Whale Talk

In this introductory chapter, the reader learns about the narrator, The Dao (T.J.) Jones, a child of African-American, Japanese, and white descent who was adopted by John Paul and Abby Jones. Glenda, T.J.’s white,biological mother,and the Jones first meet in a hospital where Abby was recovering from her fourth miscarriage and Glenda was giving birth to her son.Stephen, Glenda’s partner, abandoned Glenda and the baby when T.J.’s darker skin color made it clear that he couldn’t be Stephen’s son. Glenda gave T.J. to the Jones family and eventually walked out his life.

T.J. describes growing up in the racially-homogenous, white-dominated town of Cutter, which is fifty miles outside of Spokane, Washington. While he rarely encounters explicit racism, he frequently encounters more subtle racism. T.J.’s response to this racism is usually “loud” (4), a point illustrated by his call-in to a radio station to complain about their decision to hire a racist cop as a host.T.J.finds his life is further complicated by his unusual name. T.J. illustrates the social cost of having his name by recounting a fight he got into as a child after being teased about the name.Beyond his name, he also must deal with the social predominance of athletes at his high school, Cutter High.