Point of View

The novel’s narration is written from Saul’s perspective in the first person and the past tense. Saul is both the narrator and the main character, and the narrative functions to illustrate Saul’s personal traumas and tribulations as he faces the many horrors of racial oppression. Saul is from a highly marginalized group, specifically indigenous Canadians, and his perspective is highly valuable in that it displays the many horrors experienced by this group due to racial oppression. For example, the perspective of the faculty at St. Jerome’s seems to be that they are helping the native children. However, Saul’s perspective reveals that the faculty are essentially participating in kidnapping, genocide, and unethical cultural erasure.

As the story progresses, Saul’s perspective further reveals how xenophobia robs marginalized groups of all sense of dignity. For example, the white hockey players and spectators...