In Tommy Orange's novel There There, the very first chapter of the book discusses the true history of Native Americans in America. This happens again throughout the novel with the Interlude, in Dene's search for stories, and in the characters themselves. The novel itself contains characters that are all lost in some sort of way and some are even running from or trying to avoid something, but the truth of it is that none of them can escape their history.
To open the novel with the Prologue means a lot more than the author simply wanting to educate the readers. If that were the only purpose he could have done it at any point in the novel, as we've seen in other books. The purpose of putting that strong Prologue in the beginning is to set the tone. It goes through the history of what really happened to the Native Americans when Europeans came here and long after. Along with that it makes eye-opening statements such as, "We've been defined by everyone else and continue to be slandered despite easy-to-look-up-on-the-internet facts about the realities of our histories and current state as a people" (9). This is important since some characters actually do use the history to learn more about themselves. It also is made clear that this is meant to set the tone, because after going through the history he ends with a section titled "Urbanity" (13). This section touches on "the generation born in the city" (13), which are the characters of the novel, and it touches on Oakland, the setting of the novel. This shows that the history sets the tone of these people’s lives and lives in them.
This is seen again in the Interlude. The Interlude is important because it gives even more insight into the history of the Native Americans, but goes more in depth on how they are affected now. There is even a section on about their last names that states,"When they decided they needed to keep track of us, last names were given to us just like the name Indian itself was given to us" (207). This is all pivotal, because at this point the readers have met most of the characters, so to touch more on the history at this point acts as a reminder that the history is not over just because it was at the beginning. It is a reminder now that we have met these characters that this history lives in them, even within their own names.
This history continues to follow these characters. Some actively search for it. Some want to escape it, but they can’t. The author is proving that history is not just the beginning of something or the past. It lives in these characters. The history is their story, and with someone like Dene, who acts like author in a way, the reader realizes just how important that is.
I think that it is really important to look at the way that Orange split up the history within the story. He very well could have decided to try and spread his message of what Native American history was in the past just by having the characters discuss these events, but he wanted us as readers to see even more than just that. By adding the prologue and the interlude, he not only sets the tone for the story but he proves a point that we as a society have not focused enough on this brutal history and have not reflected on our wrong doings. I think this message is very important to look at as well as to understand how awful it is that we have made no effort to educate each other. I did not know about events such as the Native Blood Quantum, which stated, "If you were at least half Native, you didn't have the same right as white people" (Orange 137). I also did not know about all of the blood that was shed, and I feel sorry to say that. I think the characters do a very good job showing how this lack of education and strong sense of discrimination has hurt them, and how it has made it hard for them to find identity or connect due to the fact that there is little to no knowledge of most events that have occurred with this complete lack of education we as a society have been given.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with your thoughts on history throughout the novel, I think there is another importance of history throughout the novel. You bring up the Prologue, which I agree is a tone-setter. It’s important to show the history before the Europeans got here because that’s where a lot of their history lies. But, I think the Prologue sets up the fact that there is rich history without whitewashing it.
ReplyDeleteIn the Prologue, Orange brings up the Indian head, something so recent yet so forgotten, looked at differently and not in an exploitative light (3, 4). So much of Native/Indigenous history has not only not been said, but has been painted in skewed light so that the true stories are not told. I think it is a lot about education. Their histories and their stories follow them, but I think it’s to show how the history of the past is relevant today. Reading the novel is so much more impactful when you know the history that’s there from a different point of view.
History is living through these characters. They’re in an urban setting like you touched on with ‘the generation born in the city” so the only thing they have is tradition (13). Tradition is found in the past. One of the characters who so often clings onto their history other than Dene is Orvil, who constantly is being shut down by Opal and turns to YouTube for his history. He believes that history is there’s to carry on, and if they don’t it will disappear (131).
There are dark spots to all of history, and over the course of our lifetimes, we will hopefully be exposed to the information we need to understand others struggles. However, when it comes to the horrible mistreatment of Native American's in our countries past, it seems as though or education system, and society as a whole, has failed to recognize the atrocities that were committed. It was often brought up in class discussions, but it's almost as if we learned about the Trail of Tears, and other relocation acts, and the details stopped there. This is what's so important about There, There, its choice to expose the reader to the same stories that are a part of Native American history. I agree with your post, that Tommy Orange specifically placed the prologue, as well as the interlude, to start the novel with details of what had occurred, and then remind the readers that those events do not disappear with the characters. Furthermore, the effects of the atrocities committed against Native Americans are still present today, reflected by both issues in facing the past, as well as the current state of society and the discrimination or hardships those in native communities face. Another prominent theme in the novel was the reluctance to revisit the past identity, and that identity had been associated with the horrible actions that happened in the past. The majority of society is left unaware of such stories, and the current generations of Native Americans are still troubled by what had occurred, both mentally and in society. Thus the information Orange gives us is important to those reading, but also past the story, to help make people aware of information they might not have known to look for and understand.
ReplyDeleteI find the use of non-fiction within fiction very interesting as it must tell the audience truths. I agree that the placement of non-fiction is intentional in the novel, but I believe Orange uses non-fiction to justify his writing. In my opinion, the use of historical facts works to solidify fictional accounts within the novel to convince the audience that the novel is truthful.
ReplyDeleteIn the interlude, Orange describes the real life Oakland Powwow. When describing the attendees, he states, "We are Indians and Native Americans, American Indians and Native American Indians... Indians so Indian we either think about the fact of it every single day or we never think about it at all" (Orange 136). In this, Orange describes the fictional characters within the novel. The audience is left to draw the connection between the characterization of people in the book and real life descriptions of real life people. Although the final moments of the book are fictitious, the powwow is real.