In There There, there are many characters with many different stories, with some identifying as Indian and others that do not. Throughout the entire novel, we witness Native Americans’ struggling with their identity in America, and I believe that Orvil and Opal depict the overall struggle the best.
Orvil is a young character, so therefore, he does not adequately understand the past history of Native Americans, the past bloodshed, evictions, and so forth. He is innocent. Opal intentionally does not tell Orvil and his brothers about their past because she wants it to be easier for him and his brothers in America. Orange describes why Opal is so hard on her grandnephews by saying, “It’s to prepare them for a world made for Native people not to live but to die in, shrink, disappear” (242). She does not want to confuse Orvil between being Native and being American, because being Native American is tough in America. However, despite being told no, Orvil goes out of his way to learn about Native American culture. He puts on the regalia, listens to powwow music, and even goes to dance in the powwow. I believe that Orvil and Opal strike a balance between identifying as Indian and identifying as American. Orvil is a young character wishing to learn about his culture and be Indian, while Opal, having experienced the hardships of being Indian, understands that being Native is tough.
I think that Orvil and Opal demonstrate why there are people that identify with Indian and why those that do. Orvil, wanting to identify as Indian, shows that culture is important. When Orvil is in the locker room before the powwow, a guy says, “you bring it with you, you dance to it” (345). That guy was talking all about history and expression and feelings when dancing in a powwow, and Orvil knows that to be true. Through Orvil, we can see why culture and heritage is very important. However, once the shooting begins, we understand Opal’s perspective. The shooting represents massacres from the past and how lives were and are lost. Opal knows the bloodshed that happened to Indians in the past and the harshness Native Americans go through, causing her to not identify as Indian, but at the end, Opal goes back to her roots once Orvil is shot. At the hospital Opal wishes “Loother and Lony aren’t even on their phones. This makes Opal sad. She almost wants them to be on their phones'' (422). Opal wishes that everything was normal, but it is not. Orvil’s life is on the line, and that forces Opal to turn towards her Indian culture, praying that Orvil stays alive. I believe that shows that one cannot escape his/her roots. Even though some characters do not identify as Indian, one’s culture will always be with him/her.
I completely agree with the premise of this blog post — Tommy Orange did an excellent job of writing dynamic characters that have complex relationships with their cultural identity. To build on the claim put forth by this post, I believe Orvil and Opal’s struggle with their identities and heritage asserts that there is no singular, homogenous Native American experience.
ReplyDeleteOrvil grew up without instruction on Cheyenne traditions. He, however, greatly desired to learn about indigenous culture. In fact, he donned the regalia he found in Opal’s closet and taught himself how to participate in Native American dances by watching “hours and hours of powwow footage, documentaries on YouTube” and other online media sources (121). Orvil wanted to engage with his Cheyenne heritage because he felt that would allow him to partake in this community. Ultimately, Orvil dances at the powwow with the other Native American dancers. He shakes the feeling that he is a fraud and realizes that he and the rest of the dancers are “all feathers and movement. They’re all one dance” (233). Throughout the course of the novel, Orvil becomes more engaged with his Native culture and, in so doing, he finally feels that he belongs.
By contrast, Opal was very resistant to teaching Orvil, Loother, and Lony about these traditions. She once explained to them, “learning about your heritage is a privilege. A privilege we don’t have. And anyway, anything you hear from me about your heritage does not make you more or less Indian” (119). In essence, she implies that Native American cultural identity is intrinsic rather than developed through knowledge and practice of traditions.
In summary, Orvil and Opal engage with their culture in vastly different ways. This dichotomy, which is also mirrored in the original post, illustrates that there are a number of factors at play when one wrestles with their identity. Both perspectives are valuable, and each character’s relationship with their culture reflects a unique identity.
I agree with the central premise of your blog post; namely, that identifying oneself as being part of a culture, particularly Native American culture is important. Identification is a consistent theme throughout the novel, and it applies to other characters' stories as well. For instance, the importance of identification is most explicitly referenced when Dene is interviewing Calvin, and Calvin mentions that being Native is "about a culture and a history" not simply knowing the history (223). Ultimately, this is what Orvil is trying to capture: the essence of his culture. Opal, however, sees the flip side. She explains to Orvil that he shouldn't let anyone tell him what being Indian means, adding "too many of us died to get just a little bit of us here" (176). Opal association between searching for what being Indian 'means' and death implies that embracing Indian heritage beings with it the risk of death. She wants to protect her grandsons.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, at the powwow, Orvil gets what he has been searching for the entire novel, engagement with his heritage. While dancing, he disregards the ‘prize’ that is the money he could potentially win in favor of the prize that is “to dance for the first time like he learned” (346). Simply engaging with the culture is enough for him, and he has achieved his goal. I don’t think it is a coincidence, though, that Orvil is the only one of the brothers who participated in the dance, and yet, is the only one left in critical condition. By engaging with his culture, he took on a greater risk, and therefore suffered a greater downside.