There There

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue

Reading Check

1. With what symbol does Tommy Orange open the novel?

2. What is the “land-deal meal” (Prologue)?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who are “Urban Indians”?

2. How was urbanization a tool of assimilation and erasure of tribal people?

Paired Resource

“Item of the Week: Indian Head Test Card”

• A description from the Sarnoff Collection within the archives of the College of New Jersey
• Connects to the themes of Indigenous Identity and Violence Caused by Colonialism.
• Seeing this image, how does it embody the portrayals of Indigenous Americans in the Prologue to There There?

Part 1

Reading Check

1. To what part of his identity does Tony connect “the Drome”?

2. What project does Dene want to work on?

3. What was happening when Opal lived on Alcatraz?

4. How does Edwin begin to communicate with his father?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Maxine think Tony looks different and how does this make Tony feel?

2. What does Octavio want Tony to do?

3. Why might Dene feel caught between two identities?

4. What does Gertrude Stein’s quote, “There is no there there” (Part 1), mean to Dene?

Paired Resource

“Nov. 20, 1969: Alcatraz Occupation”

• This is an informational page about the occupation from the Zinn Education Project.
• The shared themes include Indigenous Identity and Violence Caused by Colonialism.
• Shared topics include the occupation of Alcatraz.
• What additional context does this article provide for the significance of the Alcatraz occupation? How does it connect to Opal’s memories in There There?

“Daily Routine on Alcatraz”

• This news report from 1969 shows scenes from life on Alcatraz during the occupation.
• Shared themes include Indigenous Identity and Violence Caused by Colonialism.
• Shared topics include the occupation of Alcatraz.
• Students might make connections between Opal’s memories and the mundane moments portrayed in this clip.
• Drawing on both this clip and Opal and Jacquie’s experiences, what were the sacrifices that Indigenous activists made to protest on Alcatraz?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. Who is Bill and what does he do?

2. Where does Jacquie travel for work?

3. What does Orvil try on?

4. How do Orvil and Dene meet?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Calvin agree to help with Octavio’s plan?

2. Why did Jamie decide to use unusual spellings for her children’s name?

3. What might Orange want readers to understand from the section entitled “Blood”?

4. Why does Dene focus his documentary on Indigenous folks living in urban areas?

Paired Resource

“Witchi Tai To”

• A song written by Jim Pepper that drew on powwow music and traditions from the Native American Church.
• Shared themes include Indigenous Identity.
• Shared topics include powwows and music.
• Think about Orvil dancing and the significance of the powwow to the Indigenous community in Oakland. Why was it important that it was the first song with lyrics in an Indigenous language to make the Billboard Top 100?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. Where does Opal work?

2. Who prints guns from a 3D printer?

3. Who is Blue’s mother?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Octavio decide not to hurt Sixto?

2. Why did Thomas’s father think he would become a drummer?

3. What might medicine boxes symbolize?

Part 4

Reading Check

1. What is fry bread?

2. What is in the safe that Blue and Edwin bring into the Coliseum?

3. Who flies the drone?

4. From whose perspective is the last section told?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What question does Dene decide to ask those who visit his storytelling booth?

2. Why doesn’t Opal want her grandsons to know that she was at the powwow?

3. Why does Edwin feel nervous about the powwow?

4. Why does Opal decide to pray?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

• A horror novel depicting the struggle between traditional practices and the contemporary world.
• Shared themes include Indigenous Identity.
• Shared topics include contemporary Indigenous experiences.
• The Only Good Indians on SuperSummary

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

• A novel about an Indigenous woman set in a real-life bookstore in Minneapolis.
• Shared themes include Indigenous Identity, Healing From Trauma, and Violence Caused by Colonialism.
• Shared topics include the urban Indigenous experiences.
• The Sentence on SuperSummary