Discrimination In Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse

Not only are these children stripped from their native way of life, they are placed in an environment that eerily resembles an internment camp. Children are forced to work and are beaten with no remorse when they refused to conform. Often times these beatings resulted in death. Even through Saul’s greatest release, ice hockey, he comes to the conclusion that it is just another mechanism used to conform the aboriginal children. Saul played for the love of the game, but when he was pressured to compete with the Zhaunagush, he lost his passion.

The Residential school stole his innocence when he was just a child and created an unimaginable outlook on life. Hockey was supposed to be that escape but that was stolen from him as well through constant taunting. In the workforce, isolation grew leading to alcohol and depression. Through the racism he faced, it was evident how Saul was affected both internally and externally as he endured more than anyone does. Saul’s culture, memories, hope, faith, language, traditions, tribe and freedom were taken from him all because of his skin

Discrimination is a widely known problem faced in society today, affecting thousands of people mentally and emotionally. In the 2013 published novel, Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese, Saul Indian Horse encounters several day to day racist comments and discrimination as he first steps into the hockey rink. Throughout the novel, Wagamese teaches the readers, that racial discrimination can abuse and affect one into either gaining a ruthless and tempered behaviour, or pushing them to a psychological state of mental torture and isolation. In the duration of all this, Saul must prove himself to be mentally and emotionally strong, as he is first exposed to the substantial amount of racial discrimination made by the domination of white people in his

What constitutes “masculinity?” Sadly, the term has been defined so harshly that it is having detrimental effects on our society. The definitions of gender roles bombard us everywhere, from books, to advertisements, to movies, there is seemingly no place one can hide from these absurd standards. Canadian sociologist Aaron H. Devor points out in his article “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender,” that gender norms are learned early on in life, burdening children with these restrictions (388). This is what makes movies which clearly reject and mock gender roles, such as The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, so refreshing. This film opens in a dream that SpongeBob is having about being the new manager at his city’s favorite

In the first novel The Glass Castle, the father, Rex Walls is the one who creates the drama in his family. He is a negative influence for the children and his actions are unacceptable and because of his action are what creates the drama. For exam-ple at one point in the novel Rex tries to run Rose over with his car while she is pregnant and his kids witness everything, Jeanette states, “We shot forward toward Mom, who screamed and jumped out of the way. Dad turned around and went for her again” (Walls 43). Since Rex is not being sensible with the situation, and is acting poorly it creates a dysfunction in the family be-cause everyone is constantly fighting.

It is another instance of blatant racism and suffering of others for Canada’s benefit. For white Canadian’s to ‘feel safe’ the Japanese Canadians had to endure such awful circumstances. Moreover, it is heart-breaking to learn how much these events have affected people’s lives such as David Suzuki’s, “To this day, I don’t like the way I look on television and don’t like watching myself on my own TV Programs” (340). Due to the constant racism and propaganda during the war, Suzuki is left with negative feelings towards his nationality that remain with him. Many view this ordeal as a mistake and it was on Canada’s part.

The mining company also ruined many resources in the the village by their construction. One of theses resources was the water. One of the children found, “The water was completely dirty and murky, and it smelled rusty” (page 108). This left much of the water undrinkable or very disgusting, leaving Imperi’s people in an even worse situation. Everything in the village continued to go downhill.

On the other side, Cherry characterized the greasers to be too emotional which led them to antagonize the Socs and causing conflicts. Throughout the book, the theme rich vs poor reflected the Socs and greasers. As the conflict continues, it slowly came to an end when the Socs became more humanized by the death of Bob. As a gang, the greasers were always terrorized by the Socs which created many conflicts. For instance, Socs

Moose gave Cecil difficult jobs, played cruel prakns on him, and overall, made Cecil's life at the lumber camp miserable. It's odd, how out of all the men at the camp, Moose is the one who died. Moose Maddon was the one who tormented Cecil, whereas the other men learned errors in the ways and stopped, or never bullied him at all.. I think Cecil murdered Moose because Moose had been so inhumanly cruel to him. Cecil was worried for his life, he told Mr. Anderson so on the beach.

Individuals, who are surrounded with agony by mistreatment at an early phase, often leave with wounds in which can trouble their lives. In Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse, the Aboriginal children struggle with traumatization caused by dreadful brutality from the white people at the St. Jerome’s Residential School. Unfortunately for the children, the abuse leaves them upset for a lifetime. The children experience cruel abuse, which leading to leaving them mentally damaged.