Family and Community in A Quality Of Light by Richard Wagamese Essay Sample

"A community, a family, is a group of people who share common stories. The health of any community depends directly on the health of the stories the community embraces" (Daniel Taylor). Family and community. Thay are two important things you need in your life. They shape and define who you are, your identity and who you grow into. In Richard Wagamese's A Quality of Light, the characters of Johnny and Joshua and the difference in their coming-of-age stories illustrate the importance that family and community play in developing identity. 

The difference between Johnny and Joshua’s families is a primary factor in the difference in their coming of age stories. On one hand, Johnny’s family is dreadful and unhappy. Johnny hated his “son-of-a-bitch ‘’ (Wagamese 71) dad who was a deadbeat drunk and physically and mentally abusive, whereas his mother was an emotionally absent person who used makeup “to hide the bruises” (Wagamese 35). Johnny’s family influences him to be a shy, scared, and angry kid. In Johnny’s first letters to Josh, Johnny exclaims:

I lived all my life learning how to shift gears. I’d be coming home from school or the library (where I did my living) and I’d be feeling pretty good. [...]. I’d feel like a real kid, motoring in the passing lane of life. Then I’d get to the door of wherever it was we were living at the time. [...]. I’d scrunch up my eyes and heave a deep breath before I opened that door. [...] He’d either be passed out, drunk and slobbering, drunk and ranting, slapping my mother, drunk and crying, hung-over and sick or even, on occasion, sickeningly lovey-dovey [...]. So I guess part of me held out hope that a new town would change things, change him, change us. (Wagamese 71).

Johnny’s father causes his coming of age to be sooner and darker than Joshuas, as Johnny’s father makes Johnny face many unpleasant and tragic problems from a young age. In contrast to Johnny’s family, Joshua’s family is kind and supportive. Joshua’s mother, Martha Kane, is a loving woman who cares for Joshua even though Joshua is not her biological son. Joshua’s father is loving and teaches him hard work and how to be a real man. This made Joshua a hardworking yet innocent child. Later on, Joshua gets bullied and tormented by students in high school because he is an Ojibwe. Joshua decides not to fight back because of his religious beliefs and believes he will be fine and everyone would eventually ignore him. However, Joshua’s innocence and cluelessness gets him beaten up at a school dance. After the fight, Joshua talks to his parents asking why “[they] never told him anything [...]. [They] let him believe that [he] was Joshua Kane [...]. I’m an Indian! Not a Kane, an Indian! And I don’t even know what that means” (Wagamese 182). Joshua realizes his parents were not allowing him to explore his Ojibwe origin. Instead, they were holding him from learning about his true identity. This shows Joshua’s loss of innocence and the start of his late but much-needed coming-of-age journey with the help of many people around him. To conclude, although Johnny and Joshua’s families are different. They still play a major impact on the boys’ different coming-of-age stories.

The difference between the mentors and the community that Johnny and Josh grow up in influences the difference in their coming-of-age stories. Johnny has two mentors who teach him how to be fearless and a warrior. The first mentor Johnny ever has is Timmy Parks. During Joshua’s short stay in Toronto, he visits Parkdale because “Johnny [has] mentioned Parkdale once and [Joshua] felt a need just then to have some physical connection to his life, however vague it may [have been]” (Wagamese 115). Once in Parkdale, Joshua reads the fourth letter Johnny sent him. In the letter, Johnny says: 

Timmy Parks was my first real friend. Until I met him I lived in books. Long John Silver ranting away could always drown out Ben Gebhardt ranting away and I learned to disappear into fiction very early. I never took the time to try and make friends. [...]. I didn’t believe there was a single human being who could match the people I was discovering in books. Until I met Timmy Parks. He was a daredevil. [...]. He was a swashbuckler, scamp and rogue and the first person that I met before you who lived their life heart first. (Wagamese 123).

Timmy Parks was the first person to positively influence Johnny’s coming of age story. His fear-less stunts and upbeat personality convince Johnny to be fearless as well. Timmy teaches Johnny to never be scared and never back down from anything. Johnny’s second mentor was Staatz. Staatz plays a huge role in Johnnys coming of age. Staatz plays a father and brother role in Johnny’s life, teaching Johnny what it’s like to be a man. In one of Johnny’s letters to Josh, Johnny explains:

[Staatz] told me about broken treaties, about reserves with no running water, no electricity, about Indian agents, about not being able to go to high school or university, about kids being taken away from their families and given to white people, about drunks and addicts and suicides, murders and all the shit stuff that comes from having your people kept under. I was amazed. This was a vision of Indians I wasn’t prepared for. Until then I’d believed that everything was sweat lodges and sunsets, the whole romantic noble savage stuff. (Wagamese 190).

Staatz teaches Johnny what it is like to be a real man. He tells Johnny stories about the pain and suffering the indigenous people went through. This makes Johnny curious and allows him to explore the indigenous culture to a further extent. Johnny claims that Staatz helps him find his way to being indigenous. “You had the old woman and the reserve to turn to help you find your way, but me? All I had was Staatz” (Wagamese 320). In comparison, Joshua’s mentors and communities taught him love, kindness, and spirituality. The first person Johnny considers a mentor is Pastor Chuck. Pastor Chuck is the reverend at Joshua’s church and he helps Joshua in his coming of age and self-discovery. One night after one of Joshua’s confirmation classes while talking to Joshua, Pastor Chuck explains;

Joshua, God created you. He sent you into this world to become the best person that you can become. And to help you do that, He gave you the power of choice, the ability to make choices about who you become. You can either use that power alone and find your way the best you can, or you can use the other power He gave you. The power of prayer. You can use that and ask for help to make the right choices, and guidance, Joshua. [...]. All I can do is tell you that He’ll provide answers. (Wagamese 160).

Pastor Chuck significantly helps Joshua spiritually. The conversation he has with Joshua helps Joshua seek a better understanding of life. Pastor Chuck teaches Joshua to love and tells Joshua every answer that he needs will come as long as Joshua trusts and prays. “Just trust and pray, Joshua, and things will get clearer. Trust and pray” (Wagamese 160). Joshua also looks to Jacqueline as a mentor. Just like Pastor Chuck teaches Josh about his Christian Identity, Jacqueline teaches Josh about his Ojibwe identity, which plays a vital role in his coming of age. The day Joshua decides on what he's going to do in his life Jacqueline explains to him:

No one can tell you what you should do, my boy. Those who love you can only give you what you need to help you make that choice. You just told us what you believe and not what you know. This is a good thing. Believing is feeling. Feeling is the basis of the spiritual. One of these days, as you say, you will know when it’s time for you to come back here — to bring what you learned to help people. Only you will know that time. So, go to your school and see what it is that they can teach you. Go to ceremonies, see what they can teach you too. Whenever you speak about those things, speak what you believe, not what you know. Tell me what you felt. That’s the only way to tell them. You’ll be a good teacher, my boy because you’re a good student. (Wagamese 269).

Jacqueline teaches Johnny everything about being Ojibwe. Jacqueline tells Joshua there is more to being an Ojibwe than just being a warrior. She explains to Joshua the medicine wheel, the sacred teachings and the sacred ceremonies that the Ojibwe do. Johnny learns from Jacqueline and uses his Ojibwe teachings to make important decisions during his coming of age. Although Johnny still becomes a pastor, he decides to “preach choice. [Joshua] would preach about [his] own disinherited past, [his] own journey to [his] identity” (Wagamese 287). Thus, the contrasting communities and mentors the two boys grow up in find themselves playing a vital role in the difference in their coming of age stories.

In comparison to Joshua’s coming-of-age story, Johnny’s is much sooner. Although, Johnnys coming of age is more violent than Joshua’s. Alternatively, Joshua’s coming-of-age story teaches him the importance of being kind and spiritual, whereas Johnny’s coming-of-age teaches him fearlessness and how to be a warrior. In conclusion, in Richard Wagamese’s A Quality of Light, the characters of Johnny and Joshua and the difference in their coming of age stories portray the importance that family and community play in developing identity.