Pick your favourite passage from what you have read so far. How does this passage you have chosen relate to the plot of the novel up to this point? How is the passage you have chosen connected to the theme of "lost people"? (Chapter 1-10)
We took turns bringing him water, the old woman and I. The others stayed away. We could hear them talking by the fire, but my grandmother was too busy making teas and potions, using roots she’d found by searching the nearby bush, to pay them any mind. I could feel the chasm between the three of us and the others as if it were a living thing. Richard Wagamese. “Indian Horse.” Chapter 7. Page 20.
Wagamese creates tragedy in Ben’s death scene through the use of rich imagery. By describing the emptiness of Ben's body, Wagamese makes it clear to both Saul and the reader that he will not survive. Naomi’s desperate attempts to save him despite his hopeless condition show the depth of her love, love which becomes tragic because it is inevitably futile. At the same time, this scene foreshadows the conflicts which will destroy the family Saul had at Gods Lake. When Saul’s mother insists on taking Ben away from the lake for a Christian burial, Naomi’s resistance implicitly calls back to this moment, when the land seemed to reach out and claim him. By taking him away, they defy the will of the land Ben loved. While Naomi uses all of her knowledge and tools to care for Ben, the rest of Saul’s family moves away to the fire. By describing the distance between them as a “chasm” like a “living thing,” Wagamese indicates that the separation has figurative as well as literal meaning. It feels like a chasm, wider than it really is, and it is living, with a force and power of its own. It will prove powerful enough to split the family forever.
