Saul Character Analysis in Indian Horse Essay Sample

The novel Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese conveys how Saul Indian Horse, an innocent Indigenous kid, is taken from his home and forced to attend a residential school that assimilates and strips him from his Indigenous culture and values, including valuable aspects of his culture such as, rituals, traditions, language, clothing, and more. In addition, Saul and numerous children experience torture and having their culture and beliefs mocked and harassed without any justification or excuses. These traumatic experiences and recurring incidents trigger Saul’s emotional troubles and inability to understand or accept his identity. Furthermore, the emotional abuse and lack of support from elders leaves him with difficulty trying to figure out how to cope through all the suffering he endures at St. Jeromes.

During Saul's stay at St. Jerome's school, his psychological state is damaged, and he struggles to find a feeling of support and trust. Saul is also undergoing an internal conflict, trying to comprehend how St. Jeromes is changing him. "I was sore inside. Every time I moved or was forced to speak, it roared this incredible pain"(48, Wagamese). Saul is struggling from the torment he is experiencing at school. He depicts it as a feeling of being "sore inside". In addition, he is forced to do things against his will which make him experience tremendous pain that aggravates the sense of worthlessness he already feels from being at the school. All these emotions that Saul feels at the residential school lead him to be deprived of happiness, and affect his ability to accept himself; "And so I took to isolation, I wasn't a large boy and I could disappear easily”(48, Wagamese). This quote goes to show that Saul has no one to open up to and in return, isolates himself from the nuns, priests, and from the abuse he is witnessing. Surely, the pain is unbearable for Saul and makes him weak and vulnerable. "I saw young boys and girls die standing on their own 2 feet” (55, Wagamese). Saul is witnessing things past what he can bear as a child; he watches innocent children being tortured and abused for begin “indifferent”. In addition, these sightings have slowly stripped Saul's innocence from him and damaged him in many ways that he could not comprehend. 

Saul’s void of emotions leaves him in agony and leads him to search for ways that will help him survive through the hardships. "But in my chrysalis of silence I turned to Zhaunagush books and language, finding in them a path beyond the astringent smell of school” (49, Wagamese). Saul finds a way to escape the horrendous reality he lives in through reading Zhaungush books. Like Saul, the other children at the school escape the suffering at St. Jerome’s in their own ways. "A dozen of us escaped to the bottom of the ridge the school sat on. A small creek ran along the base of the ridge.... It was thrilling. So much life, so much desperation, so  much energy. We stood for a long time just watching”(53, Wagamese). These innocent children are significantly deprived of any happiness to the point where the simplest activity, like watching fish and enjoying a day by the creek, would ease the pain they feel at St. Jerome’s. Like all other children, Saul and the kids at St. Jerome's seek laughter and play. Saul knows all these different activities would not last forever, and he would soon be back to his old habits of hiding, but he is not willing to give up on finding something to do while he’s at St. Jeromes. Soon enough, Saul finds interest in hockey as he would watch the team play, and slowly becomes invested in the sport. Father Leboutillier, one of the priests and the coach of the hockey team, lets Saul help with the rink duties. And Saul soon begins to practice skating in the hours he is supposed to be cleaning the rink or sleeping, which is something he does as a way to stop himself from thinking too much about his agony. "I no longer felt the hopeless, chill air around me because I had Father Leboutilier, the ice, the mornings and the promise of a game that I would soon be old enough to play”(66, Wagamese). Hockey is something that Saul uses to deal with all the hardship and suffering around him. He is not thinking about everything that has happened to him while he is on the ice; all he could think about is how free he feels. The ice is making him feel like St. Jerome is not there, and all the haunting memories disappear from his mind when he is on the ice. He also has Father Leboutillier, who helps him understand himself and gets him interested in hockey; gives him the opportunity to join the school team, which soon becomes the start of a long journey in hockey for Saul.

Hockey gives Saul a sense of freedom during the struggle of trying to understand his identity; when Saul is on the ice, he is far away from the chaos of his tragic life. "I would see the ice, the players, the destination of the puck as clearly as if the action were on a movie screen. But I had to call my vision forward with emotion, with longing for that purity of motion, the freedom that the game gave me."(115, Wagamese). It is evident in this quote that hockey empowers Saul; it gives him strength, a feeling of freedom, as well as it helps him regain his identity. Therefore, through all the suffering, hockey is the only reason Saul keeps pushing forward. It motivates him and gives him confidence to prove himself as more than what St. Jeromes has put into his mind about being an Indian. Furthermore, Saul's self-esteem is shattered at St. Jeromes, and he realizes that hockey is helping him regain himself and forget his past. "When I hit the ice, I left all of that behind me. I stepped onto the ice and Saul Indian Horse, the abandoned Ojibway kid, clutched in the frozen arms of his dead grandmother, ceased to exist.”(83, Wagamese). Surely, hockey helps Saul in finding comfort during the horrendous incidents in his life. Therefore, when Saul is on the ice the little boy that used to isolate himself would simply just disappear, and all that is left is the Saul that fights back, and plays to win. Moreover, Saul becomes certain that hockey would be something he is going to pursue for a long time, and he feels he is destined to pursue it. "I would not feel lonely or afraid, deserted or abandoned, but connected to something far bigger than myself."(62, Wagamese) When Saul finally finds that hockey is the only thing that made him feel alive, he feels a connection with hockey and that this connection will save him, so he keeps on striving and succeeding in his hockey career. 

In conclusion, in Indian by Richard Wagamese horse it is proven that all the abuse Saul suffers from St. Jerome’s affects him in many aspects of his future life. Even as a little kid, he tries many different activities that help him disconnect from what is going on around him. He uses books, activities, and hockey to help him cope with the overwhelming sea of emotions he is feeling. And under all these different circumstances, Saul still manages to partially overcome the dark past and pursue his dream of becoming a hockey player. He focuses on overcoming this huge obstacle in his life and is finally able to pursue his dream… hockey.