Truth and Bright Water Essay

The Truth About Idealism 

      The general argument made by Thomas King in the novel Truth and Bright Water is that idealism may have such a significance in an individual’s life making it difficult for truth and reality to be dealt with. Thomas King developed this argument by creating characters who make an effort to find out the truth which may corrupt their ideal future. It is human to strive for an idealist perspective, but the perspective created may not be the reality, simply an appearance. Humans often ignore the truth to complete the idealism they crave in their lives. Characters who strive for this idealism in their life include Aunt Cassie, Lum, Tecumseh and Monroe Swimmer. Each character was fighting their own battle but created an ideal perspective on their life which ignored the truth. The truths that Aunt Cassie had to embrace ruined her ideal life, and all she could do is run from the past. Lum creates an idealism that his mother is coming back which leads to taking his own life. Tecumseh was never told what was going on and the truth was much different from the perspective Tecumseh had from piecing together what he knew.  Monroe Swimmer painted idealism into the prairies to remove the negative truth. Thomas King creates the idea in Truth and Bright Water that the truth may destroy an individual’s ideal future. 

Aunt Cassie and Lum both lost an important person in their lives. Aunt Cassie believed that Mia was still alive and she must search for her. The idealism Aunt Cassie and Lum had created as their reality made it very difficult for them to live with the truth. Aunt Cassie and Lum both were constantly running from the truth that was destroying them. Aunt Cassie travelled the world, sending Tecumseh presents from each place she went “in July,” (pg.125) but would send him “a doll with dark hair and a dark blue velvet dress,” (pg.125) “Anne of Green Gables,” (pg. 126) and “a box with a mirror in the lid and little drawers that pulled out...it [was] pink.” (pg.125) Sending Tecumseh presents that were meant to be for a little girl was her way of pretending that Mia was still around. Aunt Cassie’s it deal life was eroding the true life she should have been living. Aunt Cassie comes back to Truth and Bright Water and said she will stay as “Long as it takes[.]” (pg.57) The truth about Mia was causing Aunt Cassie severe pain, and she needed to deal with the truth to live an ideal life. When Aunt Cassie finally deals with Mia being gone for ever, she lets go by “tak[ing] each piece of clothing out of the suitcase...and cast[ing] them all into the flames.” (pg.260)  Lum’s fate may have been different if the truth did not cause chaos in his life. “Sometimes Lum remember[ed] that his mother [was] dead, sometimes he for[got].” (pg.15) Believing his mother was still alive was a coping method for Lum, and it had a significant impact on his ideal life. Lum ran from the truth by literally running for hours. When Lum’s father, Franklin, was abusive, Lum would run away and Tecumseh would not see him for days. Lum’s ideal life was “the way it used to be”(pg. 161), and he believed that if his mother was still around she could have saved him from Franklin. “It was Monroe we saw that night,”(pg. 267) Tecumseh told Lum, and Lum’s belief that his mom might have been back was shattered. The truth overwhelmed Lum, he could no longer hold on to his idealism. The stress and devastation caused him to take his own life. Reality was too much for Lum to handle and ruined the life he had created. 

Tecumseh was never told the whole truth about his family, and just pieced together what he knew to create what appeared to be reality. Helen, Tecumseh’s mother, tried to shelter him from the truth and allow him to live an ideal life. Protecting him from the truth of family secrets created an alternate reality which resulted in a struggle for Tecumseh when he discovers the truth. When going on a family vacation Tecumseh had a glimpse of hope that his parent’s relationship may be improving, but his father leaves them and “[will] be back before [they] know it.” (pg. 81) He never returns. When looking at his father, Tecumseh has a hard time seeing the truth. Everyone else in “Truth and Bright Water”(pg.1) knew that Alvin was awful at keeping his word. Alvin doesn’t support his ex-wife, and Tecumseh asks “money for mom?” (pg. 38).  As Tecumseh grows through out the novel, the truth is slowly revealed, and he becomes less naive. Tecumseh realizes that his father is just a drunk, and it’s better that his mother is moving on. Tecumseh’s ideal life changes throughout the novel, but the truth does not cripple Tecumseh. The truth allows Tecumseh to grow. In Tecumseh’s mind he has created an ideal world and has explanations for each event that occurs in his life, but unlike Lum and Aunt Cassie, he does not hold on to one person or event so strongly. By not being so attached to his ideal life, Tecumseh does not suffer through such devastation. Thomas King uses Tecumseh in Truth and Bright Water to show that if the truth can be part of the idealism, or become the idealism, this allows for happiness. 

Monroe Swimmer comes to “Truth and Bright Water” (pg.1) and is the “big-time Indian artist.” (pg.25) He returns to “Truth and Bright Water” (pg.1) to restore the prairies back to how they were when there were just Indigenous people on the land. Idealism in Monroe’s life was recreating the prairies to help the First Nation’s communities heal. Monroe “painted [the] side [of the church] so that it blends in with the prairies” (pg.44) to try and create the idealism in the First Nation’s culture that the Europeans had never been there. Painting the church and “nail[ing] the buffalo into the prairies” (pg.141) is Monroe’s way of erasing the horrific truth about the First Nation’s past and trying to create an ideal future. Putting things back to the way they were is a way of trying to create an ideal future, and take out the negative past. Monroe does not want to erase the negative heritage but cover it up to help the First Nation’s communities to heal. Idealism in Monroe’s life is important to allow him to share his gift to help others rather than hide from his reality. Monroe was disconnected from reality, and was confusing to many people. Monroe had to check on the buffalo that he and Tecumseh set up to make sure they hadn’t “run away.” (pg. 142) Thomas King illustrates that if you become too involved with the ideal, you may lose reality. 

Thomas King developed each character with their own problems to teach the lesson that to be human is to want idealism in our lives, but to have idealism an individual must embrace the truth so it does not destroy reality. To be human is to strive to an ideal life, and remove the negative truths. By trying to remove too much truth, reality may be corrupted. Truth must be present in life, and if idealism takes over truth cannot be comprehended. Truth and idealism must be carefully balanced. To be a happy human truth must be accepted, learnt from and balanced with ideals.