Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield Character Analysis in There There

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield’s story begins when she is a girl of twelve, dragged along to the Native occupation of Alcatraz island by her freewheeling mother. Opal and her half-sister, Jacquie Red Feather, have adventures on the island and even enjoy themselves for a time, but as their mother’s drinking gets worse and Jacquie gets involved with a rambunctious group of teens, Opal begins to feel isolated and lonely. After leaving the island, the girls’ mother passes away within just a few months, leaving them in the care of a dubious “uncle” named Ronald who lusts after the girls. Opal takes it upon herself to defend her pregnant half-sister and herself by striking Ronald with a baseball bat before fleeing his home, preferring to live in a group home rather than subject herself or her sister to Ronald’s predation. Opal falls in love with a young man named Lucas who runs away to Los Angeles, leaving her high and dry. Years later, when Opal is raising her sister’s grandchildren, Lucas returns to Oakland to die—and bequeaths unto Opal his Native regalia before passing. Opal fears raising the boys (Orvil, Lony, and Loother) with a strong connection to Native traditions because of the pain, trauma, suffering, and violence she’s witnessed in her own community—but her avoidance of the topic only makes the boys more curious about their cultural heritage. Ultimately, Opal learns that the boys are traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow to participate, and goes there herself to watch and support them. Quiet but stern and fiercely loving, Opal is stealthy and secretive about her past but determined to give her sister’s grandsons the best future she can.

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield Quotes in There There

The There There quotes below are all either spoken by Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield or refer to Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Cultural Identity vs. Personal Identity Theme Icon

“One of the last things Mom said to me when we were over there, she said we shouldn’t ever not tell our stories,” I said.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” “I mean having the baby.”

“It’s not a story, Opal, this is real.”

“It could be both.”

“Life doesn't work out the way stories do. Mom’s dead, she’s not coming back, and we’re alone, living with a guy we don’t even know who we’re supposed to call uncle. What kind of a fucked-up story is that?”

Related Characters: (speaker), (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 60

Explanation and Analysis:

Opal pulled three spider legs out of her leg the Sunday afternoon before she and Jacquie left the home, the house, the man they’d been left with after their mom left this world. There’d recently been blood from her first moon. Both the menstrual blood and the spider legs had made her feel the same kind of shame. Something was in her that came out, that seemed so creaturely, so grotesque yet magical, that the only readily available emotion she had for both occasions was shame, which led to secrecy in both cases.

Related Characters: , ,

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 165

Explanation and Analysis:

She puts her hand over her mouth and nose, sobs into her hand. She keeps listening to see if it will clear up. She wonders, she has the thought, Did someone really come to get us here? Now?

Related Characters:

Page Number and Citation: 278

Explanation and Analysis:

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield Character Timeline in There There

The timeline below shows where the character Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield appears in There There. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Interconnectedness, Coincidence, and Chance Theme Icon

...series of on-camera interviews with Indians living in Oakland. Lucas said that a woman named Opal, who “knows a lot of Indians” and may even be a distant “auntie” of Dene’s,... (full context)

Opal and her older half-sister, Jacquie Red Feather, are doing homework at the kitchen table one... (full context)

Opal packs lightly for the trip, taking with her only two outfits and her teddy bear,... (full context)

That night, on the island, Opal and Jacquie eat watery beef stew in front of a large bonfire while their mother... (full context)

Jacquie, who is eighteen, makes more friends more quickly than the twelve-year-old Opal does, and starts running around with a group of teens. Opal mostly stays with her... (full context)

One afternoon, Opal leaves Two Shoes behind some rocks and goes looking for Jacquie. She finds her with... (full context)

Opal and Rocky go joyriding with Jacquie and some of the other older kids on a... (full context)

...the island begin to deteriorate. There are no supplies, scarce food, and zero electricity, and Opal notices that people are getting more drunk more often. Vicky assures the girls that she’ll... (full context)

Back on the mainland, Opal, Jacquie, and Vicky go to stay with Vicky’s “adopted brother” Ronald, whom the girls have... (full context)

Jacquie reflects on the itinerant existence that she, her mother Vicky, and her younger half-sister Opal used to live. She remembers staying in a hotel one night and looking out at... (full context)

Jacquie goes up to her room and lies down on the bed, thinking about Opal, who is raising Jacquie’s three grandchildren out in Oakland. Jacquie texts Opal, asking how she’s... (full context)

...cowboy hat introduces himself to her as Harvey, and Jacquie finds herself floored: she texts Opal to tell her sister that she is in a meeting with “Harvey from Alcatraz,” the... (full context)

...into the bottom of the pool and goes back up to her room. She texts Opal, asking if it’s okay if she stays with her—she is thinking about coming to Oakland. (full context)

Orvil Red Feather stands in his great-aunt Opal’s room, using her full-length mirror to examine himself. He is dressed in full Native regalia—and... (full context)

...he and his brothers were the unwanted children of a heroin-addict mother, given over to Opal after their true grandmother, Jacquie, was unable to care for them. The boys often beg... (full context)

...an ambulance, which took Jamie to the hospital. The boys went to meet their grandma Opal there, but by the time they got there, their mother was already gone—she’d just been... (full context)

...and decide to call their grandmother. They determine that whatever’s happening, it’s “definitely Indian,” and Opal will know what to do. They leave a message for her and then poke at... (full context)

...the powwow, Orvil and his brothers sneak out of the house quickly to avoid confronting Opal about where they’re going. Over dinner last night, no one discussed the spider legs. They... (full context)

Jacquie’s phone buzzes in her pocket—it is a text from Opal. She opens it and reads it: Opal has written to her to confess that when... (full context)

Opal works as a mail carrier, and every time she gets into her mail truck, she... (full context)

Opal never allows her mail route to become routine or automatic—a highly superstitious woman, she pays... (full context)

As Opal looks back on her life during her long days delivering mail, she finds herself full... (full context)

...Orvil stating that he’d pulled spider legs out of a lump in his leg rattled Opal. Though the message affected her, it didn’t surprise her—spiders figure largely in her family’s lore.... (full context)

Several weeks ago, during one of her routine checks of all the boys’ smartphones, Opal found a video Orvil took of himself powwow dancing in his room. She was shocked... (full context)

Last night at dinner, Opal did not tell Orvil or the other boys about the time when she, as a... (full context)

Ronald had been walking past the girls’ rooms at night, and Opal had taken to keeping a bat next to her in bed where she’d once held... (full context)

The girls went to a shelter, and Opal constantly feared that she’d killed Ronald and would be in trouble. But as days and... (full context)

Now, on her mail route, Opal gets lost in thought and doesn’t notice when she approaches the yard of a house... (full context)

Opal sits alone in the stands, watching the hubbub on the field below. She is hoping... (full context)

...dancing, and immediately thinks of his brothers—and of how much trouble he’ll be in with Opal if something happens to them. He begins running towards the noise, but a loud boom... (full context)

As gunfire and screams fill the stadium, Opal runs downstairs to the main level. She pulls her phone out and calls Orvil, but... (full context)

...the direction of the entrance. Outside, she spots Loother and Lony, and asks them where Opal is. Just then, Opal pulls up at the curb in her car, and everyone gets... (full context)

Opal tells herself, over and over, that Orvil is going to pull through and make it.... (full context)

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Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield Character Analysis

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield Quotes in There There

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield Character Timeline in There There

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