Racism and Identity Themes in Indian Horse Essay Example

Discrimination towards a group completely demolishes what they stand for. In many ways cultural genocide takes away a positive and replaces it with a negative such as racial discrimination. Saul Indian Horse, the main character in the novel Indian Horse since he was a little boy has been going through a horrific amount of racial discrimination because of his culture and what he identifies as. Saul’s family's culture is diminished and forced to assimilate into Canadian culture.Indigenous peoples' identity such as the main protagonist's identity is being stripped away from them.

The novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, illustrates the way racism is connected towards the traumatic experiences where Indigenous people such as the main character Saul Indian Horse are forced into assimilating into Canadian culture. Therefore racism throughout the novel and cultural genocide is towards a racial group diminishing who they identify as and degrading their culture. In the novel Saul’s family's culture is diminished and Saul is forced to assimilate into Canadian culture.Saul and his brother Benjamin are being targeted to be taken away to a Residential school. This is shown when Saul’s grandmother states “We needed to go where the government men could not find us.” (Wagamese pg.12) Saul’s family’s culture is excluded and is forced to become a part of Canadian society. This quote proves this because Noami, Saul and Benjamin’s grandmother is trying to protect her grandchildren by taking them to a place where they are free to express their own culture, as they fear that they are not taken by the government. Saul is forcefully taken to a residential school to be initialized into Canadian culture. This is shown when Saul states “They took me to St. Jerome’s Indian Residential School.” (Wagamese pg.26) This quote is proving the oppression that Saul has to experience just because of the culture he has, others think it is ok to be unjust. Diminishing one's way of life that they succumb to is unfair and forcing them to assimilate into a culture that they do not approve of is injustice.

As a result racism is shown throughout the novel as described by the traumatic experiences through the main character Saul Indian Horse, allowing Indigenous people’s culture to be degraded. This proves that Saul’s culture is not being appreciated and Canadian culture is being forced onto Indigenous people. Indigenous peoples' identity such as the main protagonist's identity is being stripped away from them. Saul’s identity is completely stripped and altered by kids at the residential school. This is shown when Saul states “At St. Germ’s the kids called me “Zhaunagush” because I could speak and read English.” (Wagamese pg.28) This quote proves that identity can be erased from someone just for them having capabilities that are not their own. The children at St. Germ’s call him Zhaunagush because they believe it is ok to change someone based on being something they don’t expect as an act of racism. Learning to speak and read English does not always have to be changing a person's identity, it can be improving how they identify themselves.

At the residential school St. Jerome’s Saul witnesses children dying.This is shown when Saul states “I saw kids die of tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia and broken hearts at St. Jerome’s.” (Wagamese pg.32) This quote proves that oppression impacts a person’s identity greatly because of the fact that others think it is ok to treat and even harm a person such as Indigenous people because of their identity and how they identify themselves. Saul describes kids dying because of broken hearts at St. Jerome’s which proves that identity can be stripped away from a person and can lead to things such as death as a comfort from a person's identity being taken from them. As a result racism is connected towards Indigenous peoples identity unfairly being treated as a privilege getting taken from them because of how they identify. It proves that Canadians rather completely get rid of Indigenous people’s identity and replace it with their own version rather than trying to make them equal and embrace one another’s identity. 

In conclusion, racism and identity are important factors in the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, which describe how a group's culture and identity can be diminished. Saul Indian Horse the main protagonist connects to this by the experiences he faces as cultural genocide. Indigenous people such as Saul Indian Horse face forced assimilation into changing their identity and culture to Canadian society standards. It is unjust and wrong to treat a person unfairly for the race they are and the culture that they belong to. In Canada today discrimination towards Indigenous people should be put to a stop and learn that we are all equal as human beings to make up for past traumatic experiences.