Generational Trauma in There There by Tommy Orange Essay Example

“The fact that we’ve been fighting for decades to be recognized as a present-tense people, modern and relevant, alive, only to die in the grass wearing feathers” (Orange 141). Generational trauma is a deep theme in Tommy Orange’s novel There There and it is shown how it prevents the characters of the novel from being seen and seeing themselves a modern people, and how it extends to modern times as each character experiences it through loss of self, loss of family, addiction, and economic problems, and how it is the main cause of much of the suffering the characters go through. 

Generational trauma effects each character similar way often resulting in their drive to uncover their true selves or connect with their true history as Native Americans. Orvil Red Feather is a great example of this idea, as he has experienced his mother’s battle with addiction and her suicide (Orange 120), as well also dealing with an absent grandmother. He has his great aunt, Opal Viola Bear Shield, but she tries to keep him away from his Native American roots, mostly likely in an attempt to protect him from what she experienced in her life, but this has the opposite effect of what she intended as Orvil has a deep interest in his Native heritage and was not going to be deterred. Once he sees the Native American dancers on T.V., he becomes attached and fascinated by his ancestry, watching it “He knew he was a part of something, something you could dance to” (Orange 121). He became so interested in his roots that he starts looking up all the information he can find on the internet of Native American culture, starts listening to powwow music and becomes enthralled in it, and starts to go into Opal’s room, wear a regalia she had in her closet and starts to dance to powwow music in it (Orange 118-119). Orvil later decides to go to the Oakland Powwow, not only to compete in the dancer competition and winning the prize money, but also in hopes of discovering more of his Native heritage, and becoming more connected to it (Orange 229-233). If he had a more stable environment growing up where more of his immediate family was around so they could teach more about his history and heritage, maybe he wouldn’t have gone to the powwow. Another character who is seemingly driven by a desire to connect with their heritage is Blue. Blue leaves her adopted white parents connect with her Native American heritage and this leads her to get married Native American ceremony and to change her name (Orange 197). While her journey starts out well, it takes a bad turn when her husband starts abusing her and is forced to run away to save her life (Orange 197-199). Generational trauma effects Blue’s life in many ways, as it forced her mother out of her life and severed any ties she had with her Native roots. When Blue found out that her life, or at least certain aspects of her life had been a lie and that she was adopted (Orange 198), she wasn’t sure if she wanted to connect with her Native heritage at first, but later on gains a deep desire to connect to her Native heritage, as she thought that her Native heritage was the true representation of who she really is. The generational trauma that her family has experienced, led to her family break-up and eventually led to her, but also leads to Blue’s desire to reconnect with her native roots and which eventually leads her closer to it then she was before. Generational trauma also drives a character like Dene Oxendene, to reconnect with his Native heritage, but in a different way, by just allowing other Native Americans to share their unfiltered experiences of living in the world today (Orange 39-41). Like in Orivl’s and Blue’s story The idea of generational trauma expressed through substance abuse also appears in Dene story, as his uncle is dying due to struggles with alcohol addiction causing cirrhosis of the liver (Orange 34), and his death inspires Dene to continue his uncle’s work to tell the true story of the modern Native American life, and give their stories the respect they deserve. Dene shows this sentiment when he is pitching his project to the committee and he says, “but more importantly because of the way it’s been portrayed, it looks pathetic, and we perpetuate that, but no, fuck that, excuse my language, but it makes me mad, because the whole picture is not pathetic” (Orange 40). Dene wants to not only make a deeper connection with his Native American heritage, but also he wants to show the world what it truly looks like to be Native American in modern times.   

Generational trauma connects each character in a similar way as they each struggle with a loss of self, often times the only thing people in minority communities know about themselves is that they are different. This idea can be seen in the character of Opal Viola Bear Shield. Early in the novel when Opal was a child in the story, Opal talks about how she didn’t like her name because it was so different from the other children and she says something very telling, she says “The good thing was, the kids didn’t have to do anything with my name to make fun of me, no rhymes or variations. They just said the whole thing and it was funny” (Orange 46). Opal frames this as a good thing, but in reality it shows how from a young age she understood that she was different from other, that the kids didn’t need to come up with anything to mock her, because to them her existence is a joke. This is something that almost every single minority child will go through someday, the moment understanding that comes and shows them that they are different from the society at large and the feeling of distance and ostracization that accompanies it. This universal experience isn’t told for each character but through the lens of generational trauma we can be sure they have had it. Another character who finds out that they are different from an early age is Tony Loneman. Tony is not only a Native American, but was also born with fetal alcohol syndrome (Orange 15), and within the first couple sentences of the first section of Tony’s story, Orange lets us know that he fetal alcohol syndrome and that he first truly became aware of it when he was six and his friend when he asked “What’s wrong with your face?” (Orange 15), or this moment is very similar to what Opal went through as a child, but Tony had to deal with it twice over due to his condition, and while his experience was different and, in many respects, much more difficult, many people in minority communities can still relate to what he went through and speak to the feeling of otherness, which makes Tony more connected to other people then he may realize.

The Big Oakland Powwow is a representation or an allegory of generational trauma as all the characters in the novel have some connection to the powwow and all but one, Daniel Gonzales, are there physically (Orange 251). The Big Oakland Powwow not only connects all the characters, but it also helps them fulfill some of their goal, such as with Orvil Red Feather, who got to dance in the powwow and express himself in the way he had been talking about earlier in the novel (Orange 230), and also for a character like Edwin Black, who for the Powwow not only severs as way to get his life back on track as he hasn’t been working since he graduated from college, but the powwow also helps him connect with his biological father (Orange 113). The powwow becomes an even more painful allegory as it turns deadly with several characters in a shootout trying to rob the powwow (Orange 272-273), and this represents the violence that seems to perpetually exist in minority communities, and Orange is showing that it isn’t just a result of random chance or that minorities are just inherently more violent, he is showing that the violence in minority communities comes from years and decades of violence and destruction of culture that minority communities have had to endure, and the loss of connection with family and heritage.

Generational trauma is shown is many forms throughout the novel and the final way it effects the characters in the novel is it makes them question their place in the world. History has a profound affect on people’s lives even if they wouldn’t like to admit it, but it becomes quite clear when you look at how historically marginalized communities have been treated and in many cases continued to be treated today. Tommy Orange shows this sentiment again in the interlude where he writes “This is the thing: If you have the option to not think about or even consider history, whether you learned it right or not, or whether it even deserves consideration, that’s how you know your on the ship that serves hors d’oeuvres and fluffs your pillow” (Orange 137-138). Through these characters and their journeys to discover who they are and their connection with their Native heritage, Tommy Orange shows how history and generational trauma effects people and communities today.