Discuss the Interlude that occurs on pages 134–41. What is the import of this section? How does it provide key contextual information for the Big Oakland PowWow that occurs at the end of the novel?

Assignment: FOUR outside sources, FIVE full pages, properly cited worked cited page.

Reflecting on Tommy Orange’s There There, please craft a research-based paper that addresses at least TWO of the following questions:

* Discuss the Interlude that occurs on pages 134–41. What is the import of this section? How does it provide key contextual information for the Big Oakland PowWow that occurs at the end of the novel? What is the significance of this event and others like it for the Native community?

* Examine the structure of There There. Why do you think Orange chose to present his narrative using different voices and different perspectives? How do the interlude and the prologue help to bolster the themes of the narrative? What was the most surprising element of the novel to you? What was its moment of greatest impact?

* How is femininity depicted in There There? What roles do the female characters assume in their community? Within their families?

*Discuss the generational attitudes toward spirituality in the Native community in There There. Which characters embrace their elders’ spiritual practices? Who doubts the efficacy of those efforts? How did you interpret the incident of Orvil and the spider legs?

*In a Jane Tomkin’s-like approach, discuss what you learned about the urban Native community through this book. What perceptions changed? What information do you value now that you were unaware of before reading the book? (I’ll be posting a link to Tompkin’s work on history to Canvas).

*Historical understanding of the American Indian Movement—what major events shaped the movement? What historical context can you bring a discussion of the movement? Describe the resettlement efforts at Alcatraz. What are the goals for inhabiting this land?

* The prologue of There There provides a historical overview of how Native populations were systematically stripped of their identity, their rights, their land, and, in some cases, their very existence by colonialist forces in America. How did reading this section make you feel? How does the prologue set the tone for the reader? Discuss the use of the Indian head as iconography. How does this relate to the erasure of Native identity in American culture?