IB English HL I
2023-24
Dr. Malashewski
Selected passage
(inc. page #)
“It was a small thing, but it
made me feel like I’m not
stupid. Not slow. Not bottom
rung. And it helped because
the Drome’s what gives me my
soul, and the Drome is a face
worn through.” (Orange18)
“I push my hardest and rise, I
get up all the way. But with
the exhilaration of completing
my rst sit-up comes an
explosion, a wet smelly lump
of relief in the seat of my
sweatpants… I feel something
not unlike hope.” (Orange78)
Dialectical Journals: There There
Analysis
This passage depicts the complexities of Tony Loneman’s
perception of himself. He grew up with the prospect that his FAS
(Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), which he refers to as the Drome, is the
reason why he is distinct from all of his peers and feels very insecure
about his self-image. Tony doesn’t feel very knowledgeable
compared to his peers either, being as he scored in the lowest
percentile on an intelligence test. However, when he was introduced
to the rapper MF Doom, these notions changed. He nally felt as
though he was capable of understanding the references towards
something, in which previously he had never quite mastered such
ability. Now he has this newfound admiration for not only MF
Doom, but also his own passion towards nding meaning in words
and stories. Consequently, his expression of being the Drome
throughout his entire life is nally abolished, and he is able to
identify as someone vigorous, someone determined, someone
analytical. These self perceptions imply that Tony has identi ed his
true character rather than living eternally as the dis gured Drome,
and can now breakfree from such internally detrimental conditions.
The implication that the Drome is a face worn through indicates
Tony’s su ciency of always referring to himself as such and his
personal breakthrough towards just being Tony. He can now nd
his own path in life with his recognized intellect.
Although this passage may invoke repugnance through the details of
Ed excreting, it conveys a very symbolic meaning supporting the
overall theme of overcoming hardships. Ed lived a very successful
and abundant life up until he graduated university with his MA in
comp lit, however, from there it all spiraled. He began slacking o
and losing motivation to keep persisting in life, his purpose was lost
and without the proper e ort and determination he will perpetually
trap himself in his own misery. A major aspect of the chapter
revolves around the complication of Ed being constipated for days
on end. Through excessive research and online engagement he made
considerable attempts to nd a solution for this problem. Only later
realizing his issue is directly correlated with his unhealthy lifestyle
and diet, in which to overcome this problem, he must nd the
internal vigor to work hard and recover from his detrimental
lifestyle. By recognizing his need for self-improvement, Ed strives to
attain this goal by exercising. Upon his very rst successfully
completed sit-up, he not only nishes with accomplishment and
grati cation, but also ultimately triumphs in his pursuit to excrete.
Ed now has a new hope for the future and for himself, his
determination prevailed into victory.
IB English HL I
2023-24
Dr. Malashewski
Selected passage
(inc. page #)
“There was so much he’d
missed, hadn’t been given.
Hadn’t been told. In that
moment, in front of the TV,
he knew. He was part of
something. Something you
could dance to.” (Orange 121)
“We made powwows because
we needed a place to be
together. Something
intertribal, something old,
something to make us money,
something we could work
toward, for our jewelry, our
songs, our dances, our drum.”
(Orange 135)
Dialectical Journals: There There
Analysis
This intricate passage re ects on the character Orvil Red Feather’s
desire to be his true Indian self and embrace his culture. He
struggles with being deprived of attaining his fullest potential in
sharing his Indian heritage with the world as his great aunt Opal
insists that he should conceal himself so as to not be a target for
people who don’t accept Indians. However, Orvil feels that
regardless of standing out, he must embrace and value his culture as
his identity and not let anyone stop him from doing so. When he
rst saw Indian people on TV dancing to their cultural dances he
realized that he could do the same as his culture is not meant to be
masked. As he practices his dancing while dressed in his authentic
Indian regalia, he grasps the notion that if he goes on concealing his
true identity as an Indian he will lose respect and authenticity from
his people and his culture. The prospect that he is now a part of
something provides him with a feeling of support and structure
which he had been limited to his entire life. His great aunt did look
out for him very well by keeping his culture discrete to the world.
However, this meant Orvil never properly acquired the ability to be
his truest self as he had been denied the privilege of expressing his
cultural identity up until this moment.
Expressing oneself as an Indian can often be characterized as
untypical in certain places, such as where the novel is set, in
Oakland. Indicating that the Indian people don’t always have the
opportunity to participate in cultural practices. Therefore, the
powwow event was created to bring together numerous people
practicing Indian culture from all over the place. There aren’t many
places where their people all get to be together, hear each other, and
celebrate their valued culture together. All of these distinct
individuals come to the powwow for di erent reasons, in which
they are all brought together in one place to share the “blessing and
curse” they have been granted through being Indian. Although all of
these people come from such di erent backgrounds and lifestyles,
they can all share similar stories and experiences of their cultural
history and identity, proving their resilience throughout the years.
The symbol of signi cance regarding such traditions in their culture
represents a sense of belonging they all share and a notion that they
belong in this world, although their people have emigrated from
somewhere else. Many of the characters in the novel have expressed
their desire to t in, in a world where they discern that they are
outsiders. This yearning for belonging is bestowed on these
characters during the traditional powwow.
IB English HL I
2023-24
Dr. Malashewski
Selected passage
(inc. page #)
“It’s to prepare them for a
world made for Native people
not to live but to die in,
shrink, disappear. She needs to
push them harder because it
will take more for them to
succeed than someone who is
not Native.” (Orange 165)
“The state was a place you
could get to where everything
felt exactly, precisely in place,
where and when it belonged,
you belonged, completely
okay in it — almost like your
dad used to say, ‘In’it, like,
isn’t that right? Isn’t that
true?’” (Orange 218)
Dialectical Journals: There There
Analysis
Opal’s expressive diction regarding how she perceives the world
from a Native perspective in uences the way she raises her sister,
Jacquie’s, grandchildren. Her tone instills a belief on behalf of the
three children that the world is a corrupt and ruthless place for
them, especially since they are Native. This is only because of how
vile her upbringing was, in which she fears that without raising the
children with awareness of how cruel and insidious the world is they
will be oblivious to the hardships presented to them later on. The
climax of Opal’s character representation in the novel portrays an
internal con ict in which she perpetually confronts her childhood
trauma. Her character is signi cantly correlated to chapter 13, More
Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence, of How To Read
Literature Like A Professor. This novel’s chapter explores the
symbols and themes of violence, such as how Opal self-destructs
constantly through her tactic of raising children with the prospect
that the world is cold and harsh for all Native’s like herself and there
is no escape. However, this presumption is merely just her violent
internal validation for why her life was so calamitous. She must
bestow the children with this belief as to avoid the potential
emotional agony Opal eternally lives with.
Thomas Frank, a new character in the novel, explores themes of
self-sabotage and substance abuse throughout his characterization.
His metonymy in implying that his alcohol dependence is like a
“perfect place” indicates that he is seeking an outlet for his internal
antipathy rather than dealing with his nuisances directly. He drinks
just like his father had, symbolizing that his in uence of coping with
dilemmas throughout his life has been to rely on the bottle to
temporarily avoid anguish. As indicated in the novel How To Read
Literature Like A Professor, in chapter 25, It’s My Symbol and I’ll
Cry If I Want To, it is illuminated that in literature a primary theme
will repeat continuously to assert relevance. Although Thomas is
well aware of the implications his sel sh coping mechanism will
provide, just as indicated through chapter 25 of How To Read
Literature Like A Professor, there is always a second meaning behind
a symbol, in this case being the repercussions of substance abuse.
The succeeding interpretation of this theme encourages readers to
perceive meaning anyone can relate to. In this case the act of how
substance abuse can lead to consequences among all people involved
in an addict's life. All characters in the novel share the theme of
avoiding internal confrontation through substance compulsion or
validating their perpetual doom through their in uence of
substance abuse.
IB English HL I
2023-24
Dr. Malashewski
Selected passage
(inc. page #)
“People don’t want any more
than a little story they can
bring back home with them,
to tell their friends and family
around the dinner table, to
talk about how they saw a real
Native American boy on a
train, that they still exist.”
(Orange 235)
“The State is perfect and is all
he could ever ask for, for a
second or a minute or a
moment, to belong like this is
to die and live forever. So he’s
not reaching up, and he’s not
sinking down, and he’s not
worried about what’s coming.
He’s here, and he’s dying, and
it’s okay.” (Orange 275)
Dialectical Journals: There There
Analysis
This passage encapsulates an observer's recognition of identifying “a
real Native American boy on a train”, being Tony Loneman. He
discerns that the commodi cation of his Native American identity is
a mere spectacle for the entertainment of non-Native audiences.
Tony has an epiphany that the way people around him perceive him
in society as a minority race determines their perception of him as an
individual. Tony elucidates the prospect that people desire
super cial encounters with Native Americans for the purpose of
providing an amusing dinner table story, which is severely
dehumanizing to all Natives, not just Tony. Which raises questions
regarding the value society places on respecting and understanding
diverse cultures without stereotypes determining their perspectives.
This notion correlates with chapter 11, More Than It’s Gonna Hurt
You: Concerning Violence, from the novel How To Read Literature
Like A Professor. In which this chapter explores the various states of
violence in literature, which include violence towards others and
violence towards oneself, and both of these can be distinguished in
the passage. The observer on the bus who instigated the super cial
conversation with Tony regarding his Native heritage employs
violence on behalf of Tony and his culture. Therefore, Tony exerts
violence on himself as he questions why he is facing this prejudice
through his awareness that the majority of society perceives him
without the humane respect of classifying him as an individual, but
rather, a rare classi cation as a Native American.
During the shooting at the Oakland Powwow, we get a glimpse into
the internal thoughts of Thomas Frank subsequent to him being
gruesomely shot. As the passage mentions his attainment of arriving
in his “State” once again, a sense of tranquility in the face of
morality is evoked. The prospect that he has nally attained a sense
of belonging indicates he has transcended past the fear of death and
into a state of internal harmony that he had been seeking for his
entire life, which he had procured temporarily through substance
abuse. As the passage echoes themes of belonging and true
expression of identity in the novel, we can see that not only Thomas,
but numerous characters in the novel face struggles of nding a
place where they truly feel accepted. Illuminating that Thomas’
ful llment of belonging can be profound enough to overcome
existential fears by accepting the nuanced view of exploration of
identity which he and many of the novel’s characters had done.
Relatively, Chapter 24, Don’t Read with Your Eyes, of How To
Read Literature Like A Professor, cautions readers to look past their
own perspectives and engage with the narrator's point of view, being
Thomas. At rst glance Thomas’ desire to drink and escape the
world around him through his death can be seen as self-sabotage,
however, when you look at it from his divergent perspective,
wherein he is transcending the distilled pain he had been su ering
with up until this point, the reader can understand his emotions
rather than literally what is occuring. His “State” is his eternal peace,
in which he has willfully accepted his fate with satisfaction rather
than more inevitable pain.