Writing Resources
In the novel All the Way by Jordin Tootoo the book focuses on conflict and how it affected him on his journey to the NHL The protagonist Jordin Tootoo experienced many tragic hardships throughout his life on and off the ice Whether it was his parent s drinking problem or playing the game he loves and being called a dirty indian The tragic death of his brother was also very hard for him and later contributed to his own alcohol addiction which majorly affected his career as well as him as a person The main conflicts he faced were racism in the hockey community his brother's death and his alcohol addiction Throughout Tootoo s career he faced a lot of racism from other players in the hockey community Some levels of hockey were worse than others though it existed throughout the whole sport For example when Tootoo was 13 years old he was chosen to play for a Native all star and an opponent yelled Hey Eskimo go back and live in your igloo where you belong Tootoo 36 At the time he did not understand what they had against him or why they thought that being Inuk was worse than any other race The AHL was worse for Tootoo than the NHL as he had to deal with three separate racial incidents in four months which is more than he has had in his whole NHL career Tootoo s way of dealing with the racial slurs brought out his more physical and aggressive side to defend himself This affected how people viewed him as a player because they thought that all he could do was fight but he could do so much more
