the ashes story burns once again. Give your character relatable motivations, show us their actions, and the results, and finally, show how it has changed them. Once you do this, your characters will never fall short again!
TOP REASON WHY THE ENDING OF INDIAN HORSE WILL SHOCK YOU!!
Indian horse by Richard Wagamese is a novel that follows the story of Saul, a young indigenous boy. Throughout the book we see Saul give up hope and turn to alcohol for comfort after the horrendous experiences he endures. At the end of the novel, we see Saul visit the place he used to live and the residential school he attended, St. Jerome’s. He visits these places after going to rehab and analyzing himself. At the rehab centre he realizes that facing his past will help him heal. Reading that Saul understands how to help himself was completely shocking to me because his development throughout the book didn’t support that kind of positive improvement. Later, near the last pages of the book, we read about Saul stepping back onto the ice again. We see his hesitant behaviour towards the opportunity, but he does end up following through. This is absolutely shocking in my opinion because Saul swore he would never play that horrible and vile game again after all the pain it caused him as a child. It is very surprising and a nice change to see some character development in Saul near the end of the book. In conclusion, the ending of Indian horse will completely shock you because of Saul’s huge character development and self-improvement. SO GO READ INDIAN HORSE IMMEDIATELY!!
If I were to end Indian Horse…
#IndianHorseBlog
After finishing Indian Horse, vacancy and distress filled me despite the hopeful ending, as the masked devil was not brought to justice. So I wondered in my mind how I wish the story would end:
Breaking News: Priest Sentenced to Death Penalty for Child Raping
ONTARIO, JUNE 17: Gaston Leboutilier, 51, was sentenced to death this morning six months after the jury recommended such for sexually abusing the then 10-year-old Saul Indian Horse, former student of the St. Jerome residential school where Leboutilier had taught.
“I have waited too long for this day to come,” Indian Horse said with his voice cracking, before removing his glasses to wipe away tears, “This is for me and so many others who went through the same in the schools.”
Gaston Leboutilier worked as a priest in St. Jerome since 1961 until the school was shut down in 1969. Several students described him as “being more lenient with rules and having relaxed, personal relationships with students”. He was especially close with Indian Horse, offering him the opportunity to play hockey and guiding him along the way. However, under that amiable mask hid perfectly a more untold monstrous purpose.
“I was just a little boy without love. Leboutilier used my desperation and wrapped me with his ‘love’,” Indian Horse testified, “I used the game to shelter me from seeing the truth, from having to face it every day.”
In many cases, victims of sexual abuse, particularly if the abuse began when the victims were small children, repress or forget about it for many years as a defense mechanism. Such a response is especially common when the abuser is a person the victim had a close relationship with. However, the aftermath of abuse can be as painful than the experience itself.
Over the years, Indian Horse seemed to repress all memory of Leboutillier’s contemptible behavior. And yet, he had become depressed and frustrated like many others. He isolated himself from other people, used bars and alcohol to escape from the suffocating loneliness, for deep down, he believes that other people would never understand.
Nevertheless, with the support of his adopted family, Indian Horse found the courage to accuse and confront the abuser in September, 2021, and have gained wide support from multiple anti-sexual violence organizations and Indigenous communities. His action encouraged many others to unfold their tragic stories to the public.
Virtually from the outset, a shockingly large proportion of the 150,000 Indigenous students were subjected to rape and molestation from staff members. While the Canadian government is addressing the legacy of residential schools, it is remarkable how few of the system’s abusers have faced even the smallest punishments for scarring a generation of Indigenous youth.
“For years, I used anger and rage and physical violence to block myself off from the truth. It shattered my life, my hockey dream into pieces,” Indian Horse stated at the end, “I sincerely hope the other survivors could find a way out and live the best of their lives.”
I smiled at the last thought, for I knew that day, for many, would never come.
Indian horse is the best indigenous book
The book Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is about an indigenous little boy, Saul, who grows up trying to hide from the white man. He was mainly raised by his grandma since his parents were not mentally stable enough to take care of him themselves. Saul’s parents went to residential school and when they left, they were traumatized. Saul’s family did not want him to go through what they had to go through at residential school, so they try to hide him. His sister and brother were both taken away. He eventually gets caught and lives at residential school. His life is at the residential school is miserable until he finds something he enjoys, hockey. Saul find great interest in hockey and play on the team. He later quits because he got a lot of abuse. After Saul quits, he becomes an addict and goes back home. Near the end of the story, Saul goes back to the ice rink to watch the new hockey players. He also catches up with everyone else.
Indian Horse is not just a little fun story to read, it is about events that happen in life and what indigenous people have to go through. It may be a fictional book but its very educational and realistic. Not many people know about what happens at residential schools and how it can change someone’s beliefs and forget where they came from. Many kids get taken to residential school when they are really young, and they are taught ways that the school wants. Residential school is a cruel place that children have to stay everyday away from their parents since they were young. They don’t get to learn about their own culture and were they came from.