There There

There There by Tommy Orange

This compelling story offers a new, often untold perspective on the Native American experience. It's title comes from a famous Gertrude Stein quote in which she proclaimed, of her hometown of Oakland, "There is no there there." Though often interpreted as a derision of San Francisco's less fortunate neighbor, in fact, this author points out, Stein was really lamenting the passage of time, pointing out that the Oakland she once knew no longer existed. Either way, it seems as though the quote plays a central role in the story Orange is trying to tell, that of Native Americans who live, often unseen and unconsidered, in America's cities. Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich have written extensively about life on rural reservations; the same is true of American news publications. As a result, perhaps, popular consciousness places Native American culture in these locales. Orange seems to be trying to expand the idea of where Native Americans live and who they are by drawing attention to what it is like to navigate this identity in the urban environment. He seems to be trying to say that there is a there there. Then again, if this is the case, I'm not quite sure what to make of the ending.