""Indian Horse": Analysis of the Effects of Forced Assimilation they are forcibly assimilated into Canadian culture. The experience of forced assimilation plants a poisonous seed in Saul's mind and nearly destroys his entire future. The progression of the story reveals the long-term effects of forced assimilation, and that they work as the cause of Saul's suffering trauma. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned" forced adoption of First Nations children through Saul's description of the children's parents: “The specter also lived in the other adults, my father, my aunt and my uncle.” It was a common occurrence at the time for Native Americans to be forcibly taken to residential schools. The first victim Saul witnesses is his sister Rachel; she is taken away from her family at the age of six. Subsequently, his brother Benjamin is captured. A few years later, his grandmother Naomi dies while holding Saul in her arms shortly before Saul is sent to St. Jerome's residential school. This scene is particularly significant in terms of trauma. Naomi represents the traditionally native side of Saul: “I approached her, shouting in a mix of Ojibway and English… But instead I was taken away… and cast adrift on a strange new river.” His death while holding Saul in his arms represents the loss of Saul's native culture (Robinson 93). Such forced assimilations occurred in dozens of schools like St. Jerome's: "These missionary schools aimed to assimilate the natives by using Christianity to 'civilize' the 'savages'" (Neeganagwedgin 32). Saul and the other Native Americans are washed harshly with soap and their hair is shaved; when one of the children disobeys the nun, he is violently hit with a paddle. The effects were long-lasting and brutal; in the novel they continue to manifest themselves in Saul's life, emerging in different forms. As Saul tries to survive St. Jerome, he discovers hockey. Wagamese characterizes Saul's enthusiasm for hockey in a way that generates hope, both for Saul and the reader. However, it seems that Wagamese intended to illustrate this period of the story in such a hopeful and joyful way so that the dark sides of Saul's traumatic experiences could be forgotten: “It's like watching you enter a secret place that no one else knows how to discover . get to” the author suggests that hockey is not an easy sport for Saul. As the story progresses, we realize that Saul “attempts to escape emotional turmoil into the self-oblivion of hockey: 'That's why I played with abandon; abandon myself. For Saul, hockey is actually a method of escape from traumatic experiences, yet it proves pathetic when he "packed his bags and got on a bus back to Manitouwadge." Saul discovers his growing inability to integrate into the community due to his unresolved misery, and attempts to escape once again: “'I'm not disappearing,' I said. He shook his head sadly. “It seems to me you have done this before,” This time Saul finds relief in alcohol, which offers an “antidote to exile” in which it allows him to play clown and narrator (Robinson 96). Lasting trauma appears throughout Saul's adolescence and young adulthood; they emerge in Saul's addictive behaviors in hockey, in his disconnection from hiscommunity and its destructive behaviors associated with alcohol. After living with the Kellys for a while, Saul chooses to leave Manitouwadge at the age of eighteen. Then, he begins his “fifteen years of his youth which he spent in emotional confusion and alcoholic drift” (Robinson 90). Saul does not leave without a reason, even if he is not yet aware of it. According to an academic journal published by Oliver Morgan, ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) “have a profound and lasting impact many years later, although they transform from psychosocial experiences into organic disease, poor social functioning, mental illness and addiction” (Morgan 9). Clearly, Saul possesses several axes stemming from his experiences of forced assimilation at St. Jerome's, and his Native identity having been damaged by the “structured violence” of residential schools” (Robinson 100). With his identity and lifestyle robbed, Saul loses the ability to connect with nature and its people. He loses his way of “telling” and there is no way for Saul to “impart and preserve indigenous cultural wisdom”; furthermore, it cannot “cope with the extreme cultural transition,” which is the effect of residential school (Robinson 91). When Ervin Sift tries to offer him a normal life, Saul wants to connect but “there was a bigger part that he could never understand. It was the party that sought separation” (Wagamese 186). These few lines reinforce the connection between his lasting trauma and his disconnection from people. Unable to address his unresolved ACEs, addictions, and naturally occurring SUDs (substance abuse disorders), drinking helps Saul calm his anger and “exert some measure of control over intolerable feelings and intrusive thoughts " (Morgan 8). Therefore, Saul continues to rely on alcohol as a way to deal with his lasting trauma until he enters the New Dawn Center for recovery. Many people may not have thought of generational survivors of residential schools as victims of the school system, but in general, a victim refers to all people harmed as a result of an event or action. The author of “Indian Horse” shares his perspective on intergenerational survivors, having been one himself: “I never went to a residential school, so I can't say I survived one. However, my parents and extended family members did. The pain they suffer has become my pain, and I have become a victim”; as Wagamese describes, the pain carried by the victims passes through generations and so the scars are left deeply imprinted on their bodies and spirits. Saul and Wagamese's lives begin the same way, living with their families in the bush. In both cases, their families had attended residential schools and had suffered psychological, emotional, spiritual and physical abuse that only alcohol seemed to help heal. Due to the fact that both were separated from their families as children, they never learned how to be real parents and, as a result, Wagamese's relatives turned out to be abusive. Saul's family experienced the same thing, making him weak enough to choose to consume alcohol, and they abandoned him with his grandmother at the age of eight; he was just like Wagamese's parents, who abandoned him at the age of three with his two brothers and sister. Both were abandoned in the dead of winter, when the weather was freezing and the breeze was terribly cold. Saul's grandmother didn't make it due to her sacrifice in keeping him alive (providing him with his clothes) and in both cases the children were found and taken away by the government; They sent Saul to St. Jerome's Indian Residential School, while Wagamese andhis brothers were sent to the Children's Aid Society. This tragedy significantly changed their lives. Saul was taken to a residential school where he witnessed and experienced unimaginable abuse. The school tried to assimilate the indigenous people and remove from them their Indian traits, their identity. According to Richard Wagamese, “The most fundamental human right in the universe is the right to know who you were created to be,” but residential schools denied their human rights and Saul was forced to tolerate this for five years before he was adopted by Fred Kelly is saved from the domination of the school. But it was also in that school where Saul discovered his love for hockey, a game which for a short time was used as a means of escape. Saul took up hockey after being introduced to it by Father Gaston Leboutillier, a young priest at the school: “As long as I could escape, I could fly away. To fly away and never have to land on the scorched earth of my childhood.” He describes how he is trying to escape his situation, fly away from it, and seek freedom. He started using hockey to overcome memories of the trauma, it was his escape. Richard Wagamese's life also changed dramatically. He was placed in two parental homes and finally adopted at the age of nine. For seven years she suffered "beatings, mental and emotional abuse and a complete dislocation and separation from anything slightly Indian or Ojibway", until then she decided to run away in an attempt to save herself. His experience was as shocking, brutal and desperate as Saul's at St. Jerome. Both Saul and Wagamese were gripped by feelings of uncertainty and confusion and had a sense of not belonging, with no idea what had caused it. Saul, on the one hand, was lost because he continued to hide from the truth instead of facing it. After he lost his passion for hockey and stopped serving as an escape, he turned to an alcoholic. He began to fall into the never-ending abyss of alcoholism and this continued until Saul became separated from himself and hid from himself for so long that he no longer had any idea who he was: “I couldn't stand it. I couldn't take the risk of anyone knowing me, because I couldn't take the risk of knowing myself." Saul kept running away from his problems, avoiding them, and he got so lost that even if he wanted to know himself, he wouldn't know where to start, so he ran away because it was easier. He only tried to recover when he realized that he would die if he continued to drink again and again. Through a visit to his dead family, he has come to the conclusion that he must return to the beginning. After returning to where it all began, residential school, he realized what had happened to him and was forced to face the harsh truth. Richard Wagamese, on the other hand, who didn't know what to do with his life, got lost, both on the streets and in prisons. He was lost because he remained unaware of his family's traumatic past in residential schools: “At that time, our people, the Aboriginal people, didn't really talk about residential schools and certainly the great majority of Canadians never talked about residential schools. Most people had never heard of it,” he explains how at the time he didn't know the cause of his family's suffering and the reason for their past behavior. He only discovered them when he was reunited with his family after twenty-one painful years without seeing each other. Essentially, both Saul and Richard Wagamese ended up reuniting with their family and found a way to ease their bitterness caused by residential schools, and began a new journey towards healing. Eventually, Saul returned to Fred and Martha – his adoptive family

Topic > ""Indian Horse": Analysis of the Effects of Forced Assimilation they are forcibly assimilated into Canadian culture. The experience of forced assimilation plants a poisonous seed in Saul's mind and nearly destroys his entire future. The progression of the story reveals the long-term effects of forced assimilation, and that they work as the cause of Saul's suffering trauma. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned" forced adoption of First Nations children through Saul's description of the children's parents: “The specter also lived in the other adults, my father, my aunt and my uncle.” It was a common occurrence at the time for Native Americans to be forcibly taken to residential schools. The first victim Saul witnesses is his sister Rachel; she is taken away from her family at the age of six. Subsequently, his brother Benjamin is captured. A few years later, his grandmother Naomi dies while holding Saul in her arms shortly before Saul is sent to St. Jerome's residential school. This scene is particularly significant in terms of trauma. Naomi represents the traditionally native side of Saul: “I approached her, shouting in a mix of Ojibway and English… But instead I was taken away… and cast adrift on a strange new river.” His death while holding Saul in his arms represents the loss of Saul's native culture (Robinson 93). Such forced assimilations occurred in dozens of schools like St. Jerome's: "These missionary schools aimed to assimilate the natives by using Christianity to 'civilize' the 'savages'" (Neeganagwedgin 32). Saul and the other Native Americans are washed harshly with soap and their hair is shaved; when one of the children disobeys the nun, he is violently hit with a paddle. The effects were long-lasting and brutal; in the novel they continue to manifest themselves in Saul's life, emerging in different forms. As Saul tries to survive St. Jerome, he discovers hockey. Wagamese characterizes Saul's enthusiasm for hockey in a way that generates hope, both for Saul and the reader. However, it seems that Wagamese intended to illustrate this period of the story in such a hopeful and joyful way so that the dark sides of Saul's traumatic experiences could be forgotten: “It's like watching you enter a secret place that no one else knows how to discover . get to” the author suggests that hockey is not an easy sport for Saul. As the story progresses, we realize that Saul “attempts to escape emotional turmoil into the self-oblivion of hockey: 'That's why I played with abandon; abandon myself. For Saul, hockey is actually a method of escape from traumatic experiences, yet it proves pathetic when he "packed his bags and got on a bus back to Manitouwadge." Saul discovers his growing inability to integrate into the community due to his unresolved misery, and attempts to escape once again: “'I'm not disappearing,' I said. He shook his head sadly. “It seems to me you have done this before,” This time Saul finds relief in alcohol, which offers an “antidote to exile” in which it allows him to play clown and narrator (Robinson 96). Lasting trauma appears throughout Saul's adolescence and young adulthood; they emerge in Saul's addictive behaviors in hockey, in his disconnection from hiscommunity and its destructive behaviors associated with alcohol. After living with the Kellys for a while, Saul chooses to leave Manitouwadge at the age of eighteen. Then, he begins his “fifteen years of his youth which he spent in emotional confusion and alcoholic drift” (Robinson 90). Saul does not leave without a reason, even if he is not yet aware of it. According to an academic journal published by Oliver Morgan, ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) “have a profound and lasting impact many years later, although they transform from psychosocial experiences into organic disease, poor social functioning, mental illness and addiction” (Morgan 9). Clearly, Saul possesses several axes stemming from his experiences of forced assimilation at St. Jerome's, and his Native identity having been damaged by the “structured violence” of residential schools” (Robinson 100). With his identity and lifestyle robbed, Saul loses the ability to connect with nature and its people. He loses his way of “telling” and there is no way for Saul to “impart and preserve indigenous cultural wisdom”; furthermore, it cannot “cope with the extreme cultural transition,” which is the effect of residential school (Robinson 91). When Ervin Sift tries to offer him a normal life, Saul wants to connect but “there was a bigger part that he could never understand. It was the party that sought separation” (Wagamese 186). These few lines reinforce the connection between his lasting trauma and his disconnection from people. Unable to address his unresolved ACEs, addictions, and naturally occurring SUDs (substance abuse disorders), drinking helps Saul calm his anger and “exert some measure of control over intolerable feelings and intrusive thoughts " (Morgan 8). Therefore, Saul continues to rely on alcohol as a way to deal with his lasting trauma until he enters the New Dawn Center for recovery. Many people may not have thought of generational survivors of residential schools as victims of the school system, but in general, a victim refers to all people harmed as a result of an event or action. The author of “Indian Horse” shares his perspective on intergenerational survivors, having been one himself: “I never went to a residential school, so I can't say I survived one. However, my parents and extended family members did. The pain they suffer has become my pain, and I have become a victim”; as Wagamese describes, the pain carried by the victims passes through generations and so the scars are left deeply imprinted on their bodies and spirits. Saul and Wagamese's lives begin the same way, living with their families in the bush. In both cases, their families had attended residential schools and had suffered psychological, emotional, spiritual and physical abuse that only alcohol seemed to help heal. Due to the fact that both were separated from their families as children, they never learned how to be real parents and, as a result, Wagamese's relatives turned out to be abusive. Saul's family experienced the same thing, making him weak enough to choose to consume alcohol, and they abandoned him with his grandmother at the age of eight; he was just like Wagamese's parents, who abandoned him at the age of three with his two brothers and sister. Both were abandoned in the dead of winter, when the weather was freezing and the breeze was terribly cold. Saul's grandmother didn't make it due to her sacrifice in keeping him alive (providing him with his clothes) and in both cases the children were found and taken away by the government; They sent Saul to St. Jerome's Indian Residential School, while Wagamese andhis brothers were sent to the Children's Aid Society. This tragedy significantly changed their lives. Saul was taken to a residential school where he witnessed and experienced unimaginable abuse. The school tried to assimilate the indigenous people and remove from them their Indian traits, their identity. According to Richard Wagamese, “The most fundamental human right in the universe is the right to know who you were created to be,” but residential schools denied their human rights and Saul was forced to tolerate this for five years before he was adopted by Fred Kelly is saved from the domination of the school. But it was also in that school where Saul discovered his love for hockey, a game which for a short time was used as a means of escape. Saul took up hockey after being introduced to it by Father Gaston Leboutillier, a young priest at the school: “As long as I could escape, I could fly away. To fly away and never have to land on the scorched earth of my childhood.” He describes how he is trying to escape his situation, fly away from it, and seek freedom. He started using hockey to overcome memories of the trauma, it was his escape. Richard Wagamese's life also changed dramatically. He was placed in two parental homes and finally adopted at the age of nine. For seven years she suffered "beatings, mental and emotional abuse and a complete dislocation and separation from anything slightly Indian or Ojibway", until then she decided to run away in an attempt to save herself. His experience was as shocking, brutal and desperate as Saul's at St. Jerome. Both Saul and Wagamese were gripped by feelings of uncertainty and confusion and had a sense of not belonging, with no idea what had caused it. Saul, on the one hand, was lost because he continued to hide from the truth instead of facing it. After he lost his passion for hockey and stopped serving as an escape, he turned to an alcoholic. He began to fall into the never-ending abyss of alcoholism and this continued until Saul became separated from himself and hid from himself for so long that he no longer had any idea who he was: “I couldn't stand it. I couldn't take the risk of anyone knowing me, because I couldn't take the risk of knowing myself." Saul kept running away from his problems, avoiding them, and he got so lost that even if he wanted to know himself, he wouldn't know where to start, so he ran away because it was easier. He only tried to recover when he realized that he would die if he continued to drink again and again. Through a visit to his dead family, he has come to the conclusion that he must return to the beginning. After returning to where it all began, residential school, he realized what had happened to him and was forced to face the harsh truth. Richard Wagamese, on the other hand, who didn't know what to do with his life, got lost, both on the streets and in prisons. He was lost because he remained unaware of his family's traumatic past in residential schools: “At that time, our people, the Aboriginal people, didn't really talk about residential schools and certainly the great majority of Canadians never talked about residential schools. Most people had never heard of it,” he explains how at the time he didn't know the cause of his family's suffering and the reason for their past behavior. He only discovered them when he was reunited with his family after twenty-one painful years without seeing each other. Essentially, both Saul and Richard Wagamese ended up reuniting with their family and found a way to ease their bitterness caused by residential schools, and began a new journey towards healing. Eventually, Saul returned to Fred and Martha – his adoptive family – and coached the boys in hockey”.