Whether they are fully or partially Native American, the characters of Tommy Orange’s There There all experience conflicting senses of identity over the course of the novel. Though Orange establishes from the beginning that “Urban Indian” isn’t an inherently oxymoronic identity, many of the characters experience identity confusion from their experiences living in cities where they are minorities. 

Many of the characters, at least initially, feel removed from their Native American identity and culture. Blue, for example, is Native American but lived with white adoptive parents for her entire childhood and felt separated from her heritage. Likewise, Orvil Red Feather has been shielded from his Native American culture by his great-aunt Opal, who fears his culture will lead to trauma in his life as it did in hers. Though he was not physically separated from his Native American culture, Thomas Frank distanced himself from it throughout his adolescence due to embarrassment about his “noticeably Indian” father.

For most of the novel’s characters, the Big Oakland Powwow serves as an opportunity to connect—perhaps for the first time—with their Native American identities. Though the powwow eventually turns to chaos with the robbery and shootout, many characters are able to relate to and take pride in their culture through participation in and observance of Native American traditions. 

The heavy weight of the past and its toll on the present and future is a central theme in There There, as is evidenced by Orange’s prologue, which details events in Native American history dating back to 1621. Orange tells the story of atrocities committed against Native Americans in the prologue and explains how Urban Indians came to live in cities, which serves as a backdrop for his fictional characters’ lives. 

While characters are influenced by recent events in their lifetimes—Jacquie, for instance, fell into alcoholism partially because of the trauma she endured as a teenager—they are also influenced indirectly by the hardships their people have faced throughout history. The historic oppression of Native Americans has led to poverty for many characters: for example, Octavio and his drug-dealing companions are forced into their trade out of financial difficulty and eventually resort to robbery when they become desperate. But Orange doesn’t heap blame on the characters who plan to rob the powwow and instigate violence there. In the novel’s interlude, Orange implies that this violence has been building up and traveling through history; the discrimination, persecution, and identity confusion that Native Americans have faced over the generations have led up to the violence and chaos at the powwow. 

The Oakland powwow allows many characters to connect to their Native American identities and feel a sense of unity among others like them. However, the powwow also unites some characters in a more literal way: readers witness the reunions of not one, but two, characters with parents at the powwow. Edwin is able to meet his father, Harvey, for the first time because Harvey is serving as the powwow’s emcee. Additionally, when Blue goes with Edwin to support him as he introduces himself to Harvey, she realizes that the woman with Harvey—Jacquie Red Feather—is her mother. Blue wonders if Harvey is her father, and because of Jacquie’s previous narrations, the reader knows she is correct. This reunion appears even more amazing when the preceding coincidences are taken into account: Harvey and Jacquie were reunited at a conference for addicts in Albuquerque with a focus on preventing Native American suicides, and Blue and Edwin (who are half-siblings) met each other through their jobs at the Indian Center. The different cultural institutions in this novel—such as the conference, Indian Center, and powwow—allow characters to connect not only in an emotional and spiritual way with their heritage, but also in a literal way with family members they had no expectation of meeting.