Indian horse Analysis Indian Horse a severe yet

Indian horse

Analysis • Indian Horse, a severe yet beautiful novel by Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese, concerns Saul Indian Horse, a former hockey star undergoing treatment for alcoholism. Saul chronicles his life story as a means of identifying the source of his addiction. His autobiography is a familiar vehicle for conveying the novel’s plot. At the same time, it demonstrates how knowing your own story can heal a broken spirit. • This is theme that winds like a river through the harsh terrain of Wagamese’s work. An early novel, 1997’s A Quality of Light, compares methods of healing the native community: On the one hand, Wagamese considers native rituals and spirituality, on the other he explores political solutions and political violence. Here is what he told me when I interviewed him at that time: “Everyone is really pressing for a political solution, ” he said. “They want to revisit the constitutional process; they want to look at amendments to the Indian Act; they want to implement changes to the Royal Commission. But it’s an aboriginal maxim that nothing in the universe ever grew from the outside in. ”

Characters • Saul Indian Horse is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. In many ways, his life is modeled on that of Richard Wagamese, the author. Saul is a member of the Fish Clan, an Indigenous… • Naomi • Father gaston • Virgil • Sauls grandmother

Themes • Family’s and tradition. • Culture and genocide • Abuse and trauma • Racism and prejudice

Conflict • The conflict in Indian Horse deals with discrimination and racism. Saul along with other Natives struggle with self vs. society conflict in many different ways. When Saul’s grandmother freezes to death he must go to the residential school St. • Also there’s conflicts when Saul remembers that he was sexually abused

Connections • The only connection I had to the book was that I like hockey like Saul

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