The relationship between the characters in There There and their Native identity is fraught and drawn introspectively into question due to a feeling of fraudulence. The inability for characters to feel connected with their Native background is explored by Orange through the characters of Orvil and Calvin. Both Orvil and Calvin struggle to connect with their heritage in a way that they feel should allow them to claim the fullness of Native history. Calvin says, when asked by Dene whether he claims any Native pride, “I just don’t think it’s right for me to claim being Native if I don’t know anything about it” (Orange 149). Calvin struggles to connect with his identity, despite having, as Dene calls it, Native “blood”, because he does not have the knowledge that he believes must be associated with a person to identify as Native American. Instead, Calvin qualifies and denies his heritage, forming a gap between himself and the culture he has been under-exposed to.
Orvil, like Calvin, struggles to claim his Native culture, yet we see him attempt to assert agency over his culture through relentless pursuit of his heritage rather than its abject denial. As Orvil struggles with his isolation from his Native identity, he embraces his culture against his grandmother’s wishes and despite the inaccessibility of information. Though Orvil makes great strides to better understand his culture, the culmination of his connection with his Native identity still results in feeling of being a fraud. Orvil thinks, after the Grand Entry, that the dancers looked like “Indians dressed up as Indians” (233). Despite Orvil’s and Calvin’s differing levels of acceptance of their culture, a disconnect between both characters and their identity is present to the same degree.
Orange juxtaposes Calvin’s disinterest in his Native background to the passion Orvil has in his Native heritage to ultimately lead the characters back to a place of confusion and detachment from their identity. Despite the characters’ motivation or lack thereof to interact with their Native culture, they are both met with violence and imposter syndrome at the powwow, rather than connection and belonging. By comparing the two character’s different difficulties with their identity, Orange represents the struggle for modern Native Americans to connect with their culture due to years of alienation and discrimination by non-Natives, who have erased Native history or repackaged it to better fit a stereotype. The most meaningful advice on how Native American identity can be claimed comes from Opal when she says, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you what being Indian means. Too many of us died to get just a little bit of us here, right now, right in this kitchen. You, me. Every part of our people that made it is precious. You’re Indian because you’re Indian because you’re Indian” (119). Though Orvil and Calvin both exert control over the performance of their Native heritage uniquely, Opal’s advice indicates that regardless of one’s acceptance or denial of their identity, you’re Indian because you’re Indian.
I agree with this reading. Orange throughout the novel uses his many characters and their stories to break the Native American monolith of what Native experience is, and what they are actually like. I think Calvin and Orvil are both interesting characters in this novel. Calvin is complicit in the fact that he does not identify or know much about his native identity, and struggles to put it to words during his interview with Dene, while Orvil who has been sheltered from his Native heritage and history, actively seeks to be a participant in it. Both characters view knowledge of their history as what makes them Native. Because Calvin has little to no knowledge, he feels he can't claim his identity. But Dene encourages him to tell his story anyway, because no matter what, the fact that he is Native is enough. His lack of story is his story, and is reflective of a Native experience that is valid. Similarly, Orvil feels compelled to learn and participate in his culture in order to assert his Native identity, which Opal does not exactly encourage. But the quote used where Opal says, "Don't ever let anyone tell you what being Indian means..." can be applied for both characters. Calvin and Orvil feel they have to prove themselves, but really a lack of or a connection to their culture is a true experience of being Native.
ReplyDelete