84 pages • 2 hours read
There There
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
In the 2018 novel by Arapahoe and Cheyenne author Tommy Orange, There There, 12 characters collectively recount the events leading up to a shooting at the Big Oakland Powwow. Throughout the novel, each character reflects on their relationship with Indigenous identity and connection to Oakland, California. Underneath the larger story about the powwow is a narrative thread that binds several of the characters together through family lineage.
Plot Summary
The novel begins with an essay in which Orange decries the violent genocide carried out by white settlers against Indigenous Americans since the 15th century. Thereafter, the novel is divided into four parts, with the first part delivering critical backstories for several of the main characters. Tony Loneman explains his relationship with “the Drome” (16), the fetal alcohol syndrome he was born with. Tony’s narrative foreshadows the eventual shooting at the Big Oakland Powwow as he describes how Octavio Gomez directs him to procure and hide the bullets in some bushes beyond the Oakland Coliseum’s metal detectors. Part 1 also introduces Dene Oxendene, whose dying uncle gives him a camera and a project; thanks to an arts grant, Dene plans to conduct a series of interviews with Indigenous Americans in Oakland.
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