Some of Us Found a There There in "There There;" Others Didn’t

“There there” has long been a platitude among the English-speaking, usually used for comforting someone who is grappling with suffering. The 2-word (or is it 1-word?) phrase has often been associated with comforting a child who is feeling sorry for him- or herself. As the title of the book by Tommy Orange, There There brought out some other references to the phrase.

In this novel about Americans living in Oakland, California in modern times, the character Dene Oxendene (the one who seeks and wins a grant to create a film of Native Americans telling their personal stories) chooses to listen to a song by Radiohead, called “There There,” which has a key line that says, “Just ‘cause you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there.” At his interview when applying for the grant, Oxendene meets another contender who mentions the famous Gertrude Stein line about Oakland, “There isn’t any there there.” The final time “there there” appears in the book is at the end, when Tony Loneman, another character, seems to be having a final hallucination before dying, in which he is a child and is with his grandma. His grandmother is blowing bubbles at him but doesn’t say anything about it, and Tony laughs and says,” You know they’re there…I see them with my own eyes.”

Joyce Z. started our discussion by indicating that because the cover of the book is illustrated with 2 drawings of feathers, the book might have been named “Feather Feather.” Carla then mentioned the Gertrude Stein line, and Joyce M. said that there’s no there there at the end of the book!  This began some comments about how some of the characters’ fates at the end of the book were unresolved. Carla thought maybe the author left the ending open to allow the same characters to be included in a sequel, and Joyce M. said she hoped the ending was not that sort of set-up. Some of us thought the ending was fitting and others were uncomfortable about the loose ends.

Carla, who nominated and presented the book, gave us some discussion questions:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563403/there-there-by-tommy-orange/9780525436140/readers-guide/  We went through them and there were, as always, insightful comments and also some tangential discussions about the cultures that have developed among Native Americans and other minority groups in modern America and about tribes and genealogy.

The Round Rock New Neighbors group has an event planned and led by Joanne to attend an annual powwow in Austin in November.

Carla has provided a link to a video interview with the author. Click HERE.