The autobiography, The Good Doctor, written by Lance O’Sullivan, is about the challenges
he faced as a part Māori, part Pakeha individual growing up in Auckland, New Zealand with
an alcoholic father and solo mother. The book informs readers about how he overcame the
challenges in his life to become a successful Māori health practitioner. The three main ideas
addressed in his book addresses the importance of his journey to finding his cultural identity,
the inequality he faced as a Māori teenager in school, and how these aspects affected his
mental health, self-esteem and self-belief to be successful as a Māori person later in life.
These three main aspects are each highly relevant to teenagers in this present-day’s society
growing up in our country's system.
One key aspect in The Good Doctor that relates to teenagers today is forming and finding
your cultural identity. Cultural identity is one of the most important factors of building a
secure and supportive foundation for teenagers today. Lance O’Sullivan states in his book,
“Mum did so much for us, but one thing she could not give us was a sense of our Māori
identity. We were very isolated, culturally.” He talks about the struggles he faced not knowing
his Māori identity and how it affected his mentality and the choices he made, particularly in
high school. This is highly relative to teenagers' lives today as this is the particular stage in
life where teenagers are finding themselves and forming their own identity. Knowing your
cultural identity gives a sense of security, comfort and belonging throughout your life and is
especially crucial for the rough patches and uncertain moments in an individuals life. Lance
O’Sullivan lets readers know how unsettled his life was before finding his cultural identity and
tells us that “Learning who I was as a Māori was the single most important thing that turned
my life around. Learning the language and culture-filled me with strength.” Lance O’Sullivan
is an example of why teenagers need to find their cultural identity and be proud of it.
Teenagers, particularly those who experience the same education system like that in New
Zealand, that attend a fairly diverse school or a school with a large Pakeha demographic,
tend to leave their culture ‘outside the school gates.’ This contributes to the outcome of not
being comfortable with your cultural identity and changing to fit the system implemented by
present-days society.
Our education system here in New Zealand views the inequality and unconscious bias
towards certain cultures and systems to which teenagers are exposed every day. Inequality
has a huge impact on teenagers as they can experience it through most of their schooling
life. For Lance O’Sullivan, he addresses his personal experience with inequality throughout
his school life and says in his book, “I was a young Māori person who had the potential to do
great things with my life, but no one - myself included - was thinking that way. There were
unique, cultural things about being Māori and if I’d had a chance to develop them they could
have enhanced my ability to be a student, but at that time the school wasn’t able to meet
those needs”. Although some schools and systems have attempted to be more inclusive and
diverse, the New Zealand education system remains predominantly European-based. This is
showcased through the British history students study, in addition to the wide range of
European male-written books and documents students are given to study in English
throughout their years in high school. There is an unconscious bias displayed towards
certain cultures, therefore, teenagers could be exposed to these cultural privileges, holding
them back in their journey to finding their cultural identity, as well as encouraging the idea
that some cultures and systems are more significant than others. In addition to this key idea
of inequality in schools, for those teens who have formed a cultural identity, it is a real
eye-opener and teenagers can see how the spotlight is given to ‘more important or more
relevant’ cultural systems.
Negative stereotyping harms teenagers' health and makes them feel limited to what they can
achieve. Lance O’Sullivan had to get through the degrading stereotypes being thrown at him
telling him to fully be proud to be Maori. Teenagers who are unaware of their cultural identity
tend to let negative stereotypes overtake their mind and allow them to believe that what
other people think they should be or what they are classified to be. Lance’s self-esteem
decreased the older he got because he started to realize all the stereotypes that were being
put on to him, “I had no Māori language, no whakapapa, nothing to tell me who I was'' with
no support of the positive aspects in being Māori, Lance started to believe the stereotypical
comments about him. His mental state of mind was widely affected and encouraged him to
start acting exactly how he was portrayed to be. Any teens in today’s society have targeted
stereotypes on their backs although it has become better and there are fewer verbal words
thrown at it doesn’t mean they are still in other’s minds.
The Good Doctor is an autobiography written by Lance O’Sullivan which explores the
challenges that he faced as a part Māori, part Pakeha person growing up in Aotearoa, as
well as the challenges he overcame in his life to be successful in his medical career. The
three key ideas in the book which were addressed were his journey to finding his cultural
identity, the inequality Lance faced as a Māori person, particularly in high school, and how
these aspects affected his mental health throughout his life, especially as a teenager. The
Good Doctor is a story that can relate to teenagers in today's society who have experienced
similar challenges to Lance O’Sullivan. A person’s teen years are the most crucial time in an
individual's life to find and form their cultural identity, the years where inequality is clearly
visible in society every day and where teenagers' mental health can be most affected by it.
As shown in The Good Doctor, Lance experienced and was challenged by all of these
aspects throughout his life and each remains to be showcased in today’s society.