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Examining Sports as a Site for Social Hierarchies and Resilience in Indian Horse and
“Hockey Night in Canada”
Section A: Context
Sports are always presented as a contest, but the contest is staged and what takes place
within that stage, is a microcosm of society. This proposal explores how Indian Horse by
Richard Wagamese and “Hockey Night in Canada” by Diane Schoemperlen use sports as a
battleground for social dynamics, posing the question: In what way do these texts present sport
as a domain of domination and transformation? Indian Horse is Saul Indian Horse's narrative
that takes place in Canada to show an Indigenous boy in the residential school system and a
hockey player how he exists within the social world. In contrast, “Hockey Night in Canada”
concerns the social responsibility of hockey in Canadian identity and represents it both as a
unifying and polarising force. The two works combined enable a complex analysis of how sports
have become a way in which people express identity and engage in resistance.
My analysis centres on the theme of race and social class, as both texts reveal how these
elements shape access to, and experiences within, the world of sports. In both cases, characters
experience social prejudices and, using the sport as the stage, try to overcome these limitations or
become an exception a big part of me is drawn to this topic. Imagery and symbolism are used
frequently in both of the works. The hockey ground in Indian Horse stands for temporarily free
and assertive space. On the other hand, “Hockey Night in Canada” employs images related to
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hockey broadcasts to discuss the societal roles and norms of the sport. They allow the texts to
consider sports as a means of oppression and emancipation at the same time. In comparing
the imagery and symbolism of Indian Horse and “Hockey Night in Canada,” the paper concludes
that sport is a means and an end to oppression and subjugation. This argument will underpin a
thesis staking that even though the sport is produced and regulated by these power structures, it
provides discursive opportunities for subjugated people to contest and reimagine those borders.
An issue may occur due to a conflict of interests when it is necessary to consider two different
texts and develop a coherent argument. To counter this, I will create a full comparative
framework that focuses on the shared literary devices when analyzing each point, to make a
conclusion that reiterates the thesis.
Section B: Research “Map” for One Secondary Source
My selected secondary source is Canadian Hockey Literature by Jason Blake, published
by the University of Toronto Press in 2010. This book explores the role of hockey in Canadian
literature, examining how the sport reflects cultural identity and social dynamics. I found this
source through the university library catalogue by searching with keywords such as “Canadian
hockey literature” and filtering by book publications from academic presses. This search brought
me to an article by Jason Blake which offers an excellent analysis of hockey in Canadian
literature. In the book, Blake selects hockey as the cultural sign that offers a revealing
perspective on the nature of the Canadian literary imagination, and the role of identity,
community, and social conflict in shaping it. In my essay, this source shall help me place
hockey’s representation into Canadian texts and the argument on sports as a social bargaining
ground. Blake’s work is also useful for academic writing as it is published in a refereed journal
of a high academic standard in the USA. The perceived role of the book as a guide to
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understanding Canadian literature and the examination of hockey as a cultural asset place the
book in a suitable context for my analysis.
Section C: Reflection
I selected Indian Horse and “Hockey Night in Canada” to represent disparate but related
perspectives on the role of hockey as an individual odyssey and as a societal imperative. What
fascinates me is how these texts depict sports as the platform on which protagonists do or do not
confront and defy norms and expectations concerns that unpack into questions of identity and
subversion. This topic is important because, through illustrates how purely entertainment events
like sports have other social purposes. The analysis of the concept of sports, as a territory of
constructing race, ethnic and class relations, raises challenges related to the inequality of
minorities, and the fight of such groups for recognition and equal status.
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Section D: Work Cited
Blake, Jason. Canadian hockey literature. University of Toronto Press, 2010.
Schoemperlen, Diane. "Hockey Night in Canada." Forms of Devotion: Stories and Pictures.
HarperCollins, 1987.
Wagamese, Richard. Indian Horse. Douglas & McIntyre, 2012.
