81 pages 2 hours read

Tommy Orange

There There

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Introduction

There There

  • Genre: Fiction; literary
  • Originally Published: 2018
  • Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
  • Structure/Length: Prologue, 4 parts; approx. 304 pages; approx. 8 hours on audio
  • Protagonist/Central Conflict: Jacquie Red Feather, Dene Oxendene, and 14-year-old Orvil are strangers who all grapple with a painful history and the complexity of being an urban Indigenous American. Their lives converge and collide in a shooting at the Big Oakland Powwow.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: sexual assault, abuse, alcohol and drug addiction, death by suicide.          

Tommy Orange, Author

  • Bio: Born in 1982; American novelist from Oakland, California; played roller hockey on a national level; worked at a bookstore after graduating from community college with a BS in sound arts; earned a master’s degree in fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts; publishes articles and short stories in Esquire and McSweeney’s, among other publications; lives with his wife and son in Angels Camp, California
  • Awards: Pulitzer Prize finalist (2019); American Book Award (2019); National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize (2019); PEN/Hemingway Award (2019); Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction finalist (2019)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

  • Indigenous Identity
  • Healing From Trauma
  • Violence Caused by Colonialism

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

  • Gain an understanding of the cultural, historical, and geographical contexts regarding Indigenous Identity, the Bay Area Indigenous community, and American colonialism that impact the events within There There.

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