The Journey of Reconciliation
Reconciliation involves coming to terms with past injustices and not only making peace with other individuals but also making peace with the inner self. Its main aim is to improve the relationship between two parties and to find justice for the party that has been oppressed. Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse is a narrative about the life of Saul Indian Horse who searched to find reconciliation and inner peace within his own life when everything else seems hopeless. In Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse, the story of Saul who is trying to reconcile with circumstances around him and his life at the Residential school and as a hockey player provides an insight into the life of the Natives of Canada at the time the story …show more content…
They abandon Saul and leave him at his grandmother’s watch promising to come back which they don’t. His capture by government officials who take him to the Reserve school marks the beginning of his pain and agony. St. Jerome’s Residential School is the place where his woes begun. His stay and that of other Indian children in the facility is marked substantially by abuse. The school embraces a form of torture and ill-treatment to make the children learn. Saul even claimed that “They called it a school but it was never that…there were no tests or examinations. The only test was our ability to survive” (Wagamese, …show more content…
He was even far worse than the other Indian children as because he could read and speak in English the other Indian children treated him as white. One shares in the sorrow that Saul is experiencing while reading the novel. The story makes one wonder whether he will ever know peace or find solace in his seemingly pointless and helpless life. One can connect with the pain that Saul goes through, the pain of losing a loved one and losing parents and the closest person close to you in which in this case it was Saul’s grandmother and then being taught a new way of life.
Finding peace with the world let alone his inner peace seems impossible for young Saul. He thus caves into the sorrow and just like his mother before him, he becomes quiet and withdrawn. The happiness that marked his early childhood is then replaced with sadness, and a life that was filled with curiosity is filled with silence and numbness. Before hockey, Saul had been fed up with life and was almost giving up on
Reconciliation involves coming to terms with past injustices and not only making peace with other individuals but also making peace with the inner self. Its main aim is to improve the relationship between two parties and to find justice for the party that has been oppressed. Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse is a narrative about the life of Saul Indian Horse who searched to find reconciliation and inner peace within his own life when everything else seems hopeless. In Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse, the story of Saul who is trying to reconcile with circumstances around him and his life at the Residential school and as a hockey player provides an insight into the life of the Natives of Canada at the time the story …show more content…
They abandon Saul and leave him at his grandmother’s watch promising to come back which they don’t. His capture by government officials who take him to the Reserve school marks the beginning of his pain and agony. St. Jerome’s Residential School is the place where his woes begun. His stay and that of other Indian children in the facility is marked substantially by abuse. The school embraces a form of torture and ill-treatment to make the children learn. Saul even claimed that “They called it a school but it was never that…there were no tests or examinations. The only test was our ability to survive” (Wagamese, …show more content…
He was even far worse than the other Indian children as because he could read and speak in English the other Indian children treated him as white. One shares in the sorrow that Saul is experiencing while reading the novel. The story makes one wonder whether he will ever know peace or find solace in his seemingly pointless and helpless life. One can connect with the pain that Saul goes through, the pain of losing a loved one and losing parents and the closest person close to you in which in this case it was Saul’s grandmother and then being taught a new way of life.
Finding peace with the world let alone his inner peace seems impossible for young Saul. He thus caves into the sorrow and just like his mother before him, he becomes quiet and withdrawn. The happiness that marked his early childhood is then replaced with sadness, and a life that was filled with curiosity is filled with silence and numbness. Before hockey, Saul had been fed up with life and was almost giving up on