Indian Horse Essay Topics

Improved Essays
Indian Horse Essay Life is a mixture of good and bad experiences, and it is apart of human nature to develop methods and ways to cope with hardships. Humans have the tendency to discover ways which distract them from reality and their biggest problems. There are many ways that this can be done. In the novel, “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese, Saul Indian Horse develops many strategies to escape and overcome difficult situations. Saul attempts to cope with his negative experiences by turning to hockey and trying to find a sense of belonging through family figures. These are inevitably the reasons why he survives. Firstly, distractions aid us in coping with negative experiences, and they allow us to devote our attention to other sources rather than being consumed by our …show more content…
He uses it to shelter him from all the imperfections of the world. The reason why many young children took their lives and endured mental exhaustion was essentially driven by the fact that they didn’t have a way to cope, unlike Saul. Saul preserved his life and survived by utilizing an effective coping mechanism. He escapes reality and lapses into fantasy, unlike his and many others’ real lives. In addition to this, Saul uses the platform of hockey to prove his capabilities and unite all, regardless of race. This is shown when Saul realizes he is one of the main reasons why the Zhaunagush became more open minded. “ The game brought us together in a way that nothing else could, and players and fans alike would huddle against whatever winter threw at us. We celebrated every goal, hit, every pass. Sometimes there were fights as there are so often in the game, but they were never bitter, never carried

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    debut, Michaelis tells a sweeping story about a thief-turned-hero named Farhad, who mounts a sacred white tiger and journeys across a desert to rescue the god Krishna's daughter from a demon king. Amid the chaos of colonial India, Farhad calls often on the Hindu gods, but different faiths live in close proximity. Among other people and places, Farhad is led to a beautiful, spiritual Englishwoman, to the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha found enlightenment and to an Islamic mosque. Farhad's quest is relayed as a story within a story, set into an overarching frame about a poor girl named Safia, married off to a rich man who may kill her when he discovers she is not a virgin. Readers may feel as if they've encountered one of the many tricksters populating this book when this thrilling frame first opens upon Farhad; a third of the novel will have elapsed before Safia reappears, just when Farhad's story is finally taking off.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The novel Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese is an award winning novel based on an aboriginal boy and his journey through life battling with racism and cruel jokes. Saul Indian Horse is a native boy whose life got turned upside down when he was taken to the residential school St. Jerome. Throughout the novel, Saul engages in the amazing game of hockey, but not without critics. A crucial turning point in Saul’s life is when he gets liberated from St. Jerome and beings playing hockey with the Moose in Manitouwadge which means “Cave of the Great Spirit”. At --- years old, Saul was asked b Father Leboutiler if he would like to go live with a family, the Kelly’s, in Manitouwadge to play hockey with the ‘Moose’.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Classical India Dbq Essay

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Answers and Equivalencies Does God exist if there is no one who believes in him? If we are to govern ourselves, what methods should we use to go about this? These questions are the focus of religious and political philosophical scholars. Humans have been wondering about these questions as long as there has been sedentary life. In the ancient times of hunter-gatherer societies, people were too focused on surviving that day to think about divinities that were beyond the crops and animals they needed to eat.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Simply put, horses may be a tool, but when analyzed critically they also share an important similarity with humans and, more so, they have a beauty in their ability to escape the burden of fear. The most straightforward delineation of horses is their significance as tools. Throughout the history of the west horses have…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Part-Time Indian Imagery

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part -Time Indian, Sherman Alexie creates a text that easily explains Alexie’s own experiences. The use of images, the development of his protagonist’s friendships, and the depiction of tragic events all develop the identification of Arnold Spirit, in a unique and accessible manner. The style used by Alexie is used to brighten up the life of Arnold, and happenings that revolve around his community. Imagery helps us create an interpretation of how we should visualize the whole story.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The crowd knows that the game is not going to last forever, it is going to have to end and they are all going to go back to their jobs and humdrum lives until next friday. This thought can also be applied to the student athletes in Bissinger’s book. Playing football not only brings them joy, but gives them that sense of false hope. When the players are out on the field, they are not worrying about college or whether they aced the test they took. They are focused on the game.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    When she arrived in New Delhi, she discovered this new homeland to be aggravating and difficult to get used to. MacDonald’s gives the reader a look into what life is like in backwards India by recording her depictions in comparison to the west. The disturbance in India, crowds of people, the extreme warmth and dirt seemed persistent and all encompassing to her. Macdonald for the most part does not move past specific generalizations and I feel that overall she has a hidden western motivation. McDonald still holds an orientalist perspective and we can see this by examining Holy cow’s negative depiction of India through her consistent reference of poor living conditions and social customs.…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Indian Mascot When one thinks about Native Americans or Indians, they used to think about the first Thanksgiving, wars with cowboys, or even the movie Pocahontas. Today when one hears the word Native American, they think of controversial topics about the North Dakota oil pipeline, the drop out rates in Native schools, and of course whether or not the Indian mascot should be allowed. It all started back in 1912, when baseball’s Boston Braves adopted their team name.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Love Medicine Humor

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The characters of the novel know that life on the reservation is not ideal, are aware of the empty promises of the government. Humour, in the form of sarcasm, irony and wit often displays that they are aware of the grim circumstances of life on the reservation. While many of the characters make sly digs at the government’s expense, it is Lyman that points out, in reference to reservation roads that they are “like government promises – full of holes”. The humour in the novel also highlights the political by defying societies stereotypes. The presence of a sense of humour blatantly defies the common image of stoic Indians.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Carlos Nieto Nieto 1 Professor Starnes English 1301 June 12, 2016 Stereotypes Have you ever been offended from somebody that has called you something rude? Most likely the answering is yes. Most of the time it is because of stereotyping, color, and race. Well the Indians have been taking a stand and have been protesting over decades, possibly even longer about Indian team names and mascots in competition sports.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a child growing up and enduring the harsh system of residential schools, playing hockey seemed to alleviate the fact of where he was and help him face reality. Saul uses hockey as a major escape route and as he plays hockey he stops being reserved and becomes livelier. Hockey helps him forget about his problems. For instance, he said that the game kept him from remembering; that as long as he could escape into it, he could fly away (Wagamese 199).…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The role of family plays a big part in Saul’s life in the book Indian Horse. Saul is a boy who is taken away from his family and from the ages of 8-13 he lives at a residential school called St.Jerome's. While living there he learns to play hockey and becomes very good at it so he leaves the school to play at a higher level. In Manitouwadge Saul learns the meaning of family through the Kellys (people caring for him), Virgil (who acts like his brother), and the Moose (the hockey team he plays for). Saul is deeply affected by family and what it means to him, such as how family treats him, which is expressed throughout this book.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This depicts that albeit his sufferings, hockey is something that he authentically loved and cherished which he hopes to be able to play the game again one day. Without doubt, it is evident that Saul’s life is notably influenced as a result of the decisions he makes because of…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The struggle of living on a reservation, with little money and boring conditions, is sometimes too much for the families to take, and they break apart. This struggle is also shown through the plot structure. Although the book is nothing more than a collection of short stories, all of the short stories are intertwined with each other. They feature the same characters and all show tidbits of life on the reservation. The plot structure of each of these short stories is very…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Revealing his own emotions, the audience can see how Arun is completely chilled at the fact that people enjoy going out into nature. He’s so accustomed to staying indoors that he’s not used to the climate and the creatures. Desai portrays this as a way to show Arun’s experience is unpleasant. Emphasizing the use of literary devices, the author demonstrates a third person omniscient point of view in order to characterize Arun’s distasteful experience at the…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays