A character’s purpose in a story is to fight through challenges and solve problems created by the plot. In the descriptive story, Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese effectively creates the plot of escape in various ways using his amazing, but imaginary main character, Saul Indian Horse. By facing his challenges, Saul escapes from his early childhood life, the nightmares of the residential school, and the intolerable discrimination against his own race. Escape creates an opportunity to develop a different identity, thus permanently changing the character.
Saul feels the need to escape from his difficult situations. To begin with, Saul and his grandmother must escape to a warmer climate to survive through the cold temperatures the winter season …show more content…
In addition, Saul escapes from his early childhood, although has is never able to see his family again. He realizes, “I’d never heard from my parents.” (73). Saul’s connection with his family is broken forever, along with the fading memories and Ojibway culture his parents taught him. Moreover, escaping from the nightmares of the residential school gives him the opportunity to be a professional and famous hockey player. He is able to achieve the freedom he deserves. He thinks, “I would not let go of my dream of it, the freedom, the release it gave me, the joy the game gave me. It wasn’t anybody else’s game to take away from me….I knew for a fact that the game was my life.” (143-144). Saul has a better and happier life than the lives of the miserable students at the residential schools. He is able to take advantage of his amazing skill somewhere else. Lastly, Saul moves away from his hockey career. He leaves to find a different occupation, where he decides to forget about his past life and binge drink. He describes his addiction as, “In alcohol, I found an antidote to exile….I discovered that being someone you are not is often easier than living with the person you are. I became drunk with that. Addicted. My new escape sustained me for awhile…I’d move on to a new crowd in a new tavern, a new place where the Indian in me was forgotten” (180). (186). Saul has found a new escape, where he will never