~Saul

Saul, the protagonist, is an Ojibway boy. His family gets broken apart and he is taken to a residential school called Saint Jerome’s, where he faces hardships that nobody should have to face. He finds peace in hockey and becomes a very good player. When he gets older and leaves the school, he has to face more hardships. Saul’s character is dynamic as he changes throughout the story.  Saul is a brave, intelligent, determined survivor.

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Saul is a very brave character because he had to stay hard at the residential school. “So I retreated. That’s how I survived. Alone. When the tears threatened to erupt from me at night I vowed they would never hear me cry. I ached in solitude.” He faced his hardships with bravery and found hockey which helped him to survive. The horrors he faced at the residential school changed who Saul was forever.

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Saul is very educated, unlike the other students at the school. “I suppose they took my silence for high-mindedness, the books in my hands as a rebuff. They began to take my measure in the only way they knew how.” Saul could read and speak English and read books the other kids couldn’t read.

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Saul is a determined person because he wanted to show that he could learn to play hockey like the other students. “I made sure my stick made no sound against the ice, lest somebody discover me there.”  He also shows how determined he is and uses hockey to not feel afraid. “I’d stand there, arms held high in triumph, and I would not feel lonely or afraid, deserted or abandoned, but connected to something far bigger than myself. Then I’d climb back into bed and sleep until the dawn woke me and I could walk back out to the rink again.”

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Saul is a survivor, facing many challenges like racism, hate, and discrimination. “St. Germ’s scraped away at us, leaving holes in our beings. I could never understand how the god they proclaimed was watching over us could turn his head away and ignore such cruelty and suffering.”

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Saul eventually turns to drinking from all of his problems. It begins as drinking to numb the pain of the residential school, but eventually ends up as an addiction. He ends up turning into an angry person because of his addiction. He realizes that his drinking is a problem when he ends up in the hospital and needs to go to a rehab center. He eventually recovers and goes back to the Moose, the team he played on after he left the residential school.  He learns how to survive and accept that the residential school was a part of his past.  He learns to deal with his problems in ways other than drinking and the ending is optimistic and Saul’s future looks bright. Saul wants to coach kids at hockey because he wants to give other people the gift he got from the game. “So I think what I want to do is coach,” I said finally. “Kids. Native kids. I want to bring them the joy I found; the speed, the grace, the strength and the beauty of the game. I want to give that back.”

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In summary, Saul is a dynamic character. He is brave, determined, intelligent, and a survivor.