![]() To Saul and his family, tradition isn’t a vague, wishy-washy concept-it’s a real, tangible thing that can be experienced through visions and dreams. Perhaps the most important aspect of Fish Clan tradition in Indian Horse (and the biggest difference between Fish Clan culture and white Canadian culture as Wagamese depicts it) is the way tradition itself is conceptualized. But furthermore, these sites only offer enlightenment to certain families and certain people-they’re not for everyone. The family believes that there are forests and lakes in Canada that offer spiritual enlightenment that no manmade community can match. Saul’s family and culture also place a lot of emphasis on respecting and living in harmony with the natural world. In the first part of the book, Naomi leads her family in search of food and safety, and also is a spiritual leader of the family, often overruling the younger, less experienced people in her family. Indeed, the de facto leader of Saul’s family isn’t his father (as is often the case in societies of European heritage), but rather his grandmother, Naomi. One of the first things Saul writes about his culture is that it places a lot of emphasis on respect for elders, especially women. While Wagamese doesn’t go into a tremendous amount of detail about Fish Clan culture, he does suggest that the Fish Clan has strong beliefs about the importance and structure of family, as well as strong traditions that sometimes conflict with those of the white Canadian population. ![]() In some ways, Saul embraces his longstanding family traditions, but in other ways he embraces new customs and even new family. Wagamese shows Saul Indian Horse struggling to maintain ties to his family and his culture, even after he’s taken away from his family and sent to school. Laws-for example, the Indian Act of 1876 (and its amendment in 1884)-required Indigenous Canadian children to attend Christian, English-speaking schools, where they were separated from their families and forced to un-learn their tribe’s traditions. The novel takes place during the 1960s and ‘70s, at a time when Indigenous Canadian traditions were under attack in Canada. Saul’s great-grandfather, Slanting Sky, was a shaman-an important healer and religious figure in his community. Saul’s family has always been influential in the Fish Clan. Saul Indian Horse is a member of the Fish Clan, an Indigenous Canadian tribe that lives near the Winnipeg River. Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse takes its title from the protagonist Saul Indian Horse’s family name, so it’s no surprise that family (and the traditions that families preserve) is one of the book’s central themes. ![]()
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