Moral Injury From Trauma In Indian Horse By Richard Wagamese

Miriam Ruhland

NBE 3U

Ms. Darby Conning

9 May 2023

Literary Essay

Moral Injury from Trauma in Indian Horse

The Novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese is a horrific narrative about Saul Indian Horse, an Indigenous boy. The book focuses on his childhood trauma, grossly induced by the residential school he attended, and how he was able to cope. By telling Saul’s story, Wagamese displays the effect of trauma on one’s motivation to live a moral life. Indian Horse reveals how moral injury can stem from trauma such as bullying, witness of abuse, and grief. From the moment Saul was introduced to hockey, he was enamored. Every aspect of his life became hockey; he woke early every morning to clear the rink and practice, then stayed up late

Jerome’s team. With his spiritual gift of sight, he had the upper hand against opponents. He knew where the puck was going before it was even touched. Saul was challenged more when he joined the Moose, but this only pushed him to work harder. When the Moose gained more popularity and started playing outside of their league is when Saul started losing his passion for hockey. The other teams did not play for the same reasons. They played to win. They were upset that they were beaten by teams that were not white. The white teams were violent, they would purposely injure Saul’s team. While his teammates fought back, Saul chose to be different. He accepted the slashes and punches and moved on. When Saul joined the Marlboros, the taunting and fighting only got worse. Saul hit his breaking point, “If they wanted me to be savage, that’s

From the beginning of the novel, Saul painted his mother as an absent part of his life. Since Saul’s sister disappeared six years before Saul was born, Saul never really got to know his mother. She never got over the grief of losing Rachel. Before Mary even had kids, she also went to residential school, where she would have been subject to many abuses. Knowing her child would be experiencing the very same abuse she had gone through, and that she had failed to protect her child, would have been heartbreaking for her. Because of his mother’s mental instability, Saul never really experienced maternal love or support from Mary. When Benjamin was taken to the school, Mary fell deeper into her spiral. “She was lost to me then. I could see that. She was gaunt and drained from days of weeping, a tent of skin over her bones” (11). The only way Mary would escape the pain of child loss was to distance herself from any reminders. When Benjamin was getting close to the end, Mary practiced this distance even more. “We took turns bringing him water, the old woman and I. The others stayed away” (30). Mary’s distancing at first was mental. She kept herself from getting too close to Saul, in fear of losing him. However, after Benjamin’s death, the distance became physical. She left Saul behind to leave behind the grief. Mary experienced moral injury after living with heavy trauma from child loss and childhood