Saul's Life In The Fish Clan

Beside his original family of the Fish Clan, Saul later found his second Indigenous family, the Kelly’s, in Manitouwadge. It was Saul’s natural gift in hockey that led him out of St. Jerome’s, a school that “was hell on earth” (78). However, at first, Saul suggested that being at the Kelly’s might be not as nice as it appeared because according to Virgil, he had to work hard to prove himself: “First is you’re not from here and you’re taking a spot away from someone else. Second is you’re a sawed-off little runt and they’re gonna think they have to protect you, stand up for you” (100). Nevertheless, Saul’s innate talent in hockey had gained him his teammates’ respect and made him become an important part of the family: “I was a Moose” (107). Saul had finally found a new community, in which the people there always understood and motivated him to move on in life. As a result, Saul was recruited for the NHL by a sport scout Jack Lanahan. The readers may think that Saul had finally succeeded and his life couldn’t have been better than that, but being in the NHL was one of his greatest sorrows, where he suffered from a lot of racism and prejudices and he changed: “I became a fighter” (167). Moreover, it was that change that later on led to Saul’s self-torment (Saul became alcoholic) and depression. But thanks to this, Saul’s connection to his origin became much stronger than ever when he decided to go back to his hometown, Gods Lake, to find an answer to his own problems and to liberate himself from the dirt that St. Jerome’s left on him: “It was a very long walk back to town, and I knew where I had to go from there” (200). When Saul reached Gods Lake after a long time apart, he had a vision – the first in many years – of his ancestors, including his parents, his grandmother and his Grandfather, Solomon, who said: “The journey you make is good … You’ve come to learn to carry this place within …show more content…
It was not one of his family’s history, but an advice about how to move on with his life. For many years, Saul seemed to forget about his early life in the Fish Clan Community because of the tragic memories and the horrible experiences he had at the St. Jerome’s that destroyed his body physically and mentally, which shows the weakening in connection with his First Nation roots. However, coming back to Gods Lake was a wise decision of Saul to find his own solutions as well as strengthen his relation to his people. Saul then came back to the community of his adolescence after discovering his precious life lesson, and decided to face his pain and frustration. He reunited with the Kelly’s family and confided his horrible experiences at St. Jerome’s. Saul had never told anyone about his wounds, for instance, Erv Sift, who offered Saul “security, friendship and the first home” (186) after a long time when he was in great depression, wasn’t told anything about Saul’s problems until Saul left forever. On the other hand, Saul decided to speak about his stories with Fred and Martha Kelly: “’Did they rape everyone?’ … ‘When they invade your spirit, it’s rape too,’ Fred said”