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The Lighthouse Keeper: A Message of Hope for Everyone

© Eric Jordan Jensen

Best-selling LDS author, James Michael Pratt, grew up listening to his father's stories of life as a soldier in World War II. As a member of the First Armored Division, the elder Pratt fought for his country, losing friends and comrades to the savagery of war. Profoundly influenced by what he heard, James Michael Pratt wrote The Lighthouse Keeper(2000) to honor his father and spread a message of hope and joy.

Pratt's story centers around Peter O'Banyon, an aged lighthouse keeper who is dying of cancer. Knowing death lurks near, Peter desires to tell his story to his only child, Kathleen. As he begins to speak, we hear his story and that of his beloved uncle, Billie . The tale takes us back to the early 1900s in Ireland, where the impoverished O'Banyon Family ekes out a living, starving so they can pay their greedy landlord. To aid his family, Billie sails for New York, where he plans to save enough money to pay off his debts and bring his family to the United States. Years later, while seeking to achieve his goal, Billie suffers an unbearable tragedy. His bitter loneliness leads him to a solitary life as a lighthouse keeper on Port Hope Island, Massachusetts. When his brother and sister-in-law are killed in a car accident, Billie's nephew, Peter, comes to live with him. As Peter grows into a young man, he meets the love of his life, goes to war, and comes back only to face a devastating crisis of his own. Raging with anger, Peter soon realizes that the only way he can find peace is by accepting his uncle's legacy: he must shine a light for others in order to find his own way home. The novel ends as Peter finishes his story and slips quietly into immortality. Through her father's words, Kathleen finds the strength to endure the death of her cherished parent.

Pratt presents his message powerfully, and makes it applicable to readers of every religion. However, members of the Church will find several ideas straight out of LDS theology. One example is Peter O'Banyon's squeaky clean life. He doesn't swear (Pratt 174), doesn't smoke (Pratt 207), remains loyal to his wife and family (Pratt 94), and basically desires to be a good, moral person. Uncle Billie also expresses a familiar opinion about the symbol of the cross, saying, "A strange thought it was. Why, I asked myself, couldn't we put a chain around our necks with, instead of the crucifix, a rock with beams of light coming out of it to remind us he [Christ] didn't just die but promised everlastin' life . . . Isn't he a livin' Christ? Not a dyin' one?" (Pratt 154). A last example occurs when Peter O'Banyon dies. As he sits on the beach, he sees images on the pier. As he investigates, he finds that they are people who have passed away- friends and family members that he has known throughout his life-waiting to take him to the other side of the veil. This idea seems to be particularly, although not exclusively, Mormon. In this way, Pratt expresses his religious convictions without seeming preachy.

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