Eng. 11 - Nov. 23

BRING MONEY AND FORMS FOR FIELD TRIP


Racism, Hope, Identity

November 23, 2017
1:42 PM

Make sure you have a strong thesis for all three topics - think of three points for each thesis, make up your quote sheet (include page numbers)
What does Indian Horse show us about human nature and (a) discrimination, or (b) identity, or (c) hope?
Make sure you check your "Writing Improvements" sheet and your class feedback.


THE PURPOSE OF A LITERARY ESSAY: Looking at the text as a work of art, demonstrating clear critical judgment and explaining to the reader of your essay how the enjoyment of the text is assisted by literary devices, linguistic effects and psychological insights; showing how the text relates to the time when it was written and how it extends to our society now.

What does Indian Horse show us about ______________________and human nature?
Eg. How does racism affect Saul and other First Nations people?
Don't just give examples of racism - explain how it works - the nature of it.



Racism

- Some people in novel have a superiority complex - nuns, fans, team members
- Sister Ignacia, calling people's names "heathen"
p. 78 "we brought you here to cure you of your heathen ways"
- White people think hockey is "their game"
- "white ice, white players" (141)
- "Thirteen's good for an Indian"
- "we don't eat with Indians" (Ch. 31)
- "eat like white people"
- Chapter 38 "I'm the Indian, that's all they see"
- Resorts to violence
- Loses the ability to see visions
- Manitouwadge - treated very badly - Saul doesn't react
- His co-workers take umbrage at Saul reading and being silent and not reacting
- Starts drinking [what put him over the edge?]
- Goes from drinking and telling stories to drinking and passing out
- Bullied
- Works harder
- Entire reason for Residential schools = racism
- "you're here to work like us"
- Chapter 29 - kicked off of team because even though Saul is better, parents don't want an "Indian" to take their son's ice time
- What about the NHL?
- [Why are people racist? How can it change? How can we move forward? Will humans always be racist?]
- What enabled the abuse in Residential schools - seen as less human "savages"
- Symbol - lye soap
- Lonnie's replacement of name

Hope

- What happens when people have no hope?
- How does hope change people's lives?
- Eg. Benjamin comes back = hope
- 189 - "drinking down" - drinking is a depressant
- Drinking puts him in a hole of temporary relief -seems hopeful
- Drinking gives him a little bit of hope
- Excessive drinking - lack of hope
- Easier to focus on drinking (avoid thinking and feeling)
- Erv
- Escaping problems - don't feel hopelessness for a second
- Family = hope
- New Dawn Center
- Hockey is a hope to keep him going when he first starts playing
- 96 "the game offers him a chance at a better life"
- Chapter 19 - "I knew that loneliness…"
- Nature helps - God's Lake
- Chapter 19 "in the world that hockey had created, I gained a new home"
- He felt love
- [how much does love have to do with hope?]
- Crowd cheering for Saul - (down 5 goals and Saul brings up the score) - restores hope because they used to boo him all the time
- Doesn't completely give up until he's a young adult
- [what makes him lose all hope? When does he fully change? Why?]
- Kids that went to Residential school didn't have a way to lose stress - Saul has hockey
- Was hopeless until he found hockey
- What about Saul's parents?
- Some of the kids (children) killed themselves
- Hope can come from surprising places
- Saul returns to Manitouwadge to coach - is this hopeful?
- God's Lake = symbol for hope (vision)
- Beginning of novel went to God's Lake to find an escape and live a better life - full circle - Saul relieves his time there - sees his vision - finds a sense of renwal
- [how is the eagle feather important?]
- ["you reclaim things the most when you give them away"(213) is this true? Does this bring Saul hope?
- "all of us have pride, you just need to remember you have it" - Erv saves Saul's life - hope comes to Saul (183) - Saul is at his lowest point when Erv finds him
- "Your father is your Heavenly Father now." (45)
- Kids don't believe the religion

Identity

- How do the problems with identity connect with our current situation
- Truth and Reconciliation
- Help find indigenous people's identity - reconcile - who were our FN people before residential schools
- 193 - "I knew exactly where I was going" - important Saul knows he's going to find out what his history/identity is - cultural history
- [mother is Christian - his mother wasn't clear on her identity - Saul is closer to his grandmother]
- [land is an important part of anyone's identity - but especially FN people who were/are not nomadic - never thought to leave Manitouwadge]
- Forget who they are at a young age - residential school to "cleave the Indian from them" - think of the soap
- 24 "It felt like they were trying to remove our skin" - more than just dirt
- Culture, family, traditions, language [food]
- Mistreatment - not able tor practice traditions or speak language - practice "white culture" - Christian religion
- People who have been discriminated against in the past are trying to reclaim their culture
- "I offered my thanks aloud in Ojibwe prayer" - at God's Lake
- Lonnie even loses his original name
- Rebecca stabs herself in the stomach singing Ojibwe funeral song
- Saul felt like he gave up himself when he started fighting ("a goon")
- Rebecca kills herself as a way of resisting the white people's influence - she sings - keeps her identity
- Hockey becomes Saul's identity
- [how does Father Leboutilier help shape or take away Saul's identity? Does sexual abuse change people's identity? We don't hear much about Saul and romantic partners - could there be a reason?]
- What happens to Saul's identity when he leaves hockey
- [what does Saul coaching tell us about his identity?]
- Goes back to St. Jerome's and started crying
- Mom? Dad? Grandma? Benjamin? Shabogeesick?
- 186 - doesn't have dreams anymore - lost
- 1888 "the taste of another dried up dream in my throat" - dream is to find out who he truly is
- Does he know his identity at the end of the novel?
- 219 - stepped on the ice "when you miss a thing it leaves a hole that only the thing that you miss can fill"
- Harmony between being a hockey player and not being a hockey player at the same time
- Connects his original identity
- Stepping on the ice - him going back as a child