Abuse And Violence In Still There, By Tommy Orange

In our world today, contemporary issues are more prevalent than ever before. In the novel There There, author Tommy Orange sheds light on these issues through the viewpoint of twelve different characters. Although each character has their own story, they are all intertwined and share Native American heritage and struggles. All of the characters' stories come together by the end of the book, in a violent and tragic event at the Big Oakland Powwow. The novel There There by Tommy Orange is an influential social commentary on the contemporary issues of violence and addiction in Native American communities. These issues came from historical trauma, and continue to affect Native American communities today.

The first key issue that is exposed

As Opal is delivering mail, she encounters a dog that looked like it wanted to attack her. She soon figures out that the dog is a victim as well and says, “The dog flinches at the sound of its name coming out of this man’s mouth. It cowers and turns around then scurries off toward the voice. The poor dog was probably just trying to spread the weight of its own abuse. There was no mistaking that flinch” (Orange 170). Opal’s ability to recognize and empathize for the dog’s behavior shows how familiar she is with abuse. After many encounters, Opal is able to come to the realization that abusers are often victims of abuse themselves. Opal knows that she will not be able to protect herself and her family from the violence in the world, and struggles to make a new life. This shows that Opal's conflict was not resolved in the text, but that Opal’s experience with abuse has given her a unique understanding of other people’s emotions. Opal’s experience also makes it clear that more awareness and action needs to be brought to women that are facing abuse and violence in Native American communities. Another character who has

Tony Loneman connects to this, with his addiction to alcohol and drugs. His addiction is due to the fact that he can not find any other way to cope with the challenges that come from being born with fetal alcohol syndrome. This disability makes Toney feel lonely, and judged by other people. As he is being stared at on a train, he explains that “Everyone has been staring at him his whole life. Never for any other reason than the Drome. Never for any other reason than that his face told you something bad happened to him—a car wreck you should but can’t look away from” (Orange 234). By turning to substances to deal with his problems, Toney is led into a life filled with drug dealing and criminal violence. In order to make back money from a drug deal, he is forced to take part in the robbery at the Powwow, where he ends up dying from gunshot wounds. This shows that Toney’s conflict with addiction was not resolved, and created violence in his life. This is all a result of his addiction. His addiction came from his insecurities of being born with fetal alcohol syndrome, due to his own mother's addiction. The issue of addiction is also exposed through Jacquie Red Feather’s story. Jacquie Red Feather has faced a lot of struggle in her life, between getting assaulted as a teenager, and the suicide of her daughter Jamie. To deal with the stress from these traumatic events, she turns to alcohol. Jacquie’s alcoholism leads her to