Cochu-April2024

Your 6-8 page research paper is due Monday, April 29.

The purpose of this research paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the novel There, There by Tommy Orange. You will do this by referring to secondary sources, learning to incorporate your own voice/analysis with those of experts, and employing MLA guidelines of citation and documentation.

Keep in mind: you are writing an argumentative, not an informative, research paper. That is to say, just like your other essays, this research paper requires a thesis statement that you will be proving. Main ideas should be put forth in a logical order and paragraphs should be guided by topic sentences that support the central thesis. You will need to thoroughly develop your points, using specific evidence from the text. You must use no more or less than three outside sources, coming from at least two of these categories:

1. A book, anthology, or literary journal
2. A scholarly article from the Rutgers library database
3. A reputable internet site.  If you have any doubt as to whether a secondary source is suitable for this assignment, please check in with me!

Your first step is to decide on a topic that interests you (there’s nothing worse than doing a research paper on a topic you find boring). You may come up with your own topic or you may choose from the ones I have provided. You can be as creative as you like in your approach to picking a topic; Tommy Orange provides many historical, socio-political, philosophical and artistic ideas with which to work, so take advantage of them. Feel free, also, to take inspiration from one of the topics I’ve provided and adapt it to your interests. Keep in mind that no matter which topic you choose (either your own, from this list, or something in-between), you’ll still have to come up with your own specific argument that you will develop in your paper.

Topic suggestions:
1. Explore the significance of the title: what is “the there, there” and how does it manifest in the novel? You could think about this in terms of physical setting (the city of Oakland), the relationship between history and place, how the characters’ identities and experiences speak to and/or are shaped by the there, there, or any other angle you’d like to take.

2. Pick any two of the characters and explore the significance of generational cycles and/or curses in their lives. What “wounds” have they inherited? How do the lives of their parents, grandparents, and/or larger histories shape their current lives?

3. Analyze how Tommy Orange questions, complicates, and explores the issue of addiction in Native communities in There, There. How does he break down the stereotypes associated with this issue, as well as address their roots?

4. Explore the significance of the spider metaphor in There, There – the fact that “the spider’s web is both a home and a trap” (101). In what ways do the characters’ experiences in the novel mirror, complicate, and/or otherwise embody this metaphor? How is “home and trap”, as Jacquie says, relevant to the book as a whole?

5. One of the central motifs in this novel is that of storytelling and stories. Write an essay in which you explore the role of storytelling in the novel. You could consider Dene’s documentary-making, the stories that are passed down from Jacquie and Opal’s mom (and the ones that aren’t passed down), how the secondhand stories in the text reflect or inform the plot/characters/themes, or any other angle you’d like to take.

6. Explore the importance of names and naming in the novel. What are the different characters’ relationships to names? What do names hold in this novel; what are their implications? Consider all the different kinds of naming that occur throughout the story.