In There There, the reader is introduced to Dene Oxendene on his train ride. Dene observes the same graffiti he has had for years, not just in Fruitvale but across Oakland. Throughout the rest of Dene’s chapter, the reader also learns that he has the tendency to tag various places. Dene uses his tags as a form of self-expression, furthering his identity that seems to be muddled.
Throughout the novel, the reader is conscious of the lack of identity that many Native Americans have. Orange makes sure that Dene is no exception to that, “Dene is not recognizably Native. He is ambiguously nonwhite…He’d been assumed Mexican plenty, been asked if he was Chinese, Korean, Japanese…The question came like this, ‘What are you?’”(Orange 28). Dene lacks racial identity, even to the point where he would be ineligible for a cultural arts grant. This only separates him from a group with which he already has difficulty identifying. This is especially impactful because of Orange’s final question, “What are you?” This remark allows Dene to think that he is only defined by what his skin tone says about him by the broadness of the question.
Watching people graffiti and tag around Oakland, Dene wants to make himself known. he desires visibility past his ever-present racial ambiguity. He began experimenting in middle school, “Back at school Dene wrote Lens everywhere he could. Each place he tagged would be like a place he could look out from, imagine people looking at his tag…”(Orange 33). The graffiti he made, even though he just scribbled on lockers, bathroom stall doors, or desks, gave him something that people could look at. Orange makes it known that at this stage in his life, Dene seeks to be known by his peers for himself. Specifically, Orange writes about Dene imagining people looking at his Lens tag, as he wants this name, although purely fictitious, to be recognized, and everywhere. An identifier, unique to only Dene, and something that was birthed from him, not a muddled background that begs the question, “What are you?”
It has been noted throughout Dene’s chapters that graffiti is evident across Oakland. It is something that Dene has used to express himself, especially when he feels ambivalent about his background. Graffiti today can be seen in a variety of settings, with cities hiring artists to do graffiti-styled works and murals. The relevance of graffiti artwork in There There can not be understated. In Dene’s first chapter, graffiti allowed him to feel seen, identified, and be his own unique self. As the purpose of graffiti has continued to change, Orange utilizes this form of artwork to give Dene the ability to be seen.
I would agree that graffiti is an important aspect of identity and being seen in the novel, especially at the beginning. We are introduced to Dene through this lens; this lens that he desires to be seen for who he is, beyond this ambiguousness that you discuss. The purpose of Dene tagging various places is as you state: to be visible, to be seen as someone, to be more than just a stereotype or a box. Dene’s tag being “Lens” is important because it exemplifies that Dene wants to be looked at from the lens of his tag, and that the Native American experience can be looked at through this lens of tagging, or rather just any lens as opposed to being nonexistent. However, “tagging and graffiti don’t [last]” (Orange 28). While tagging brings some sense of identity for Dene, it does not last through the generations. There are still stereotypes and racism that persist.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting transition to Dene later where he interviews various Native Americans who live in the city. The goal of this project is to “see the Urban Indian story” (40). This project is another form of tagging, of telling the Native American story through a different “lens.” Not just the lens that Dene chooses, but rather the lens that the subject desires and the story the subject desires. The tagging starts off with some sort of path of the places Urban Natives travel in their day-to-day lives. There is a natural progression for Dene from tagging to his project as he is moving from one medium of the Urban Native experience to another. Recognizing this and making that argument and connection that the purpose and drive behind the tagging and graffiti were the same purpose and drive that led to Dene’s project would enhance the blog post. Making said argument would allow the reader to further understand and examine the importance of tagging and graffiti in the novel.