Book Review: Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

While mainstream Canadian Historiography has never given enough space to the ‘little histories’ or the histories of the native Canadian glories as well as the hardships, indigenous writers have taken that responsibility through their narratives. Revisionists historians like Heyden White, Michel Foucalt, and so forth came with the concept of ‘historicity of text and textuality of history’ in the second half of the 20^th century that paved the way for the creative writers to write the history of the community whose voices were never included in the mainstream historiography.  Indigenous writer, Wagamese’s novel Indian Horse which was initially published in 2012, presents such silenced history of the suppressed Native Canadian community. For a reader who wishes to know about the hardships that indigenous Canadians had to undergo in the White Canadian society, especially during the second half of the 20^th century, Indian Horse can be a good ‘historical text’.

Richard Wagamese, who himself is said to have undergone a traumatic experience in the Residential School, presents the story at the backdrop of Residential School terror in Canada which was notorious as a genocidal approach of the Canadian government which not only ripped apart thousands of indigenous families in the name of ‘civilizing’ them but also left a life-long trauma in thousands of survivors. Though the novel presents different forms of racial discrimination and atrocities perpetrated on the Natives, it mainly presents the testimony to the traumatic past in a fictional form.

Indian Horse portrays the struggle of a native Canadian protagonist, a hockey player, Saul who struggles throughout his life, first to fight racism, sexual exploitation and family disintegration and later to overcome the trauma that those experiences create in him.

Presented in a the first-person narrative, the protagonist as the narrator, the story starts in medias res. Saul tells his story from the rehabilitation center and takes the reader to his childhood days. The plot is straightforward. Saul Indian Horse, an indigenous boy of the Fish Clan in Winnipeg, grows up in the early second half of the 20^th century witnessing and experiencing the one of the harshest and the most hostile time in the Canadian history. Gradually he starts losing his family members for which White Canadian policy of the time is directly responsible. His brother Benjamin and his sister are kidnapped by the Whites to take them to the residential schools and later he himself gets kidnapped by the Whites and is taken to the residential school, St. Jerome’s School where he witnesses the atrocities and violence done upon the native Canadian children in the name of civilizing them. He is somehow luckier than other kinds because he gets special shelter from a young priest named Gaston Leboutilier. Through his courtesy, Saul get chance to learn hockey and then be an important member in the school team despite being too young to be in a team.

Due to his popularity as a hockey player, he gets adopted by one of the former students, Fred Kelly who not only provides Saul with family but also a chance to play for the local hockey team, Moose which is captained by Virgil, his son. Even though he is in his early teens, he becomes a notable player because of his superior performance. He is soon signed up for Marlboro, a part of Toronto Maple Leafs of Toronto. In Toronto, he experiences the same amount of racial discrimination despite his excellent performance. A young boy in his late teens, he has grown irascible nature and starts fighting with the opposite players whenever they hurt racial slurs at him. Very soon, he gets fired from the club and he travels to the country side. He takes recourse to alcoholism. He finally ends up being in a Rehab center named the New Dawn where he is introduced with Moses, the counsellor who encourages him to write his experiences and, this is how the narrative takes shape.

He goes back to his adopted family, Kelly family and discusses with them the trauma he has lived with. For the first time, readers get to know that the priest who had been so kind to him in the Residential school was actually a sexual predator and Saul had been sexually exploited by him. However, Saul shows an exceptional maturity by denying taking revenge from the priest for his sexual exploitation when Virgil asks him if he wants to take revenge. Through him, the novelist is trying to give a clear message that revenge for the wrongs will lead to another wrong and it will not heal the trauma either.

Though the novel reads like a struggle of a single family or the protagonist, it is representative of the experience of thousands of native Canadians who had to undergo the horrendous experience of humiliation, denigration and abuse in the Canadian society. Wagamese has shown his mastery in the portrayals of the characters.  Naomi, Saul’s grandmother has been portrayed as a strong lady who, despite her senility, is indomitable and is the decision maker of the family. Because the novel is in the first person narrative, there are no narrative comments from the writer and this lends more credibility to the narrative.

Wagamese’s novel appeals the readers from every cultural background because nowhere in the novel has he prioritized one over other, and the message of the novel is very clear, the mutual respect. In fact the novel ends with an optimistic note from the protagonist that seeking revenge is not the solutions to the past wrong committed upon him and other natives because seeking revenge will take then nowhere. He denies taking revenge from Father Labouritier even though he is encouraged by Virgil to do so. A writer’s views are reflected through the protagonist and through Saul, Wagamese seems to be suggesting that we need to imagine a beautiful future while acknowledging the wrongs that had been done and by making a pledge not to make those wrongs in the days to come.  

If there was any room for the writer where he could do better, it is the exclusion of benevolent white characters in the novel. It is hard to believe there was not a single white person who was nice to Natives. Some critical readers may criticize the novel for summarily putting all whites in the racist category.

Indian Horse is highly recommended to anyone who has interest in the Indigenous history of Canada, especially the students of Indigenous Studies because the book presents not only the issues of Residential School but also some unique Native Canadian features like story telling (Naomi tells the stories of the glorious past of Natives to Saul,), the clan system, women as the matriarchs, and the many tribal beliefs like vision (Saul has visions a few times in the novel). Some of the episodes are emotionally laden and emotional reader’s eyes may well up.