Continuing our discussion in class, I believe that there are some similarities between the African American experience and the Native American experience, specifically when it comes to identity. Within the black community, there is sometimes tension between Africans and African Americans. This is due to African immigrants refusing to identify as black because they can trace their ancestry back to a specific country in Africa, while African Americans don’t have knowledge or access to their cultures of origin. In There There, some characters display some sort of identity crisis because they don’t know much about their Native heritage.
For example, Opal never taught her grandsons anything about being Native, leading Orvil to look online to watch powwow footage and documentaries and reading articles online about “what [it means] to be a real Indian,” (121). Despite his efforts, he still feels like “a fake, a copy a boy playing dress-up,” (122). Even at the powwow, when he dances alongside other ‘real’ Indians, “[he] tries to shake off the feeling of feeling like a fraud,” (232). Because of his disconnection with his heritage, Orvil still feels like he doesn’t belong in Native spaces, despite his eagerness to go to the powwow and be in that space.
When it comes to Dene and Calvin, they both had absent fathers and never learned much about what it means to be Native from either of their parents. In his interview with Dene, Calvin says, “I feel bad sometimes even saying I’m Native. Mostly I just feel like I’m from Oakland,” (148). While this introduces the idea of being Native but not identifying as such, does identifying as Native mean that one must know about the culture and history of Native Americans? This identity crisis seems to be echoed by Natives everywhere; Calvin mentions that “there’s a lot of Natives living in Oakland and in the Bay Area with similar stories. But it’s like [they] can’t talk about it because it’s not really a Native story, but then it is at the same time,” (148).
Blue has a similar experience. She is adopted and, growing up, she “knew [she] wasn’t white. But not all the way”; even after finding out about her Cheyenne mother on her eighteenth birthday, continues “feeling white while being treated like any other brown person wherever [she] went,” (198). Blue has a double consciousness, feeling white on the inside while having darker, seemingly Mexican physical features, and she doesn’t feel like she belongs until she starts working at the Indian Center in Oakland.
Because of their identity crises, the characters in There There seek Indiana spaces in a search of a space where they belong. Tying this back to African American experiences, more recently, black Americans have been embracing African cultures through music and clothing. Afrobeats are becoming increasingly popular in mainstream music and even on IU’s campus, many African American students attend African Student Association meetings and events, possibly in attempt to reconnect with their roots.
I agree with your examination of identity crises in There, There. Natives across the country, as well as in the novel, struggle with a lack of self-identity, causing the high alcoholism and suicide rates that are mentioned in the novel. Although Blue does not suffer from any of these symptoms, she still faces a lack of identity that is her central conflict. Particularly, she struggles with the fact that she does not know the identity of her mother. During the span of the novel, the reader learns that she is trying to find her mother by knowing only her name, Jacquie Red Feather. She goes to Oklahoma to try and discover her own identity, as well as that of her mother, but is unable to find her. However, when she overhears Jacquie’s name at the powwow, her “face goes white. She reaches out her hand and goes for a smile, but it looks more like she’s trying not to throw up” (260). Blue’s powerful reaction to the sound of Jacquie’s name demonstrates her triumph and surprise. She was not expecting that her mother was a real person who lived in Oakland, like her. Blue’s discovery humanized Jacquie, developing a path for Blue to get to know her and learn about her Native heritage. Once Blue meets her mother, she realizes that she can begin to develop her own identity as a Native woman.
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