Katie's journal

First Quarter
So far this novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese has been a real eye-opener for me. It's an emotionally grabbing book that opens you up to perspectives of others. At this point, I really like this book. I like the writing style and how things are described.  Saul is the main character and so far his story is very interesting and quite depressing. Personally, I can't imagine going through what he's been through. From what I've understood from this book is that he has had traumatic things happen to him and because of this he turned into a drunk. Although if this sort of hardship happened to me, I don't think I would turn to drugs or alcohol to solve the problems, like his family does. He was sent to a rehab treatment center and there each person must tell their stories. His not so willingly telling his story is how the book begins. The quote ''If we want to live at peace with ourselves, we need to tell our stories.'' takes a toll on almost everyone at some point in their lives. It's like we need to take what's on our mind and let it out in order to feel better. Because of this, I feel a sort of connection to the book that not only me, but many others can also make.
So, lets talk a little bit more about his story. Not only does he live in poor living conditions but he has very little people to help him through it. This is because his family has essentially been taken away from him. Being in her position, he needed to mature much quicker than usual kids his age and that can be very challenging. In addition to his hardship, his grandmother must be feeling quite upset and stressed out. She has to protect the kids, and when they get taken away Saul is all she has and she feels great amounts of guilt and she becomes very protective. If I were in her position, and tried to see things from her perspective, I would do the same thing. All shes trying to do is keep her grandchildren safe and out of the residential school. All Saul and his family want is peace, but because of all of the tribal arguing and hatred and dangerous conditions, at this point that's not possible. The entire family has to work hard for anything that people in my position take for granted like food, water, and shelter. They have to learn survival skills. And again, if I were in that position, I probably wouldn't survive. Taking care of your family by making sure their safe and protected and trying to take care of yourself at the same time must be so challenging for them. I can't wait to see what happens in the next chapters!
-Katie




Second Quarter
This week I've read the second part of the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. The book has changed and progressed quite a lot.  The novel is starting to become much more interesting and I'm starting to become attached to the characters and further understand their perspectives. From these chapters, hockey has been widely introduced by Father Leboutilier at the residential school.  Now this caused some conflict with others in the residential school and you can tell that some people really aren't happy. Although some people aren't happy and this sort of thing usually wouldn't be allowed, Father Leboutilier goes through with it. Personally, I think this is a heroic action of Father Leboutilier. Instead of the children having to deal with the terrible conditions and things happening to them they can forget about all of that for awhile. It gives them the chance to sort of get away from all of this 'horror' and just play like regular kids their age. I think the boys can start to see Father Leboutilier as a role model because of these actions, and he shows that he really is a kind man. If I were in the boys' positions, I would be thankful for having them there and trying to make our lives a little bit more exciting and less dreadful. Another aspect that I really enjoyed is that the author uses things that we can connect with such as the TV show hockey night in Canada. Because we have this tv show, I know exactly what they're talking about and what they might be feeling. (Such as how Saul got interested in playing hockey because of it.) This is especially easy to relate to because hockey is very big in Canada.
Another aspect of the novel that I'm still fond of is the amount of description. During the second quarter of the book the author continues to give great deph in his description and pays attention to detail. I like this because it helps me understand the conditions and such that I might not usually understand.
Not only is the second part of this novel interesting and much more exciting, but it is also quite inspirational. It shows that even in situations such as residential school you can do anything if you put your mind to it. This is easy to connect to because its a lesson that mostly everyone will learn throughout their lives. It shows that even though you can be held bad cards, you can make good out of them. I say this because Saul has been put into such a horrible and traumatic life and he still tries to make good out of it. When he wasn't aloud to play on the residential team, he still practiced and practiced just incase one day he would have the chance to play, or as we learn, he goes out to find a different team eventually. I think we have to look much deeper into this because if Saul can do it, or even Father Leboutilier for making the team, then we can essentially do anything if we put our mind to it. I think this novel greatly shows this lesson and it is well portrayed.  I cannot wait to read the third quarter of the book! I'm excited to see what happens!
-Katie
Third Quarter
This week I’ve read the third quarter of the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. This quarter has exceeded my expectations and I really am enjoying this book. Although this week the novel was filled with countless amounts of racial injustice, it still has a bright side to it. In these chapters, I feel that the author has really emphasized the racial prejudice that had happened not only in the 1600-1700’s like shown in the book, but we can come to a realization that to a point this still happens today. A specific event that really stuck out to me was when they were at the café after their game. I found this event to be sickening and it was quiet eye-opening to realize the things that would happen back then with segregation and such. The things they have to do just to be able to eat where they want is absolutely foolish and I honestly don’t know what I would do in their situations. Although all of these things happen during this quarter we also see Saul push through it all and he stays quiet strong. He makes it to the AHL but the racial slurs become too much and he decides to go back to Fred Kelly’s team. If I were in his position and tried to put myself in his perspective I would’ve done exactly the same. At a point it becomes too much and although he has a considerable amount of potential sometimes everything around you really takes away the fun of the game. It’s sad and almost depressing to think that if Saul would have been white that his life would be so much different. He would’ve been able to use his talent, and maybe even get to the NHL someday.
I still continue to appreciate the author’s use of description. It allows us to further understand how exactly things are playing out to be. Although sometimes it can be disturbing, I think the author used the great amount of detail to his advantage to get his point across loud and clearly.
I cannot wait to see how this novel ends and how everything turns out for Saul!
-Katie
Fourth Quarter

This week I've read the fourth and final quarter of the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. This quarter was full of exciting endings and a huge twist. The twist was that Father Leboutilier had raped Saul during his time at residential school. This struck me off guard and really surprised me. Even if the conditions at the residential school were terrible, I still thought all along that Father Leboutilier was a genuinely kind man. This was especially shocking for me because Father Leboutillier had brought hockey into many lives of the boys at the residential school and he played a heroic character in my mind but it was clearly much deeper than that. To me, he went from him being a hero to being a very disturbing character. During this explanation and scene of the novel the author was very descriptive which at some points I found to be quiet disturbing and unpleasant. I also found that this quarter was difficult to make connections from my life to because I haven't experienced situations like him. 

Being in Saul's position, I don't know how he dealed with everything throughout the course of this story. He is a strong man and I'm not surprised that he brought alcohol into his life to heal his past/present pain. Not only did he have to deal with the racism, judging, sexual abuse, hardship, and many others, he still had to remain positive and try to get through that so I think he has every reason to mourn and to turn to alcohol. In the end, I think that all Saul was trying to do was survive. Survive and be happy, survive and be safe, and survive to be great. 

Although his hockey career did not turn out to be great, I think he did have enough talent to be able to make it to the NHL. I think if he were white, the outcome would have been much different and he would've gotten the chance to use his talent instead of letting it go to waste. I think that Saul is a very courageous person as he pushes through almost, if not every situation he gets put through. I very much enjoy Saul's character and his traits and I think the author did very well on that.

To talk more about the over all novel, I think this novel was very suspenseful and it told a great story that taught many lessons. I would suggest this novel to anyone who is interested in history (because of the time period of 1600-1700's),anyone who has been in similar situations such as residential school, and anyone who is interested or intrigued in topics such as racism. Overall I would rate this book a 8.5 out of 10. I would be very interested in reading other books by Richard Wagamese because I enjoy his style of writing.