Almost everyone experiences loss in their life. It seems like there are pieces missing from life. In the end, accepting what happened and moving forward with love rather than sadness is the best thing. In the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, the main character, Saul, is removed from his family and placed in St. Jerome's residential school. The deaths of his brother Ben and grandmother Naomi affect him. Until he finds hockey, the thing he is truly attached to in his life. While he's on the ice, nothing else seems to matter. Fred Kelly came and took Saul to his home in Manitouwadge. Saul then played for Moose, the city team. All the boys on the team were First Nations just like Saul, making him the youngest. He feels like he can no longer escape the hate, so he turns to a bottle hoping to drown out and tone down all the hateful things anyone has ever said to him. Throughout the novel, Saul continues to resist the loss of family, culture, and innocence, ultimately making room for healing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, the loss of family changes Saul physically throughout the novel, he becomes resilient when he is introduced to hockey. After Saul experiences the loss of his brother and the disappearance of his parents, Saul and Naomi canoe down the river, where it is warmer, to be with Naomi's nephew, Minoose. After four days of traveling to Naomi's nephew, they encounter rough waters and are forced to swim away from the boat where it is frozen and the weather is bad. Sadly, Naomi dies, risking her life to care for Saul. The men who take Saul seem only concerned with taking Saul away from his family: “We would find Minoose and take shelter there and my grandmother would find a way to keep me with her. Instead she was gone. Frozen to death. In saving myself, I was cast adrift on a strange new river.” After this, Saul loses faith in those around him. He grows up without having a proper parental figure, and this affected Saul as he grew up with constant fear and anger throughout his childhood. He has difficulty talking about his past and his family with others, but remains resilient. Saul is placed at St. Jerome's, where he begins reading about hockey. While at school he experiences rape, abuse, dehumanization, and more horrible things. Saul remembers talking to Naomi about the mystery of the universe and connects it to how he feels about hockey: “When I freed myself from the mystery of the ice, I became a different creature. I could slow down time, choose the pace I needed every time I threw myself into learning a new skill.” After Saul becomes more interested in hockey, he finds happiness. He doesn't think about his losses and focuses on moving forward with the sport. The sensation of sliding on the ice, playing hockey, is a feeling of freedom for him. After the loss of his family, hockey creates healing for Saul after he is able to endure his suffering and find a new identity while playing hockey. Secondly, the loss of culture was taken from Saul while he was in St. Jerome. In the end, Saul proves he won't give up. After leaving residential school, he is placed in a house with Fred Kelly and joins the team's town, Moose. After working so hard on the team and after others were racist towards him, Saul leaves the town of Manitouwadge at the age of eighteen. Fred Kelly warns Saul that it will be difficult for him to find work elsewhere, and suggests that he stay, where he is surrounded by his family.