There There, Tommy Orange

My piece is representative of the topic with heavy focus in the book There There, generational and historical trauma. The novel demonstrated the pain that this trauma causes so well, it being recognizable and shown within each of the characters. Whether that is a dissociation from their culture, exposure to violence and alcoholism, etc. One page from the book that really inspired this piece was pg. 137, the section Blood in the Interlude. The quote says as such: “An unattended wound gets infected. Becomes a new kind of wound like the history of what actually happened became a new kind of history. All of these stories that we haven’t been telling all this time, that we haven’t been listening to, are just part of what we need to heal.” This shows how we need to recognize the horrific past to move forward into the future. So much blood has been shed and it has left a stain. It feels almost impossible to move on if we ignore it. 

In the painting, there is a face, an Indigenous person’s face, in monochrome orange. The expression is still and unfazed, which is meant to show strength and power. The painting as a whole represents the white control over Native communities throughout history. Pale hands formed in the shape of finger guns. The metaphorical and literal guns that have been directed at the heads of Natives for hundreds of years. On the face, the hair is very important. One side is long and the other is short. Which shows the viewer how Native people have been forced to lose their identities, their culture and their language. Forced to become someone they are not. In the background there is scripture of page 137 because that writing has influenced this work so much and is the base of what I want to convey with this piece.

My essay about the book There There by Tommy Orange focused on the characters Blue, Jacquie Red Feather, Orvil Red Feather, and Calvin Johnson. It shows how each of those characters has experienced trauma differently and then tries to better themselves or they have fallen to destruction. The book generally talks about and shows How these Native Americans have gone through trauma violence and recovery and how they all have struggled with identity. In our class, we had a guest speaker whose name was Mark Denning. He talked about his story growing up and how he lived on a reservation and how that has affected his life. He also talked about traditional native culture and taught the class a little portion of a traditional dance that they do at pow-wows. My biggest takeaway while reading the book was that just because people go through trauma and struggle with many different things in their life it doesn't mean that they can't change their life or their outcome in the end.

Using the things that I learned from Mark Denning and the takeaway that I had from the book I decided to create blackout poetry. Blackout poetry is a process of elimination: you pick out words on a page of text that you like or want to keep using the words around the words you want to keep and make them into sentences to create a poem. Using all the words and sentences you have made you are going to cross out or draw over the words you don’t want to use. To create my blackout poetry I took out pages from the books Witch Child by Celia Rees, If I Die Tonight by Allison Gaylin, Someone to Watch Over me by Judith McNaught, and Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. I skimmed through each book looking for pages with similar ideas that I wanted to create the poem on and tore it out and did the whole process of creating the blackout poem on each page one by one. On the words that I wanted to keep I highlighted them with bright colors to try and go back on the aspect that you can change your own outcome of your life. So they specifically represent within the darkness there is light at the end of the tunnel, Nothing is going to be perfect so that doesn’t mean you should give up. After brightening up the words of the poem I decided to add a miniature drawing that matched the poem to draw your attention to it a little more. I then arranged them onto black poster board glued them down and then painted the title on in the open space on the left side in yellow to sort of give the effect that there is brightness in the dark. Each poem is supposed to put your mind in that time and in that moment that it will make you feel those things.  

The book There There By Tommy Orange is about how the urban Indian of today is still affected by the past violence of early America. So that is what my song is about. It’s a timeline of how natives were affected throughout the generations. There are connections from everything we have learned this semester in the lyrics. “stab my heart to lose the pain inside”. This bar is a reference to when we read ojibwa warrior and they used steaks to stab themselves after hours of dancing so that they can take the pain of others. The song is meant to be like a cassette tape with the static at the beginning and end and in the background throughout the whole song. The clicking at the end shows it turning off. I did this so not only does it give it that old feeling but also it feels as if there are more tapes telling more stories. Also to feel like Dene from the book is interviewing you, taking your story and showing it to the world.

I have always been a fan of the rap genre, especially the old school style. There are many layers in my lyrics, a bar means one thing while also meaning another. That Is poetry. “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm”. There is meant to be something hidden under the surface meaning. For example one of the bars read, “half of me died to a fucking rat, thats why I don’t trust nobody like that”. This means three things. First this verse is from the english perspective and refers to the black plague. However, it also refers to how the natives were tricked and lied to. Then lastly connects to my life and how people lied and ratted out on me. 

Over the course of this semester we had a guest speaker come in on multiple occasions. One point he really drilled into how the U.S and England see us as individual, but for others like the Natives, it was “We”. They were a community and still are. That's why in the lyrics whenever the point of View is of a native american, it’s We, Us, Our. Then for the English it’s Me, I. the only point where that doesn't happen is the one bar, “so now that he’s dead, pull back the hammer and aim for the head, no regrets as I fire the lead”. This verse is from a native Point of view and the “We” was used, however the person that he killed was already dead. Then he shot him in the head to take out his aggression and therefore became a savage just like his enemies were. He became them, so it was no longer a “We”.

The beat is designed so a different melody is over a different verse for different spots on the timeline. The first verse has a sad piano for the past. The verse is talking about colonization and having to run away from home. Then drops into an evil sounding grand piano for the present verse. The verse talks about growing up in a low income area and the effects of the past. After that is a sad yet powerful violin melody for the British verse. The British were powerful and left their home to find new opportunities so they were risking it all. lastly a sad mix of piano and violin in the last verse. The final main verse is about boarding schools, reservations, and assimilation. It was fitting for there to be a sad melody like the one from the beginning but also a mix of the violin melody from the British verse to display that the English did change them and now elements of them are British culture.

The watercolor art piece I made is meant to be a telling of Europe’s influence on North America through a Native American lens. The main theme of the piece is inspired from a quote from There There by Tommy Orange,”The trickster spider, Veho, her mom used to tell her and Opal about, he was always stealing eyes to see better. Veho was the white man who came and made the old world watch with his eyes. Look. See here, the way it’s gonna be is, first you’re gonna give me all your land, then your attention, until you forget how to give it. Until your eyes are drained and you can’t see behind you and there’s nothing ahead, and the needle, the bottle, or the pipe is the only thing in sight that makes any sense.” I believe this quote is summarizing how Europeans’ and America’s ongoing reckless behavior towards Native Americans has caused countless injustices that continue to affect them today. 

The grass towards the bottom of the piece and the sky around the top is meant to represent Native Americans’ way of life. It is recognizable and welcoming. You can see that the grass is dying as it gets closer to the spider, and the sky is getting covered by lines and mist. The known world is disappearing as the spider comes closer. This can represent disease wiping out Native populations, culture being forced away by laws and boarding school, and seeing the aftermath of Native tribes on the east coast interacting with Europeans before you. 

The web shows the early contact between Native Americans and white settlers. The way the web is hidden under the grass shows the unjust techniques used by white settlers in order to make unfair treaties in their favor. It can also show that the government is trapping Native Americans in a cycle that will affect generations before they can even realize it. The grid pattern can represent roads covering America or claims of property on Native land. The way that the web’s lines lead up to the spider it shows how once the web is revealed the biggest threat you can see is the spider on the horizon, making itself the center of attention. 

The spider is the base of the piece, representing the quote. Spiders can also represent a slow and painful death, trapping things in its web, keeping them there and injecting them with venom. This shows America’s actions persistently pushing Native Americans down under its growth, its negative influence growing exponentially over generations. A monstrous spider representing America can emphasize how inhumane the actions are when not seen through a European/American perspective. The eyes on the spider draw from the quote as well as adding to the inhumane and monstrous feeling. 

The red chaos trailing behind the spider is the wake of European culture. It evokes something otherworldly because from the Native American perspective, the culture they are being thrust into is unlike the life they’ve been living up until this point. The grid-like pattern is representing cities being built up showing the new culture taking over the old. As a whole the feeling evoked by the piece is meant to be a doomsday or invasive.

I was really interested in the identity aspect of the novel There There, by Tommy Orange and when we were learning about the history we would look into stereotypes and assimilation. Throughout the novel there are these two characters, Tony and Orvil, who really struggled with their identities and outer appearances, and they really stuck out to me, so that’s what I based my painting on. I wanted the person in the middle to be in black and white to represent that they don’t have an outer identity or identity period, they weren’t given that option, unlike the hands manipulating the person's face that are in colour. The hands are in colour to represent that they don’t have to worry about appearance and who they are, that’s why they could get away with anything. The flowers are to show that this person has beautiful thoughts, ideas, and emotions, but eventually it’ll all just wither away, going unheard. Along with that, I specifically wanted red flowers to act as “Red Face” essentially, and other stereotypes that go along with that. Finally, the eyes are either closed or have no pupil showing because again, this person does not have an identity to show off, they are not their own person, they don’t have a ‘soul’.

Knowing who you are and how you want to be seen is so important to not only adolescence but just life in general, and because culture can be so intertwined with identity that’s also really important to learn about. When stripped of identity and culture people are only a shell of a human, there is no personality or character in someone who doesn’t have access to who they are. That’s what can be seen in the black and white person in my painting, they are but a shell of who they truly could be. 

People who aren’t white are affected quite a lot by stereotypes. Stereotypes spread a lot of misinformation and that only leads to others plastering that image to the ones affected by said stereotype, which completely erases their identity. I think it’s really important to understand that and to look at others with an unbiased eye.

This creation looks into Opal, Blue, Lony Loother, and Orvil and how trauma affects their cultural identity. For example, Opal went through a very traumatic experience having to live at Alcatraz with her mother to A.I.M. This later leads to Opal gatekeeping the Native culture not allowing Orvil, Lony, and Loother to experience it leading to them not understanding their cultural identity. On each front page, there is a blackout poem enhancing a certain part of the page, the enhanced portion is expressing how the character is affected by generational trauma or will create generational trauma. To help send a message to the reader each poem is partnered with a symbol or full-page doodle. Each drawing connects to the poem bringing out the meaning in the poem whether it was an object bringing the character comfort or a setting mentioned. 

Instead of using random pages from whatever book, I chose to use the book There There. Using this book I was able to show how the character felt about the situation from their eyes instead of just how I perceived the character. This allowed a more personal connection with the character and allowed them to show emotion. As stated before blackout poetry is able to enhance a certain part of a page showing how generational trauma affects people and how it starts, but it's hard to stop in the real world too and these situations happen frequently. However, when others are able to understand and express how it affects them that trauma can be turned into something good.

The visual I created is inspired by Opal’s story and how her experiences in the past affected who she is in the future. In the image there is a younger girl without any eyes.This represents how when you’re younger, the things you see and deal with can seem lighter than what they actually are. Behind her is an older lady whose mouth is covered up. This lady is the same person as the younger girl and her mouth is covered because she no longer speaks about what she saw in the past.

The project that we made is a painting based off the book There There by Tommy Orange. There are many symbols we chose to use across the painting. These symbols can be found across the novel in each section,such as the spider and the bubbles. We chose to use the color blue for the Remain section, to show the calmer beginnings and to symbolize Alcatraz. Yellow  for the Reclaim section is used to represent that the book is picking up speed, because yellow is a more eye-catching color. While the red in the Return section is symbols that there is danger and used as a warning. 

When U.S. settlers came they gradually stripped Natives of their culture and land until they had no more. They moved natives to smaller areas of land through treaties, threats, tricks, and fake promises. The journey to those areas killed off many. Sometimes Indians were even killed purely out of hatred and the belief that they were subhuman. Diseases brought by Europeans wiped tribes, some almost entirely. “You can’t sell life is okay when it’s not” Is a small close-up painting of a tired pair of eyes with a hole in the middle made to look like a bullet went through, representing Jamie’s death. “You can’t sell life is okay when it’s not” Is a quote directly from the book said by Jacquie Red Feather. The painting was done in gouache and was lightly layered with colored pencil for a slightly textured look. This piece is supposed to represent the increased risk of suicide and struggle with mental health for Indians in modern days due to generational trauma and the deaths and mistreatment of Natives throughout history. Many Indians struggle because of what happened. Money, identity, representation, voice, mental health, and addiction, these things are all evident throughout the book. The second piece is called Who are you? it was done with gouache and ink pens with a light wash gradient being layed down first, then hatching and a dry brushed black border. It’s meant to represent the struggle with identity. The theme of “Who am I?” and  “What am I?” is very present in There There, both being in the ways of finding purpose and finding out one's heritage. In the middle there’s a silhouette, a person but with no features. They are blank. This represents the feeling of being lost with ones identity and purpose, the hatching is meant to represent the time spent questioning identity, and the border seeping in represents second-guessing, doubt, and struggle with the legitimacy of identity. 

I created a Cover of Radiohead's There There to fit the themes in the book There There by Tommy Orange. I used themes of addiction from characters like Tony’s mom, Dene’s Uncle, and Octavio and his dad. The cover represents how it affects peoples lives and how it's poison to the body and mind. I also referenced events in the book like the shootings like bullets and fear. Ultimately the piece is supposed to show how addiction can affect people's lives and their relationships.

Duality is a fickle thing in the eyes of a monster and an outcast, this is exactly how Toney and Orvil from Tommy Oranges There There. In the novel Toney who was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, this makes people view him as a creep or a monster because of his drooping face, he looks into a TV at one point and sees the monster. However Orvil ends up putting on a ragilia and seeing his true self. 

This is the concept of duality, this is what my focus was when I tore apart a 2003 RCT TV and put monster version drawings of Toney and Orvil on the inside, and then created a commentary piece on the concept of duality. There, I studied for about a total of 15 hours and had about 6 to about 7 hours of work. The colors are simply black and white Tony is black and Orvil is white to represent opposites, on top of using the 1939 Indian broadcast image as a main backdrop on the TV along with quotes from both characters to tie everything together. Humans are always gonna have a perception of society but in the end, you will always have a polar opposite, my project is meant to convey that ideology, and open your eyes to duality. 

Fading out

Taking all these innocent lives

Hot Bullets

Striking your insides

Your loses 

Causes you to give pain

Your loses 

Give you pain

There’s Liquid death

Calling you to drink it

(Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash)

(Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash)

Dont give in to the Drinks

Only momentary Bliss

(Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash)

(Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash, Don’t Crash)

All of Your loses 

Causes you to give pain

(Pain Never Healed)

(Pain Never Healed)

All of Your loses 

Only Give you pain

(Pain Never Healed)

(Pain Never Healed)

There, There

Don’t Fall into

That Criiiime, oh the crime

That crime

Don’t pull that

Thaat trigger, That trigger

Trigger

We are the victims

Of our paaasts

Of our paaasts

We are the victims

Of our paaasts

Of our paaasts

In my essay I looked at Octavio and his past and how that connected to his views and morals on the world. I then looked at him through the villain and anti hero lens to determine what he fit into better. I saw how his his uncles and cousins constant involvement in crime around him as a child and the death of his father mother and brother made push him into the anti hero stage. I learned that whats happens in childhood changes peoples morels and what they see as okay. I created a collage for my project I cut out images from magazines and glued them to a board. These images are connected to Dans portion of the class and how the natives were mistreated by europeans and americans. I used images of plants and animals to show natives connection to nature and how they cared for it. Then I used dying plants and pollution to show how the Europeans and Americans didn't really care and just wanted the land for profit. In the middle of the collage there is the words no hiding this is to show how natives were not allowed to be themselves. How they couldn't practice their own religions on speak their own languages. I will be adding another layer to symbolize characters from the book and aspects i thought were important from the book. I want my audience to see the mistreatment natives faced and how those all connected to the book.

This project was created after reading There There by Tommy Orange. Symbols of guns, bullets, trains, computers, and teddy bears to represent a modern day urban Indian. The symbols of alcohol, tribal patterns, a spider, last names, and feathers as symbols of the past for Native Americans. A multitude of colors were used to represent nostalgia and childhood, including the mosaic background. 

The book's meaning appeared to be about urban Indians and how the cruel things done to them like culture stripping, genocide and trickery still effect their everyday lives today. This was incorporated into the piece through the very prominent Indian head that sticks out like a sour thumb to show that things like the Indian head, which are problematic, are still very present.

I interpreted the meaning of this project to inform the reader of discriminatory problems that go on around them whether they are aware of them or not. This project suggests that there needs to be change from human nature and society to make up for the wrongdoings of the past. This information can help you get a little bit of insight on those around you, and give you empathy.

My project represents the ‘I Versus the We” and the conversation we had with Mark Denings how in literature and life we Capitalize the ‘I” and not the “We”. I Used hands connected by a red string to represent that. I used different variety of hands to show the majority of the “We” and a single hand to represent the “I”. To show the two sides connected I had a red string tangled with the hands as like their connected by a tring a fate, a concept I heard alot about from old Turkish folklore stories. I wanted to to show that neither Ideal is better or worse than the other but they are both connected. The “I Versus the We” Helps me better understand that because others and I are both so focused on “I” it’s harder to build communities and friendships, Not that it’s bad to focus on yourself it can be very restricting in a way. I think that only focusing on the “I” does not allow for myself to grow as a person or to better understand others. That is why I felt connected to the topic of the “I” and the “we” and wanted to represent in an art piece.

In Great World Text we learned about Native American history and how America took over their land, relocated them, and then outlawed their culture forcing them to act like Americans. After learning their history we read a book about modern Native life called There There. I believe the message in There There is that despite hardship, trauma, and mistakes it's important to overcome and not hold onto these troubles. Only when you let go of the past and accept the unpredictability of the future can you peacefully exist within the present.

When creating my final project I wanted to portray an important event in the book, the PowWow shooting, that represented this message. I created a sculpture of a hand holding a gun accompanied by a gutted styrofoam head that's filled with dirt and a seed. The hand and the head are scarred and beaten up but the head is growing life within it and the hand is wielding the gun. This creates a juxtaposition between two entities holding the same amount of damage though one uses it to fuel negativity and the other uses it to create something new. 

the storyboard is not the best way to show this off, because each page was turned into a scene of him doing something that he talked about while "thinking" throughout it, because his chapter is his own, its hard to see what i made with out the whole chapter written out on the same page, because he basically just talks. each thing talked about mattered which made doing the storyboard fun, he talks about how he hates his face and i interpreted it as him noticing how people tend to look away while he is in their eyesight, he talks about his memories and i try to imagine whats happening when he's talking. i didn't go crazy with the symbolism because of how this chapter feels real, so when making it i chose to interpret the easy things now like how he looks, whats he doing, and where he even is, because i wanted it fo feel more down to earth. when he is just talking about riding his bike and listening to MF DOOM i made it so that he was doing them both by himself, he is stuck in his head talking about why he is like he is, while riding in circles trying to feel like something, he closes his eyes while riding to see something. easy, and because its simple enough there is enough wiggle room to make each scene matter while in motion, just not on paper, like having wisps of smoke follow him and disappear when he starts riding a bike to symbolize how he seems always burnt out. each scene of him was different, he talks so much about everything that he is in the chapter and it makes looking in at his situation sad, how he acts about himself, how he is stuck in the same place as his mom but doesn't want to look at his addictions, he is the perfect man full of hate fueled by sadness caused by shit that he could never stop, its a good example of what the books main topic is, cycles fueled by hatred started by something unstoppable like the past, and the little he grows in the book inside his head still counts to how we can all change for a somewhat better living, for us or for others.