How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Title.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"And Mike Bouchard. And Weaver, too."
"Weaver Smith is no recommendation."
"Please, Pa," I whispered. (2.fractious.118-119)
Mattie wants to go work at the Glenmore Hotel to earn money for college, but Pa makes it clear that he doesn't approve of Weaver. We don't really know whether it's because Weaver fuels Mattie's dreams to be a writer or if it's because of race, but either way it's fairly standard for how race is treated in A Northern Light; it's complicated and entangled with other facets of society and people's beliefs.
Quote #2
My skin is so pale you can nearly see through it, and his is as dark as tobacco. There's more alike than different about Weaver and me, though. His palms are pink like mine. And his eyes are brown like mine. And inside, he's exactly like me. He loves words, too, and there is nothing he would rather do than read a book.
Weaver was the only black boy in Eagle Bay. (3.abecedarian.49-50)
Very early on in the novel, Mattie reveals that the similarities between her and Weaver are much more important to her (it remains to be seen whether other people hold the same opinion) than the color of Weaver's skin. But we wonder, throughout the novel, whether Mattie shares society's opinion or if she's the exception to the rule.
Quote #3
Weaver's mamma moved herself and Weaver up here from Mississippi after Weaver's father was killed right in front of them by three white men for no other reason than not moving off the sidewalk when they passed. She decided the farther north they got, the better. "Heat makes white people mean," she told Weaver and, having heard about a place called the Great North Woods, a place that sounded cold and safe, decided she and her son would move there. (3.abecedarian.51)
There's a lot we don't know here: when this occurred, how the events influenced Weaver and his mother's outlook on life, how his father's death affected his dreams. What we do know is that the violent murder must have had some serious psychological consequences for Weaver, and we can infer that Weaver's pursuit of justice stems from the injustice that comes from his father's death and racism.