There There Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis—Real Passion?:

In his first chapter in Part I, Dene Oxendene sits for an interview with a panel of judges for a cultural arts grant to tell stories of Urban Indians. Dene seems nervous but determined, enraged but sure of himself, as he describes the problems inherent in telling "the Native story." He feels certain that he will bring "that same energy" to his project. The interview seems to be going well, until he turns the subject to money, and his confidence suddenly deflates:

What we’ve seen is full of the kinds of stereotypes that are the reason no one is interested in the Native story in general, it’s too sad, so sad it can’t even be entertaining [...] , and there is real passion there, and rage, and that’s part of what I’m bringing to the project, because I feel that way too, I will bring that same energy to it, I mean if it gets approved and everything, and I can raise more money, it won’t take that much really, maybe even just this grant [...]

This rapid change in energy is a result of the situational irony at play in this scene. While Dene's commitment to his project is genuine and assertive, he is still beholden to funding systems in order to complete his work. Those systems have none of the "same energy" that he does. This causes his tone to change entirely: while at first he referred to his "real passion, and rage," he becomes reticent and unconfident. He questions whether the grant will be approved and whether it will even be enough. Here the cruelly ironic state of arts funding in Oakland directly affects Dene, as evident in his speech.

Explanation and Analysis—I'm from Oakland:

In his chapter early in Part II, Dene Oxendene interviews Calvin Johnson for his cultural history project. The two discuss Calvin's Native identity. Calvin does not know much about his history and feels that he is just from Oakland. This leads to an instance of irony at the end of this passage:

My dad never talked about being Native [...] to the point that we don’t even know what tribe we are on his side. Our mom has Native blood on her Mexican side too, but she doesn’t know too much about that either. Yeah and my dad wasn’t home hardly ever, then one day he was really gone. He left us. So I don’t know, I feel bad sometimes even saying I’m Native. Mostly I just feel like I’m from Oakland.

Calvin says he feels bad for claiming he is Native because he feels like he is in fact just native to Oakland. This is an instance of situational irony because Calvin's words undercut readers' expectations. This same irony is shared by other characters in the novel who feel separated from their Native American identity because of their attachment to Oakland. This irony, then, is at the center of the novel's description of the urban American Indian.

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There There: Situational Irony 2 key examples