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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Saul's Name:
Saul introduces his name in the novel’s first sentence. However, subsequent episodes—such as his vision at Gods Lake—frame it as a potential allusion. While walking by the lakeside, he suddenly gets summoned by a voice:
"Saul." It came to me long and stretched out so that it didn't really sound like a word at all. But I heard it nonetheless. "Saul."
Indian Horse never explicitly unpacks the significance of Saul’s name. But this dreamlike encounter in Chapter 6 strengthens its biblical resonances. It subtly references the story of Saul of Tarsus, the apostle who famously converted to Christianity during a trip to Damascus after seeing God. “I had the eyes of one born to a different plane,” Saul tells the reader at the novel’s beginning. In this moment, the work builds upon the implicit parallel. Like the apostle who was struck by blinding light and revelation, Saul undergoes a life-changing experience: “[My name] was whispered so softly, I thought at first that I’d imagined it,” he confesses. When he reaches the lake shore in his dreams, he watches his tribe gather food and dance by the campfire. Saul encounters the vision of a bygone era long destroyed by white people.
Saul’s name bears an irony as well. Saul—the persecutor-turned-apostle—is also a reminder of a religious tradition foisted upon a people. Among his Ojibway tribesmen, it is the consequence of a brutal, state-sponsored campaign of cultural erasure—Saul earns his name after arriving at St. Jerome’s, after all. Residential schools forcibly convert their students from their “heathen ways,” prying them from their families and their humanity. Mining towns sprout up across the country, encroaching upon the natural world and their way of life. In this way, Saul represents conversion through destruction.
Related Themes:
