As with your previous posts, I want you to feel free to respond a specific passage from There, There that strikes you. Equally, I invite you to help me think through an image that has caught my attention. In my own reading, I have been reflecting on some of the interrelated issues raised in the last prompt – the role of storytelling, the negotiation of a Native identity – in light of one of the novel’s recurring symbols: the spider. When Orvil leaves Opal a message about pulling three spider legs out of his leg, for example, this leads Opal to reflect that her own mother had “said spiders carry miles of web in their bodies, miles of story, miles of potential home and trap.” (163). When I first read this sentence, I half-expected it to resolve into “clean,” clear metaphors: web-weaving equals storytelling; discovering a spider in oneself equals discovering one’s own identity. Orange complicates this, though. He implies that the “web” of stories can be alternately – or simultaneously – both “home and trap.” Several pages later, Opal similarly reminds us that the Cheyenne name, “Veho,” means “spider and trickster and white man” (169). In a novel that refers to “spider” some twenty-eight separate times – and, indeed, sometimes embeds the spider image in or on its characters’ bodies – what are we to make of its meaning? Does the figure and function of the “trickster” help us understand Opal’s link between “home and trap?” To return to last session’s questions, how does Orange’s use of the spider-figure provide us a way for think about the difficulties and contradictions involved in negotiating identities? In finding meaning in our lives through storytelling?
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I think the the triple meaning of the Cheyenne word “veho” brings up something interesting for the reader to ponder. In Part III, we learn that Opals mother introduces the comparison between a spiders web and story telling. As mentioned above, there is a clear comparison between a web and a story that the reader could easily expect, but that is not the case. A spider is seen as a trickster, and to the Cheyenne, so did white people, thus the triple meaning of the word was born. When a spider is established as carrying miles of web that weave a story that can serve as a home and a trap, we thus see that as the spider is a trickster, so thus must be the product it produces. After Opal and Jacquie’s mom died, they lived with a man their mom presumably had been dating. He then eventually attempts to possibly molest Jaquie and so Opal hits him with a bat. A place that at one point they called home, really was not, and was nothing more than a facade. Opal even questions if this man was really Indian, or if he is nothing more than a veho, and is just a white person acting like an Indian. Many American Indians, as this story brings up, struggle with their identity because they yearn for a past and a culture that they were never a part of, and are only connected to through stories from relatives, and powwows and other events that maintain small shreds of culture. Resultingly, it may be hard for them to decide where to call home. The reservation, the sovereign territory of the tribes may be some of their birthplaces, and it is representative of their cultures past. But is it home, or is really a trap? It could just be nothing more than misplaced nostalgia for a past that no longer exists, and thus serves as a trap, ensnaring them in a lifelong struggle for their individual identity, that will never be resolved. Story telling plays a roll in this trap, as while the web of the story is weaved by the spider, and stories are told in order to serve as a connection to the past, the listener may feel as if they have found some part of their identity. It seems though, that even with this part found, they still struggle with fitting in to the world around them.
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Opal’s contribution in Part III is quite intriguing. Opal goes about her entire job in a very orderly manner as a result of her superstitious beliefs. The spider- veho, seems to have become a motif in the novel. Orvil and Opal have a parallel of pulling the spider legs out of a lump in their legs and the spider later is referred to by the Chyenne definition of veho that means “spider and trickster and white man” (Orange 169.) What I gathered from this is that the white men have tricked the Native Americans time and time again into abandoning their culture. The white men are synonymous with a spider in the Chyenne culture because they have come and destroyed their home, like a spider’s poisonous venom, has ravished its victim. I think it is odd that the white man and spiders share the definition of the Chyanne word. White men seem to have done the opposite work of spiders; spiders weave webs and combine stories to build a culture, and white men have washed out the culture of the Native Americans. Opal implies that the spider legs inside of her lump in the past and Orvil’s lump are the white man’s act of damaging Native Americans. Opal reflects upon her experiences with Ronald, who, like a spider, destroyed her family and caused her sister, Jacquie, to lose touch with her.
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The web of stories that the spider weaves can be home to some and trap to others. For Opal, the spider legs came the Saturday before she and Jacquie left Ronald’s home. She just had her “first moon” and the two signs opened a new chapter of her life; she was transitioning from childhood to womanhood. Her new maturity and age would certainly be tested when she nearly killed a man with a baseball bat to protect her sister, fleeing in the middle of the night. The spider legs were an omen of the new role Opal was stepping into. She was no longer a child. Opal had to brave the adult world and the particularly heavy burdens that came with her adult role: a homeless, motherless, Native American woman facing generations of prejudice. Her opportunities were slim to none and for the remainder of her years she learned the many difficulties that her cultural identity trapped her in. Opal became “stone solid,” raising her grandchildren with a firm hand “to prepare them for a world made for Native people not to live but to die in, shrink, disappear.” However, Orvil’s spider legs do not have to mean the same thing. His budding interest in his Native American heritage and desire to dance at the powwow show that he could find his true self in his cultural identity. Similarly, Dene is trying to weave a web of stories that feel like home. In broadcasting the lives of different Native American people in his film, he hopes to help others feel included in a group that understands their hardships. The spider figure is contradictory in that while people may find solace in their Native American affiliations, it includes a history of cyclic abuse and suffering that leaves many feeling stuck.
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I believe that Orange uses the spider metaphor to describe storytelling because each person’s story can either provide them comfort like a home or make them feel trapped in their own story. For example, Octavio is trapped by his circumstances which causes him to rob the powwow. Other characters, like Dene feel at home in their story – in fact his story is to tell the story of others, like a web. I believe that “spider” and “trickster” is related because it shows that stories can deceive one into believing they are someone who they are not. Discovering a “spider” in oneself may not be a good thing as you may learn something you wish you did not, showing that it could be a trap. This is important because I believe that the meaning of life is to create a story that will be remembered by others. The spider shows the difficulties in finding one’s true identity and telling a story about oneself.
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The meaning of spiders, and more specifically spider legs, in “There There” is multifaceted, complex, and open to interpretation. We know from the book that the definitions of spider, trickster, and white man all gather under one colloquial term in the Cheyenne language. We can use the quote “spiders carry miles of web in their bodies, miles of story, miles of potential home and trap.” (163) as a lens to interpret the meaning of spiders in the “There There” in different ways. We could assume the quote is referring to the spiders as white people. They came from across the ocean carrying miles of famine, disease, and oppression that they spun around the Native narrative. This is home in that the hardship inflicted on their people is now a part of their identity. It is a trap in that by dwelling on the past they may inadvertently contribute to its persistence. The spiders in the quote could also be viewed as Native Americans. They carry miles and miles of stories, that date back long before the United States was formed. They are home to them because storytelling is tradition, and a part of their culture. They are a trap in that by storytelling, and otherwise practicing their tradition, they risk falling into the neat stereotype vehos have set for them. For my presentation on a critical analysis of “There There” I read a thesis by Greg Riggio on the message and future implications of the novel. At one point Riggio explored the meaning of the spider legs in depth. Riggio agrees “Orvil’s spider legs are emblematic of indigeneity in general,” (Riggio 38). However, he goes on to posit that, “Opal’s spider legs story reflects Indigenous womanhood.” (Riggio 38) His observes that at one point Opal directly quotes a story borrowed from Laguna Pueblo oral tradition: “Ceremony” in which there is a spider who is known as the “Thought Woman,” who created the universe. He goes on to discuss the immense adversity indigenous women have had to overcome. (Riggio 38-39) In short, while there are many different interpretations available for Orange’s repeated metaphorical use of the spider, every interpretation is profoundly centered around modern ideas of indigenous identity, and how these ideas are both homes, and traps.
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In Orvil Red Feather’ segment of There There, the metaphor of the spider deepens as the chapter progresses. At first, spider legs emerge from his aunt’s leg, yet Orange does not focus on this occurrence. At first glance, this can be deemed as a metaphor which relates to the shedding of Indian culture in order to better assimilate into white culture in America. However, Orange denies this perspective towards the end of the chapter, when Orvil releases a spider of his own. He describes it as a “lump that’s been in his leg a slong as he can remember, as of late it’s been itching” (162). Taking a closer look, I believe the spider represents Orvil’s Native culture. In the chapter, he prepares to dance at the big powwow, which was a celebration of Native culture. However, his caretaker and aunt, Opal, has refused to expose him to the Native culture. As a result, Opal often tries to find out more about the Native American culture, yet his great-aunt discourages this, symbolically pushing it under his skin. As he gets closer to his heritage and culture, the “spider” comes closer to the surface. This demonstrates how negotiating between two cultures proved difficult for many Native Americans. On one hand, they felt a strong connection to their Native American heritage and communities. On the other, they often labeled their heritage as a source of discrimination, prejudice, and one more aspect to be judged on. For this reason, many Native Americans, especially in urban, contemporary environments, oppressed their culture and heritage. However, as evident with Orvil’s spider, some chose to become closer with their culture and dispel common sentiments which fought against it.
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Orange’s use of this portrayal of spiders gives us many indications about the difficulties within the characters. Each of them are far different from one another. Since each of them are so different, they each struggle with different things involving identity. For example, the most interesting character to me is Octavio, until Part 3, we picture him as the mastermind behind the powwow plot. Yet, when we hear him speak in his own words, he is not what we assume he would be like. He is greatly troubled by his own personal tragedies that he has had to deal with in his own life. Octavio becomes a prime example of someone who is still “”negotiating” identity. Both in himself and in the way the reader views him.
This can help us find meaning in our own lives through story telling by the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”. This becomes relevant because if we go back and continue to tell these stories later on in life we can learn new things from the past because of what we have gone through in our lives. If we go back and tell stories from our childhood, it can still give us an indication into things we did not previously thought about.
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It is interesting to note that “veho” is synonymous with “trickster and white man”. Additionally, the duality of a “web of stories” as a “home and trap” brings up an interesting point from Orange’s story telling. The dual, and even triple, meaning of “veho” and a “web of stories” shows the contrasting feelings and resulting actions that come about from stories. On the one hand stories provide a sense of belonging, hopefulness, and peace. Yet a danger arises from these very feelings. If the story is false, is there really a sense of belonging or peace? Or does one begin to feel even more lost once the truth is discovered? Opal seems to have experienced this duality in their own home. Her upbringing presented several potentially false stories. Even though false, they now define who she is now. She attempts to hide herself from her false upbringing but in the process lives a false life herself. By ignoring the falsehoods of her true culture she creates her own problems that she could have avoided. Here comes the tangle of webs, or stories, that Orange so clearly focuses on. By running from “the web” she just creates more tangles. The Natives in Orange’s There There struggle with finding their own identity. Many turn to stories to help them find it, but when the truth goes against who they thought they were, an internal struggle arises.
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Orange intentionally makes symbolism of the spider very nuanced. Early in Opal’s section in Part III, we are introduced the scene where Opal’s mother does not allow her to kill the spider. Only a few pages later, we realize that much earlier in her life Opal also did not kill Ronald. The parallels between Ronal and the spider introduce a completely different facet of the spider symbol. The dialogue between Opal and her mother seem to suggest that spiders are to be spared out of affection or respect. Opal’s mother’s regard for the expansive webs stored inside spiders likens the spiders to Orange’s depiction of Native Americans. Native American’s are increasingly a small speck relative to the white population – just as a spider is morphed in comparison to a human body – but they still contain a long rich history that most never appreciate – akin to the spider’s long web.
The symbol, however, is not that clean. Orange’s introduction of “home and trap” proposes that there is another aspect of the symbol not explained above. As I see it, the above comparison of Native Americans to the spider is the “home” part of the symbol. The “trap” part of the symbol relates to the comparison of the spider to white treatment of the Native American culture and false promises of white America. Therefore, I think Orange created what I perceive to be a parallel between Ronald and the spider. Ronald is portrayed as seeming to be white but also engaging in parts of the Native American community. Opal clearly disapproved of him thus why she was so distraught to find him living in the house years later.
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I think Orange uses the spider to resemble both people finding their identities and the complexity upon tricksters. The spider shouldn’t be killed as showed in the story because of the web. Orange takes this to a further level to the spider not to be as innocent as it may appear. The web is not just made to nourish the spider and make a home, but also to trap others and kill them. A trickster doesn’t always appear to be bad, such as Ronald with Opal, Sixto and Octavio, Paul to Blue. To Opal, Octavio, and Blue these people did not seem bad at first, but in effort to find themselves, they were involved with them and they turned to be like a trickster or spider and harm them with the web that these characters became intertwined with. The spider is also a good comparison because there are many different types of spiders and people, some more or less aggressive just like people. The webs they make are to catch different prey and weaves a different story. The web could also represent the web of our minds. Out minds are interconnected with neurons and pathways all working together similar to the web of a spider. As the spider has to recreate its web from things damaging it; we have to recreate new neuron pathways and decide the decisions we make based upon the things that happen to us. Through the example of the spider and correlating it to people Orange makes us contemplate how a spiders web can relate to our own life stories. A side note I realized in the reading was that there seems to be a trend. The people who know of their past seem to want to forget it or like they are an impostor. Those who don’t think it will fix themselves feeling lost. Maybe Orange is trying to demonstrate to us that whether we know our past or not it isn’t what our struggles are coming from; instead, its from deeper things within ourselves.
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The spider references serve a dual purpose for their placement in There There. Opal is particularly involved with concept of the home and the trap both originating from the spiders silk. The key that I pulled from this is the matter of perspective. For Ronald, his house is a cozy home. For Opal and Jacquie, it is a spiders trap that they barely escaped. This is who she is directing the term “Veho” at (169). This perception is skewed them, but because of his actions she now perceives him to be the stereotypical deceitful white man. The spider fits this memory well because it captures the creative storytelling aspect without losing the raw reality of the hardships that don’t make it into stories being told to showcase the good parts of Urban Indian life. This type of narrative fits into Dene’s goal of better capturing the ‘whole spider’ with both the home and the trap. Opal had another spider experience in her youth with the boy named Lucas. He had developed a homely connection with her then took off, leaving her heartbroken. In Opal’s memories he is a bittersweet combination of a home feeling and pain from being left behind. For Octavio Gomez, he witnessed a moment like this when he dragged his cousins’ injured father out the door after a violent altercation. They wanted him gone for what he was doing, but they simultaneously wanted his previous self back in their life. This experience, while not isolated to any certain community, showed their perspective to see their father for both his caring past and his current drunken and deranged violence. By giving experience where there is a ‘spider’ with both its home and its trap, the author shows its universal applicability.
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Tommy Orange’s metaphorical use of a spider throughout his novel serves as an underlying representation for a variety of themes. Among those, however, the predominant use of this symbolism is meant to portray the native american’s struggle holding onto an identity that time and time again has been exploited. Referring to Captain Slayer’s discussion regarding how Orange intentionally blurs the lines of his metaphor, implying that stories can be both “home and trap,” at first, I recognized the applications of this reality were fairly ubiquitous to each character. Their stories are riddled with self-identity crises; an intermix of challenges to both reconcile familial histories which are so essential and yet, avoid the repetitive cycle of disadvantagement. However, when Opal shares the translation of the Cheyenne name, “Veho,” my entire perspective was flipped on its head. Originally, I had believed that each of these characters were their own spider. I assumed that the miles of webs being weaved throughout the book would be considered their own past. However, “Veho” literally means “spider and trickster and white men.” Therefore, Orange uses Opal to make the statement that the people spinning webs of native american history are not the native americans at all. Rather, it is the white man, the trickster, who bears a majority of responsibility for their condition. Thus, Orange’s use of the spider-figure demonstrates to the audience how their identity has continually been challenged and altered over time. Orange writes in impersonation of the “Veho,” “Look. See here, the way it’s gonna be is, first you’re gonna give me all your land, then your attention, until you forget how to give it. Until your eyes are drained and you can’t see behind you and there’s nothing ahead, and the needle, the bottle, or the pipe is the only thing in sight that makes any sense” (p. 105). He emphasizing this condition throughout the experiences of his characters in the book.
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Tommy Orange’s open to interpretation use of spiders is a way to exemplify the complex and intertwined relationships within the Native culture. As the story unfolds, the obvious comparison arises with a web of stories that are all intertwined and connect, but the emergence of the trickster aspect presents a different and complex perspective. In this story, when one feels they have a grasp on where things are headed a curve ball changes everything. The “trickster” meaning creates an interesting link between home and a trap. This new Native generation struggles to truly feel that this new urban lifestyle is really “home,” because in the past they have been tricked into falling victim to the white man. Within the native culture, identity is a difficult thing pinpoint because the last hold on the heritage of these people is through storytelling. The story’s the Denes gets from his project all depict a modern struggle of being native, they have no purpose like the stories of their past heritage, and I believe that finding the meaning of life is represented by the stories we tell. In terms of this novel, Orange has created an interconnected webwork of stories that create difficulties and contradictions to each other, which brings up the component of perspective and who is telling the story. The spider-figure appearing in the different characters creates a link that presents difficulties and contradiction negotiating identities due to the fact that we all have our own story to tell and it may contradict with someone else’s story causing an attack and conflict on the others identity. Story telling as a way to identify with the past is difficult because as stories age and perspective influences them the story can change and when they are told in the present these new stories that based off the original conflict and create contradicting identities.
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I think Orange uses the spider and its web to represent the internal struggle experienced by Native Americans trying to define themselves, a central theme throughout the story. The web is both a home and a trap. These are not two separate things, but rather closely intertwined. I think that Orange is trying to communicate that the Native identity, while “home” for so many, is also a trap, inhabited by the dreaded veho, the white man. While it is important to stay close to your heritage and roots, the roots of Native Americans are full of bloodshed and being tossed around like trash by the colonizers. I think Orange is trying to say that identifying too closely with the Native American identity can cause one to trap themselves into becoming a victim to the white man, just like their ancestors. While the web is important to come back to, staying in it too long will alert the spider, on its way to feed. However, it’s impossible to ever really leave, as a web is super sticky. Just as prey cannot escape the web, neither can the characters of the story escape their Native American heritage. It always finds a way to come back up. I believe the figure of the veho being both the “trickster” and the “white man” is an homage to many of the so many programs installed by the government to “help” Native Americans, like the reservation system, or trying to assimilate them into the cities. While framed as noble and good-hearted programs, these are seen by the Native community as harmful, either trying to trap them on down-ridden reservations or trying to totally erase their culture by putting them into the cities.
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The triple-meaning of veho is interesting and provides a new, albeit complex lens through which the reader can understand Native American culture and the difficulties that it has endured as a result of “white man’s” culture. The image of the spider, and specifically spider webs, stems from the story from Opal’s mother than story-telling and spiderwebs are related. This makes sense at first glance: a story, much like a spiderweb, can be complex in design and detail but at the same time provide a home for the “storyteller.” In one case, a storyteller’s story is, in a sense, the storyteller’s home in that the story might contain intimate details of the storyteller’s life to whom they are unique. The story is a form of a comfort zone, just like how a spider’s web, while unique to each spider, serves as the spider’s home. However, Orange complicates this metaphor by revealing veho not only refers to spiders but also to “trickster and white man” (169). Story’s might be the comfort zone to a storyteller, but the story may take on a different role for the listeners. In the case of these Natives, the storyteller is the white man and they are the listeners. The white man’s story intrudes on Native American culture, essentially “tricking” Native Americans to assimilate into this new culture by embracing the white man’s story, and in doing so abandoning their own. In this understanding, a spider (a person) and its web (their story), the white man, and tricksters are all synonymous. One cannot exist without the other. Opal experienced such a complex relationship when she beat Ronald, whom she and her sister Jacquie lived with after their mother’s death, with a bat after he attempted to assault Jacquie. Ronald was ambiguous in his heritage—Opal did not know whether he was truly Native American or just white. This ambiguity—this complexity—gave Opal a confused understanding of what “home” is. Is “home” the same place where a mysterious man would assault her sister? This confusion embodies veho: one person’s home might be a terrible place for another, and accepting this home may involve abandoning every aspect of “home” that one previously clung to.
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The metaphor of a spider is very fitting to compare to storytelling. The spider has become somewhat of a symbol for storytelling as a whole in the story because it appears so frequently. Characters react differently to the presence of the spider, which affects their actions and satisfaction within their own stories. When orange introduces the idea of the spider’s web of stories feeling like a home or a trap, this fits the sort of dual meaning this symbol represents. In the context of urban Indian life. The spider can represent their ties to Native culture that they either avoid or embrace. One could embrace the native culture and apply it to their daily life, or they could see it as vestigial and a barrier to their assimilation into the modern world. The metaphor comparing Native culture to a spider/spider bite on Opal’s leg, itching and driving him mad as he wants to learn more. He considers the spider as part of his identity where some others want to get on with a more simple life.
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The passage that that caught my attention in this reading came from Octavio’s grandmother, Josefina. When she is talking to Octavio about the demons that haunt their family, she states that, “some of us got this feeling stuck inside, all the time, like we’ve done something wrong. Like we ourselves are something wrong. Like who we are deep inside, that thing we want to name but can’t, it’s like we’re afraid we’ll be punished for it.” To me, this passage holds significant not just to Octavio, but to every character in this novel. No matter their background, upbringing, or connection to “true” native culture, all the characters seem lost. They find solace in different ways, alcohol, art, music, crime, but all of it stems from a feeling of not belonging. Fina’s quote struck me as a good example of the theme of this story, and depicted a feeling that is implied to exist in all Native Americans today. In regard to the spider legs, the white/spider/trickster, and the home/trap, it seems like an apt metaphor for the state Natives find themselves in today. The home of Native Americans, especially those Urban ones, is the home/trap mentioned. The web that provides comfort and pain. The Urban Natives seem to live in a world that is not their own, and in all honestly, is dominated by the white men who took their home from then. By living in this world, the Natives seem to feel out of place and trapped, but given the option, would never choose to leave what has now become their home.
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Storytelling is a form of history, and history is far from black and white. Similarly, negotiating identity is far from black and white as well. It is full of difficulties and contradictions between what we think, what we are told, and what the history books tell us. Depending upon what history books you’re reading and who’s speaking to you, you may be telling yourself different things. This can lead groups of people, such as Native Americans, to develop thinking traps to form their identities. This is the “spider” within all of us. An idea that holds us back from being what we could be. Here lays the true importance of storytelling in any culture or group. Storytelling often involves allegories to convey moral purpose and meaning. This creates an idea for a culture or ethnicity to look up for a strive too. It’s is a responsibility, a meaning, something to live up to. It’s the ideal of what we could be! In today’s world, storytelling can be both a home and a trap for Native Americans. For the idea of home, it is maintaining their previous cultural identity through spirituality, dance, and of course the all-important stories and allegories. At the same time, it can be a trap for embracing the world and the new country they live in. The idea of a trickster falls into the grey area in this sense, as it is both a home and a trap. The trickster is the archetype for the trap in the sense that the trickster is a rebel for the sake of being a rebel, but it is also an archetype for the idea of home in the sense that it remains a culture rooted in its foundations and openly questions any actions that seek to infringe upon that foundation.
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I believe Orange incorporates the Spider many times in order to leave the meaning to our own interpretation. The word Veho, and the web of the spider, both have more than one meaning. This ambiguity is what allows the reader to form their own interpretations of the story and the web as they are mentioned. First we will take a look at the web, a web in itself is a story, yet in it you can not recognize where it started or ended, but it interconnects a lot of pieces. Depending on who you are in the web or story, the web (story) can either help or harm you. In the case that you are a bug that happened to get caught in the web, you are likely to fall prey to the Veho. The Veho would be a spider, but it can also be seen as “the white man” or a trickster. This could be reflective of how the Native people felt as the white man took away their identity and made their webs not theirs anymore. The Native people were originally the spider’s that created their own story and web, but after the “White men” came, they invaded their web and transformed it from their home to a trap. They are no longer the makers of their own home and web, but now at the mercy of the Veho, and they now determine how the story goes. This idea of a web and the Vehos are a story within itself. This adds onto the idea of storytelling being a crucial part in self-identifying yourself as discussed last post. Yet, in this sense of story-telling, they are not trying to find their own native identity, but trying to discover where they are and who they are on this web.
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I believe that Orange’s usage of the spider is in one meaning meant to represent the Native American people. I did not see the connection until I reread Opal’s quote that “spiders carry miles of web in their bodies, miles of story, miles of potential home and trap.” (163) Upon rereading this, I saw an immediate connection between Native Americans and Spiders because both are part of the land. People always say, “don’t kill spiders,” but no one ever listens even though spiders do a tremendous amount of good for the environment. In Opal’s quote, she says spiders carry miles of stories, and miles of potential homes, this specifically relates to Native Americans because they had miles of homes and they had endless stories until colonization. During colonization, just like today, people saw the “spiders” as a nuisance and as something that needed to be exterminated in order for a proper way of life, expect the spiders they exterminated during colonization were not the typical eight-legged arachnid, but the unexpecting Native Americans. Additionally, I believe that the image Opal paints about spider legs coming out of her and Orvil’s legs is meant to signify the similarity between Native Americans and spiders, considering a spider is coming out of them like childbirth. However, at the same time cannot represent Native Americans because Opal characterizes the spider legs that came out of her as “something so horrible,” and no self-respecting Native American would characterize something meant to represent their people in that manner. Sequentially, Opal says the native word Veho means, “Spider, trickster, and the white man.” In this sense, I believe spider relates to the colonizers because they were white men who tricked unsuspecting Native Americans into giving up their land. Essentially, I believe that there are two different references to the spider, the first one is positive where Opal says not to kill them and refers to natives, and the second one, Veho, is negative and refers to colonizers.
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I do think the spider metaphor is a very interesting concept that plays a big role throughout the novel. Though I do think the spider represent a body that carries webs of stories, the more intriguing explanation of the metaphor is the “home and trap” part of it (163). I think the spider represents the home and trap simultaneously. Considering one of Opal homes when she was a child was Alcatraz, an island made for trapping prisoners, and her next home was one that showed what was trapped inside Opal and Jacquie. Ronald became a trap as well. When the girls lived in his house, he gave Opal the wrong vibe and she knew to beware of his actions. After the one-night Ronald went over to the end of Jacquie’s bed, the girls never went back. Even after they had left, Ronald was still an obstacle Opal couldn’t overcome. She didn’t plan on going back to Ronald to see if she had killed him, but after telling Lucas, she went to find out because he said “… it would eat her up eventually if she didn’t find out for sure about Ronald” (169). And the Cheyenne name, “Veho” is mentioned by Opal to describe Ronald. Though she wasn’t sure if Ronald was a white, she knew that Ronal fit the rest of he definition of a “Veho.”
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Tommy Orange uses the spider-figure to provide a way to think about the difficulties and contradictions involved in negotiating identities. In one part of the book, Opal’s mother does not allow them to kill the spiders because “…spiders carry miles of webs in their bodies, miles of story, miles of potential home and trap. She said that’s what we are. Home and trap”. I interpreted the miles of webbing in the spider’s body as the identity and vast history of the Native Americans that give them their identity. Many other people have figuratively killed the spiders, thus eliminating an important part of the Native American’s history and identity. Because many of the spiders are dead, Native Americans find difficulty understanding the meaning of their lives. The “webs” of storytelling have been cut short and detached over time, so they become harder to trace. Moreover, I also interpreted that spiders carry many untold stories of future homes and traps similarly to how Opal and many other characters in the book carry their own unfolding stories of wins and losses. Further, when Orvil leaves Opal a message about pulling three spider legs out of his leg, I inferred that the pulling of the spiders represented how Orvil, along with many other young Native Americans, are emerging into adulthood and finally being able to grasp the realities of their environment. Orvil is pulling the spider legs out of his leg because the spider legs were restricting. Your legs represent mobility. Now that the spider legs are pulled out, Orvil is able to move forward.
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When we first hear about the spider and its miles of web, miles of story, and miles of potential home and trap, it is natural to first directly associate the spider and its web to a person and the story their life tells. Although this is the first interpretation I felt, I think the metaphor of the spider and its web runs much deeper. Opal’s mother mentions that spiders webs are both a home and trap. Later on her mother also says they are just like humans. A spiders web is a home for itself and a trap for other insects. The spider comes all by itself, but very quickly makes a web that traps everything around it. Later in the book we also learn about the word veho. It has a variety of translations including spider, trickster, and white man. The white man is like a spider. I think that the spider and its web directly relates to how the white man took the Native American’s land. They came looking irrelevant, but soon created a society that trapped the Native Americans. The natives of past had their land taken. The natives of the present have had their culture taken by the white man. The white man has tricked the natives into entering their spider web trap. I think veho also relates to Opal and Ronald. After Opal’s mother passed away, she continued to live with Ronald who offered her a “home”. Later on, Opal wakes up to Ronald possibly trying to molest Jacquie. He created a false hope for home and instead created a trap for the two.
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I definitely agree that the “spider” references begin to have a mixed meaning when it is connected to idea of a “trickster and white man.” I idea of a “trickster” plays into this reference on a couple levels I believe. On the level of the relationship between the reader and the narrative, I believe the “trickster” idea helps create the sense of confusion that we are experiencing. This feeling is intentional by Orange to expose the reader to how the characters are feeling. These characters are searching for meaning in their lives through their identity which is strongly connected to the story of their ancestors. This is where the next level of the “trickster” spider comes into play as the characters struggle to find their identity. This relates to Opal’s idea of “home and trap.” I believe the meaning behind this is the struggle between finding one’s home, their identity, in the story of their past and losing one’s self in the sorrow or misdirection of their past. All these characters are negotiating their identities and resort to stories of their past to find a conclusion. Difficulties that are involved include ignoring what the stories are saying, disapproval, anger, confusion, shame, etc. all of which hinder the individual to accept their story and identity with it.
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Orange incorporates the spider metaphor in a very interesting way. In the last discussion post, I predicted that Orange would further complicate the text and his focus on story telling and this holds true throughout part three of the novel. This complication is clearly seen when Opal’s mother introduces the comparison between a spider’s web and storytelling and as readers are reminded of the word “veho” which has three meanings. Those three meanings are “spider and trickster and white man” (Orange 169). The spider’s web represents storytelling in the way that it represents both a web and a trap. Because the Native Americans have relied on storytelling in order to stay connected to their culture, it is like a web or something they can fall back on when they struggle with their identity. Although storytelling can provide them with this sort of safety net and sense of home, it can also act as a trap which would mean the spider is the trickster, or the white man. By telling their stories, they face falling into a trap that was ultimately set up by the white man when the Natives were forced to give up a piece of their culture by moving to the cities. This is where the struggle emerges when it comes to difficulties and contradictions involved in negotiating identities. Storytelling seems to be a double-edged sword. If storytelling is what connects and helps solidify one’s identity, but it is also a potential trap, then where is the balance? I believe this complicated metaphor is important to consider as storytelling does indeed help people find meaning in their lives, but it does not come without the potential to trap you in.
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The link between the spider and the characters is interesting. One thing I have noticed surface throughout the story is how each and every character is connected in some way, mainly they all have Native blood in them. However, more significantly, a good amount of the characters are actually related to each other. The driving link between each of the characters and their inevitable meet up is the Powwow. Each characters somehow has a reason to go to the Powwow, either to meet family, make money, or simply to connect with their heritage. One way or another, the character’s life events have brought them to a position to end up at the Oakland Powwow. The link to each other is like the web from a spider, a seemingly important symbol throughout the story, and symbolizes how they are all connected to each other. Additionally, I believe it can help portray the trap of it all. They are all heading to a Powwow which is set up to be robbed. Additionally, I think the web helps to pull back to the idea of storytelling can add meaning to our lives. The web is something a spider carries around with them, something that they leave behind. In a way, the web is the spiders story, showing where it has been and what it has done. Stories are also like that for us. They reveal what we have done, how we react to things, and how we perceive ourselves depending on how elaborate our stories may be.
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In the There There Orvil Red Feather segment, the spider’s metaphor deepens as the chapter progresses. At first, the spider legs emerge from her aunt’s leg, but Orange does not focus on this fact. At first glance, this can be seen as a metaphor related to the abandonment of Indian culture to better integrate with white culture in the United States. However, Orange denies this prospect towards the end of the chapter, when Orvil launches its own spider. He describes it as “a lump that has been very thin on your leg, as you remember, it has been itching lately” (162). On closer inspection, I think the spider represents the native culture of Orvil. In the chapter, he prepares to dance at the big pow-wow, which was a celebration of indigenous culture. However, her caretaker and aunt, Opal, refused to expose her to native culture. As a result, Opal often tries to learn more about Native American culture, but is symbolically discouraged by his great-aunt. As it gets closer to its heritage and culture, the “spider” gets closer to the surface. This shows how difficult negotiation between two cultures was for many Native Americans. On the one hand, they felt a close link with their heritage and the Amerindian communities. On the other hand, they have often called their heritage a source of discrimination, prejudice, and one more aspect to be judged. For this reason, many Native Americans, particularly in urban and contemporary settings, have oppressed their culture and heritage. However, as is evident with the Orvil spider, some have chosen to approach their culture and dispel the common feelings that have fought against it.
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I think that the spider in the sense of the book is that it wavers between home and trap. It could also appear at points where characters are at an impasse. They have an opportunity to do one of two things and based on their response, it could end one of 2 ways. For example, on page 164, Opal is reminded of the bump on her leg that the spider’s legs came out of. Rather than ask questions, she leaves an issue between the three boys alone. The book describes “Actually, it was like the bum I her leg that spider legs had come out of. The bump had never gone away. Were there more legs in there? Was that the spider’s body? Opal had stopped asking questions a long time ago. The bump remained” (Orange). Opal has one of two options. She can ask the boys about the issue on her mind, and essentially set a trap for them so they would have to answer, or she could leave the issue alone and keep the home environment that they have. In this situation, the spider she chooses is home by not pressing the issue. I also noticed that Octavio’s name is a reminder of a spider. Octavio reminds me of an octagon, and a spider with 8 legs and eyes. I think that Orange is tying the metaphor to Octavio because he is intertwined with so many of the characters. Some view him as family and even end up at his house, while other think that he is a trap waiting to spring and destroy everything they love. In addition, he is weaving a web so that he can rob the powwow. He pulls in many different characters, each with an important role to play in his web of a plan.
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I think that Orange uses the metaphor of a “web” of stories that could be a home or trap because spider webs are both a home and a trap it just depends on who you are. If we put that into context of the word “Veho” where one of the meanings refers to a trickster or white people along with spider we can interpret what Orange is trying to say in regards to his webs. Due to the fact that Orange uses Opal to make the connection with Spiders and White people we could say that the natives are caught up in the web of the white men. This can represent how the natives throughout history have been tricked by the white men. However, the natives have also adapted to these new environments where they now have made the web created by the white men into their own homes. It could also be interpreted as individual struggles each person through their lives. Some will be caught up in the web and get stuck in life while others will turn the web into their home and gain the control to guide themselves through life freely. Also it can be noted that just because you are stuck in the web does not mean that you can’t free yourself and move on.
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When I first read about the spider legs earlier in the book, I was very confused to what was being discussed and why a spider had any significance to the story. The mention of spiders keeps re-occurring throughout the lives of different characters, all in different ways. While Orvil pulls spider legs out of his leg, Jacquie has a spider web tattooed on the top of her foot. The way that I interpret use of spiders and spider webs through out the book is that the true meaning behind the spider belongs to the character. For example, when Opal reflects on her mother’s opinion toward spiders and how they, “carry miles of web in their bodies, miles of story, miles of potential home and trap,” there are different interpretations of this. If a spider’s web represents stories to be told and/or storytelling in general, then the “home and trap” meaning makes sense in regard to Opal’s experiences. Stories can connect people to their past, and that can give people a sense of belonging to somewhere (home) with purpose and meaning. Based on the text, Opal hates her past and doesn’t want to be associated with it very much, which is apparent by how she partially shelters her grandchildren from their Native culture. In this case, stories about her past, or spider webs, could give her a sense of feeling trapped or held back. Whereas Opal feels this way, other characters such as Orvil or Jacquie don’t necessarily reciprocate those same feelings about the meaning behind a spider, which in turn changes the meaning of its influence throughout the book.
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The metaphor of the spider and spider web represent several different aspects of the characters’ lives within part 3, and continues on the story telling nature of the novel. I can see the metaphor of a spider representing two different things within the text. On one hand, along with the definition provided of the word veho, “spider and trickster and white man” (169), I see the spider representing the white people who took Oakland away from the Native Americans. This spider weaves a web that traps the Native Americans in Oakland while separating them from their culture. On the other hand, I can see the spider representing Native culture like the ones that emerged from Orvil’s leg. This spider weaves a web that creates a home for the modern Natives and an identity that they can claim. Additionally, in a general sense the spider could represent the internal conflict that the characters face: whether they will embrace their Native heritage or see it as a negative thing in their lives.
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In part three of There There, Tommy Orange continues developing characters in preparation for the final powwow in the story. Through this section, Orange shares the perspectives of Opal and her adopted grandchildren, Octavio, Daniel, Blue, and Thomas. Each section has important context added to the respective character(s) but Opal’s section stands out. Orange uses fascinating imagery right off the start by describing Opal’s view as she looks in her truck’s mirror as she has for years. This reminds us that identity can be defined by how a person views themselves. Opal sees her year’s and her story on her face as, “cracks in the concrete” (255). She is pessimistic about her identity and in turn tries to hide her adopted grandchildren from their own pasts. She does this by refusing to let them be Indian and then in this section, not sharing the stories she was told about spiders. Orvil pulled the spider legs out of his leg in part two, and the aftermath comes up in part three. He told his grandma but then it never comes up in conversation. Opal chooses not to share with him her own story about pulling spider legs out of her leg. This information connects the two characters but only Opal has the stories that go along with the meaning of spiders. Her mother used to tell her that spider webs contained stories and that spiders were tricksters. The metaphor is messy because spiders represent stories but also the bad experiences that come with those stories. In Jacquie’s story, the spider’s web contains her past, alcoholism, and losing her daughter. In part four, I think that more will be clear as to what the spider’s legs in Orvil mean.
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Fitting with the theme of the class (representation), the imagery of spiders is an aspect of the novel that is representative of a key aspect, stories. The meaning behind spiders varies throughout the novel. A good starting point to understanding the spider imagery/representation is to use Opal’s link between “home and trap.” The stories or spider webs represent a home or identity. Or they can represent something that may tangle them up in confusion; in some cases, they represent both. In the case of Jacquie, the webs represent a home and trap. In the scene in the chapter titled “Jacquie Red Feather”, she looks in the mirror, and her tattoos are revealed. She has feathers tattooed on her arms for her mother and sister, representative of Indian culture. On her feet though, she has spider webbing. Immediately after looking in the mirror, she received a text from Opal explaining Orvil’s spider legs in his leg. The chapter ends with Jacquie deciding to come to Oakland to reconnect with her grandsons and sister. The reason the spider web is representative of a home to Jacquie is that her story is the reason that she will reconnect with her family. She embraces her story, or her web, that is why she was at the conference for the prevention for Indian suicide in the first place. The scene perfectly shows the representation of the spider web as Jacquie’s story by connecting her past using tattoos and then having her receive a text about her grandson immediately after. Jacquie’s internal debate about whether or not to assume the identity of the grandmother to Orvil, Loother, and Lony is difficult because the “trap” aspect to her story, the death of her daughter” reveals so much pain. Her identity struggle has to do with her past, her story.
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Orange continues his themes that he established in the first two parts of “There There” in his third and fourth part. He continues his themes of substance abuse and the inheritance of poverty that has become commonplace among the Native American people. While these themes are present in these sections however I noticed that he has shifted his focus to the theme of violence and specifically the cycle of violence that the people have become trapped in. Octavio Gomez is not an inherently violent person. However, his environment has exposed him to violence, and he believes that he must use violence to escape the poverty and violence that his family lives in. He is deeply affected by the death of his father and the abuse of his aunt by her husband. These events exposed him to violence and hardened him as a person to where he is willing to use violence to escape the cycle that he lives in. He wants the money at the pow-wow because he believes that it will help his family rise above the poverty that has caused them to live through the violence of his past, however violence will not allow one to escape its clutches so easily and during this heist the cycle of violence that has claimed his loved ones claims him as well when Charles and Carlos betray the group out of selfish greed. This greed turns what should have been a robbery with no shots fired into the shootout that claims the lives of so many and likely begins new cycles of violence among those who are affected.
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Last response, I talked about the idea of connection paralleled with storytelling, as a story is a gateway to the Native American culture. Furthermore, the idea of a story can be paired with the image of a spider, as seen in the story. How can the Native American Culture tie with a spider? Opal’s mother states that “spiders carry miles of web in their bodies,” specifically “miles of story,”(163). When you think of a web, you see millions of string like webbing all connected with each other. The connections are all the experiences the characters in the novel experience, for the good or the bad. For Natives, their story is full of “miles of potential home and trap[s],” (163). This reflects the good in life and the bad in life. From the occupation of Alcatraz to and the good things that happened to Opal, they are all represented on the web. We also know from the novel that both Orval and Opal get spider bumps when they are at the age of puberty. Similar to how puberty works with the coming of age, the spider bump reflects the coming of Native Culture. Both characters are on the quest to be more connected with the native culture, as Orvil wants to learn more about the history of Native Americans while Opal resists it. However, they will both find the culture, because a story, or a web, can be filled with good events or bad events. No matter what, the web is still going to grow. The spider web reflects the connection and the discovering of the Native American culture.
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In “There There,” Orange uses the image of a spider and a spider web to show a deeper meaning in his theme of identity. Orange calls a spider web a “home and trap” with “miles of story” to compare it to Native Americans (163). At surface level, this metaphor seems like it is describing the tradition of Native American story telling and how their line of ancestors is like a spider web. Thinking more about Orange’s themes in the novel helped me to find a different meaning from this metaphor, one with a more unfortunate reality. When Opal says “spiders carry miles of web in their bodies” she could be referring to Native Americans carrying the weight of all the hardships they have faced over the years (163). When she refers to a spider web being a home and a trap, she is describing the grim reality of life on Native American reservations. While a reservation is home for Native Americans, it is often a trap that is hard to escape because of poverty, alcoholism, poor education, etc. The word “trickster” which Opal uses with “spider” and “white man” emphasizes this idea that because of the white man, Native American reservations have become a trap. This metaphor allows the reader to come to their own realization about the imagery of a spider which allows the reader to have a stronger emotional connection to it. Orange uses techniques like this throughout the whole novel, to allow his message to resonate more with the reader.
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Through the use of spiders and their role with character’s like Opal and Orvil Redfeather, I think that Orange symbols the multitude of ways that Native Americans have been tricked into assimilating and losing their culture in a web of tangled stories. The tangled cobweb of stories of the characters are formed by the trickery of the spider, or as the Cheyenne name “Veho” suggests, the white man. Through interactions with white men Native Americans had been taken away from their culture, tricked into assimilating and abandoning their heritage. This assimilation proved to cause a confusion of identity when modern Native Americans raised in the urban world, like Orvil, removed from the knowledge of their heritage then looked to their culture for a sense of understanding and a semblance of an identity. I believe that the spider web of stories Orange discusses is the many identities that Native Americans may feel as if they have due to the trickery of their assimilation that has resulted in urban natives feeling as if their identity is undefined or maybe even defined too many times to the point of a web of identities. I believe that while the spider legs symbolize the trickery of Native Americans and their confusion regarding their identity in relation to their culture, the symbolism of the spider legs coming out of Orvil’s thigh symbolizes that the confusion is being relieved. As Orvil sought to understand his culture and learn to dance so he could participate, he began the process of untangling the web of identity confusion.
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Part III of “There There” continues on developing the struggles faced by Natives through stories of people within who are engulfed by the struggle that being a native creates for them. Blue or Crystal is one such of those characters that strikes me a little deeper than the rest. She struggles herself with this false sense of identity that she feels she cannot reconcile despite her best efforts. In a way because of her upbringing in what some would consider privilege and her exposure to non-Native culture by means of her adopted family she seemed detached from her ancestry. She would try to compensate by means of giving back towards the Native community to attempt to become more in touch with what she always wanted instead of her false identity. Blue actually got her name from when she wed Paul and through a tipi ceremony she was given the name Blue Vapor of Life. She met her husband Paul through work at a Indian community center where she along with Paul and his father would conduct traditional ceremonies. But not too long after Paul’s father died he became abusive with Blue forcing her to escape him through moving back to Oakland where she was raised. It came to light after her eighteenth birthday who her biological mother was as well which really connected things. It turns out that her mother was Jacquie Red Feather and that she was the baby caused from Harvey’s assault of her earlier in the book. This even ties to her assertion of how alcohol is like a spider web and is both a trap and a home. This is something that Blue sees almost the same with her husband after his abuse of her which was fueled many times by drunken rage.
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The name “Veho” in Cheyenne was likely adapted over time and came to mean “white man” as the Europeans encroached on Cheyenne territory through various wars, treaties, and broken deals. Also most obviously, Opal’s link between “home and trap” with respect to spiders is like a web. The spider makes its home out of its web which is also used to trap its prey. The web of storytelling that is mentioned by Opal as “miles of potential home and trap” makes the comparison that stories are the same as home and trap. Depending on how this is viewed, a story could potentially remind a person of home and how they felt there and it can also get someone into a spot of trouble if their story is not the truth. The meaning of the “spider” in There, There is constantly changed to suite the needs of the situation, which can speak to their adaptiveness as well as the danger they pose.
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I think that Orange uses the spider and web to represent the internal struggles that Native Americans face. Throughout the story, Native Americans are trying to find their identity and accept their heritage and culture, and often times, they struggle to do this because of limitations placed on them by society and their own personal reasons to try and hide from their culture. The idea of the spider web represents both a home and a trap where people can live, but once they overstay their welcome, they can never escape. The Native American culture feels like home to so many, but once they identify with it, they become trapped by the veho, the white man who came and forever changed their lives. Native Americans want to remember their history, but it is filled with so much heartache and bloodshed that it becomes hard for them to identify with their heritage. The spider web is important because it shows that there is a fine line in being introduced to people and staying for a little and overstaying your welcome and becoming trapped. I think that this relates to the characters in the story as none of them can escape their Native American heritage—it is always there as a constant, painful reminder of who they are. The veho, the trickster and the white man, I think is the one who spun the web for the Native Americans to get trapped in. When they came, the Native Americans somewhat welcomed them, but as soon as the white people got power, they trapped the Native Americans in the places they lived, in what they practiced, and at this point, it was impossible for them to escape the presence of the white people.
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In “There There” Tommy Orange integrates the Cheyenne Veho or spider into the narrative. As he describes it as something that comes to represent multiple things, he also mentions the usage of a web as both a “home and trap”. It is from what appears to be a contradiction that a more subtle duality emerges. The idea about the spider weaving a web, is very much like our lives and more particularly those of Native Americans, by creating and sustaining narratives about our cultures, we can take comfort from that identity that is established. It is from these narratives regardless of their disposition that a person can be entrapped in them. Octavio Gomez for example, is locked in a web of violent stories providing him with a trap that obscures his understanding of the world, allowing him to only see violence as a way out of poverty. It is a result of his blindness that the gunfight begins and he would eventually find himself becoming another episode in the cycle of violence that engulfs his private life. On the other hand, Jacquie with her tattoo of the spider web, represents a different outcome, as she debates whether to become more involved in her family as a result of her own web of stories. These stories and life experiences of Jacquie are in part her home as they form her existence and her family, but also a trap in which death is always in the peripheral. It is with this trap, that suffering, and pain threaten Jacquie and that she must balance this duality in order to both help her family and help herself.
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Storytelling, as I mentioned before, is a huge part of the Native American culture in Oakland as it brings them together through their shared experiences. I feel like the meaning of the spider web is much of the same, as it just provides more detail as to what Orange is portraying. Opal’s mother never let them kill spiders when they were younger because of the “miles of story, miles of potential home and trap” (163). It is a reflection of the Natives who do not know their past and are struggling to find their identity, but that does not make them any less of a native. The spider webs represent all of the stories that they have, even if it is no story at all. The spider reveals all of the work that they have done and the web represents all of the shared experiences that they have, which connects the entire Native American culture in Oakland.
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It is apparent that by using the term “spider” and “veho,” Orange is trying to draw parallels between good and evil, Native and white, and “home” and “trap.” Storytelling is a home for some of these Natives, yet to others it is a trap. Storytelling is good to some, evil to others. It is a symbol of heritage to some and a symbol of destruction to others. Orange has such diverse characters that he can express all sides of this theme. This web theme is very relevant to how all the characters feel. It can also allude to the connections that each character has to one another. Some characters are trapped in their identity, some flourish, but in the end, everyone has that spider on their leg – they are all part of a greater story – that of the Native American people.
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When I first read about the spider legs which Opal and her grandson experienced, I assumed it was purely literal. Looking up different diseases and only finding incredibly rare skin conditions led me to realize that this probably wasn’t a mentioning of health issues but instead was a reference to the storytelling so important to Native societies, though initially it could have been interpreted as an untreated health issue due to expensive treatment as I initially thought. The more likely explanation of what the spider imagery represents is how storytelling works. Spiders spin incredibly intricate and strong webs. The act of spinning has been used figuratively to describe making a story before. Many cultures put substantial imprecate on the value of stories passed down between generations, especially Native American societies. The spider’s web could be seen as having an equal importance to its identity as a spider as the oral traditions are to Native American societies. Being a unique biological adaptation, necessary to its survival, a spider’s web catches food and provides a place for its young to hatch. A cultures stories provide explanations for the unexplained in an attempt to ease everyone’s thoughts and worries while also being unique to their respective cultures. While there may be similarities across cultures, the overall identity of a culture is impacted by the stories which they develop. Ignoring the stories will lead to a loss of an individuals heritage just how ignoring a spider could lead to the loss of the individual’s life, assuming it is deadly.
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Orange’s decision to reference the spider is clearly intentional. As pointed out, the web metaphor becomes quite interesting when it is described as both a “home and trap”. The web as a symbol of home references security and comfort, but when referenced as a trap brings a more negative connotation with it. This is not the only time when spiders are referred to in a negative way. The Veho embodies an element of evil and double dealing while associating it with spiders and the white man. After listening to the stories of Opal readers learn of a difficult past stuck on superstition and struggling with her self-identity. Opal speaks of spiders and talks of them as restricting her that “they’re making her look back” (Orange 165). This can also be related to the concept behind the spider’s web being a trap. Opal believes it is not worth living in the past and carrying dread along. This can be especially be seen when hearing about Opal’s interaction with the bat and Ronald. That experience kept her trapped and dark. While being Indian is a part of her and is like her home there are bad memories associated with it. In a way the Veho controls one’s ability to get far away from that side and forces one to always be connected to stereotypes or dark pasts. By analyzing the different connotations, the spider symbolizes in this novel you can see the connection to storytelling. Both the spider and stories suggest the past of these Native Americans is influential to their current lives, but sometimes this becomes a trap instead of a place of ease.
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The symbolism of the Spider in There There stood out to me. I had similar thoughts on its storytelling component, but I took it to relate more to the sense of connection among the characters, and in the Native American community. My presentation was the characters, and I began to notice that, in some form or another, all of the characters linked to each other in one way or another. As I read the book, I tried to keep track of these connections, and the final product looked something like a web. I wonder if the reappearance of the spider with multiple characters is a hint that a sort of web surrounds all of them. This connects to the shared identity of the Urban Indians. While they come from very different tribal ancestry, they have all been forced into the same conditions, caught in the same web. Each distinct tribe was grouped together and collectively disenfranchised. Over generations, this forced them together. The similar problems they face can be seen as the ‘trap’ component of the web, but their connections to one other can also be seen as a sense of support. The spider symbolism is intriguing because Tommy Orange does not clearly define where the symbolism ends, leaving us to wonder how deep it goes.
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