
Answer two of the questions below by referring to There, There, pps. 118-96 (Orville Red Feather chapter through the Daniel Gonzales chapter)
1)  Opal appears to have conflicted ideas about her Native heritage. She believes in what she calls superstitions and feels the children must be prepared for a world "made for Native people not to live, but to die in, shrink, disappear" (165). Yet, the children do not know what a pow wow is, and Orvil suggests that making Indian tacos was "one of the few Indian things she [Opal] did" (132). The text gives a reason for this. What is it?

2)  Calvin says it is not right for him to "claim being Native" when he doesn't know anything about it (149). What does Dene think about this, as he is the one trying to record stories about being Native?

  In terms of Dene's storytelling project, he is actually very interested in the younger generation of people who don't 'claim being Native'. Now this is probably the shortest chapter in the book, so it is hard to really get a great grasp of what Dene thinks about this. Despite this, we can see that Dene views capturing these moments with the same importance as someone who might have a really great story saying, "Sometimes not having a story is the story." Even Calvin recognizes the importance of not having a 'Native' story saying, "I know there's lots of Natives living in Oakland and in the Bay Area with similar stories. But it's like we can't talk about it because it's not really a Native story, but then at the same time. It's fucked up." Looking back to Dene's first chapter in the book, and keeping in mind that his character seems to be greatly inspired by Orange himself, we can better see why he is interested in people like Calvin, "We haven't seen the Urban Indian story. What we've seen is full of the kinds of stereotypes that are the reason no one is interested in the Native story in general, it's too sad" (38).
  It seems like based on the characters in this novel, that Dene while being interested in the individuals Native history, tribe, and how it effects them today, is still most captivated by the stories they have and share in their day to days being 'Urban Indians'. He is interested in how the individuals view and deal with their history, but is more interested in the knowledge his people and others can gain by their collective stories. Dene's interest in stories like Calvin's underscore the theme that their identity is not solely determined by their knowledge of heritage. Dene is interested in the experiences these storytellers have, believing that there is a lot of value in examining the differences in how these individuals navigate their identity, including the absence of lack of connection with their cultural roots. While Dene himself believes that understanding your cultural history as a Native American is important, questioning why you would, "forget them even as they live on in us?" (149), he doesn't lose any respect for Calvin who doesn't believe this himself.

3) What is Octavio planning on doing to Sixto when he brings a bottle of liquor over to his house? What does Sixto end up doing to him?

	The situation in which Octavio is visiting Sixto is very important. Sixto was sent to jail not long ago for a DUI; this was not a normal drunk driving incident. Sixto crashed his car with Octavios younger brother and mother, killing them both. Octavio states exactly what he plans to do when he sees his uncle, but even he is unsure how things will actually go saying, “In my mind I had it like I would get him drunk and fucking beat the shit out of him. Maybe kill him. But I knew it wouldn’t be like that.” (179) Leading up to this, it’s very clear that Octavio would like to kill Sixto or that he is angry enough to. His first thought about this after he hears about the crash is that “...Six better be fucking dead too.” (178) As soon as Octavio sees his uncle, it is clear that he was correct in his observation that things wouldn’t go the way he expected in his head. He notes that, “He was hella fucking sad-seeming. And I wanted to say something to make him feel better.” (180) Despite still being angry enough to kill Sixto, Octavio is willing to sit with his uncle, and after sitting and drinking in silence, Sixto begins talking and Illuminating some unresolved mysteries about Octavio we saw in previous chapters.
	In an earlier chapter, we learn that Octavio once had a curse on him that his grandmother removed. We don’t really know any context around this curse besides the similar curse Josefina, Octavio's grandmother, had put on her by her father. We gain a lot more context on this curse when Octavio and Sixto do get to talking, “We got this old thing that hurts real fucking bad, makes you mean.” (181) We learn that Sixto can share the curse with family, but it seems unclear in his next actions if he is intentionally sharing this curse with Octavio or if he trying to rid him of it as he believes it is passed down through generations, “We got bad blood in us” (181). Sixto begins to perform some kind of ceremony, blowing powder into Octavio's face. Octavio, who is already upset, attempts to leave, angering his uncle, “Sit down, it’s not all bad. It’s power too.” (182) Before he leaves, Six blows the smoke from some unknown plant into Octavio's face, making him sick. From this, it is clear that Octavio, who went over to confront and hurt or kill his uncle, was cursed instead. This illuminates the somewhat unclear beginning of the chapter, where we see Josefina questioning if Sixto had given Octavio anything. While it is not entirely clear to me if the reader is supposed to believe that Octavio is cursed in a magical/religious type of way, it is clear that Sixto has cursed him in that he was directly involved in the death of all of his immediate family members.

4)  In the Interlude, what is the point of the story about the yacht? Explain precisely what it is an allegory for, accounting for all parts of the story.

