“It seemed like an instant, the world i had know was replaced by an ominous black cloud.” (Wagamese pg47) This quote really shows how quickly someone's light in their life can be taking, you have to really cherish the good in your life and not focus on the bad.
“How does it come to walk beside a man? is it a dog? is it a grandfather who lost his way?” (Wagamese pg5) First Nations people had great respect for grandfathers. It shows how the great respect they had for horses by calling them grandfathers, they idolized horses and how they became sacred.
“They rubbed us nearly raw. It felt like they were trying to remove more than grime or odour.” (Wagamese pg 44) The residential schools were trying to take the "indian" out of the kids.
“It was a dim world. Things glittered, never shone.” (Wagamese pg81) This quotes really shows how you have to focus on the good in life because there often seems to be more bad than good but that's not the case if you appreciate even the small things, life is pretty miraculous if you look at all of the wonderful and unique little things.
“I understood then that when you miss a thing it leaves a hole that only the thing you miss can fill.” (Wagamese pg 219) This puts into perspective how if you lose something you love only something that fills the same emotion can fill it such as family or a partner.
“When your innocence is stripped from you, when your people are denigrated, when the family you came from is denounced and your tribal ways and rituals are pronounced backward, primitive, savage, you come to see yourself as less than human. That is hell on earth, that sense of unworthiness. That's what they inflicted on us.” (Wagamese pg 81) This really graphically shows how harsh they were towards the kids in residential school and how they made them feel like they were nothing. They dehumanized them and made them feel worthy.
“Frozen to death saving me…”(Wagamese pg 42) Saul's family did care for him and was fit for raising him, they died for him.
“The first thing you have to realize is that what you need to survive is killing you.” (Wagamese pg 189) This really shows that there is a fine line between a release and a crutch, and how you have to realize that in life, or you will come across problems of addiction or dependency.
“They called it a school, but it was never that….There were no tests or examinations. The only test was our ability to survive.”(Wagamese pg 79) The children attending residential school didn't learn anything at the school except to be anything but who they are, and that they were unworthy and wrong. They were slaves of the nuns, and punching bags for the priests, other than that they felt like they were useless.
“White ice, White players.” (Wagamese 149)this quote really shows the racism that was surrounded and involved in the game. Most of the time when the boys were on the ice it was about the fact that they were First Nations and how they needed to be put down instead of how well they could play and their skills in the game.