However, it seems as if Wagamese intended to illustrate this period of story in such hopeful and joyful way so that the dark sides of Saul’s traumatic experiences could be forgotten: “It’s like watching you walk into a secret place that no one else knows how to get to” the author suggests that hockey is not a simple sport to Saul. Wagamese characterizes Saul’s enthusiasm in hockey in a way that it generates hope, both for Saul and the reader. The effects were long lasting and brutal in the novel, they continue to manifest in Saul’s life, surfacing in different forms. Saul and other Native American are harshly washed with soap, and their hair is shaved when one of the children disobeys the Sister, he is violently struck with a paddle. Jerome’s: “These mission schools aimed to assimilate Indigenous people by using Christianity to ‘civilize’ the ‘savages’” (Neeganagwedgin 32). Such forced assimilations occurred at dozens of schools like St. Her death while holding Saul in her arms represents the loss of the native culture in Saul (Robinson 93). Naomi represents the traditionally native side of Saul: “I reached out to her, shouting in a mixture of Ojibway and English… But instead I was borne away… and I was cast adrift on a strange new river”. This scene is particularly significant in terms of trauma. A few years later, his grandmother Naomi dies while holding Saul in her arms just before Saul is sent to St. Afterwards, his brother Benjamin is grabbed. The first victim Saul witnesses is his sister Rachel she is taken away from the family at the age of six. At the time, it was a common occurrence for Native Americans to be forcefully taken to residential schools. In the beginning of the novel, Wagamese relates the forceful adoption of First Nations children through the descriptions of Saul’s parents: “The spectre lived in the other adults too, my father and my aunt and uncle”.

The indian horse novel