Hockey In The Novel 'Indian Horse' By Wagamese

Throughout the novel hockey is used as an example of the disadvantages natives faced living in Canadian society. It is evident that natives were at a disadvantage before they even touched the ice and likewise in their everyday lives in the pursuit of obtaining jobs, education and even basic human rights. Wagamese used hockey consistently throughout the novel to shed light on these set backs. Indian horse describes the life of a native boy named Saul and his experiences as a professional native hockey player. At a young age native children like Saul were plucked from their families and moved into Christian residential homes. These so called schools were used to strip away their native culture that consequently ends stripping away the self-identity of the native children who …show more content…
The introduction of hockey in the novel sheds light on the sensation of freedom the boys felt once on the ice. Saul often refers to the feeling of escape he feels when on the ice and it helps him ultimately escape St Jerome’s residential school. Hockey is also used as a means to illustrate Canadian’s attitude towards natives and Saul explains the racism and the set backs it causes for native players both on and off the ice. An example that illustrates this clearly is when Saul is kicked off the midget team for being too good and outplaying the white kids who’s parents felt like their kids weren’t getting enough play time over a native. This racism makes it very hard for native players to develop skills and even harder for them to progress to a higher level of professional hockey. Likewise this racism caused significant set backs in their everyday lives off the ice. Natives faced racism throughout their jobs and in their education as Canadian society at the time didn’t give Natives any room to