Index IntroductionTony Loneman's BurdenJacquie Red Feather: Battle with AlcoholismDene Oxendene's StrugglesConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionRegardless of life's adversities, human resilience always prevails. There There, a political history novel, written by Tommy Orange is a fast-paced, multigenerational tale of personal identity, loss, addiction, and excellent writing that weaves sadness into the historical backdrop of a country and its people. There There contains twelve different characters, each with a different story that leads to the journey of the famous Oakland Powwow where the Native community gathers to celebrate their culture. Jacquie Red Feather is finally sober after dealing with alcohol problems. He tries to regain his past life. Dene Oxendene's uncle dies and as a result, he comes to work at the Powwow. Tony Loneman, born with fetal alcohol syndrome, faces many social problems and struggles to find his identity. These three characters have adversity in common. Although characters like Tony Loneman, Jacquie Red-Feather, and Dene Oxendene experience misfortunes such as substance abuse, mental illness, broken families, and violence, they ultimately take action to address them, even if their actions are ineffective. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Burden of Tony Loneman One of the many characters in this novel who faces adversity is Tony Loneman. Tony Loneman was born with fetal alcohol syndrome because his mother was an alcoholic. He calls his FAS “the Drome”. Tony has been alone and excluded his entire life due to his distinctive face, which is also found in his name LONEman. He even considers himself a beast. Tony also struggles with his cultural and personal identity because "the Drome" gets in the way. In the novel, Tony explains “the Drome,” saying, “people look at me and then look away when they see it, I see them see me. That too is the Drome. My power and my curse. The Drome is my mother and the reason she drank, it's the way the story lays on a face, and all the ways I've made it so far despite how it's fucked me up since the day I found it there on TV, staring at me like a fucking villain” (Orange 16). In this quote we see Tony explaining how his FAS has affected his life. Tony hates his FAS and believes it ruins his life, which it does, especially what led to his syndrome. Contracting a disease from a mother can be difficult. Her mother knew the consequences, yet she still became an alcoholic. Since Tony has no parental figures, his grandmother Maxine takes care of him. Tony has been selling weed since he was thirteen. He gives most of the money he earns to Maxine. To cope with all these adversities, Tony decides to take a crazy action. Due to his drug dealing path, he eventually meets Octavio and becomes part of his plan to rob the Big Oakland Powwow. This action suggests that Tony loves his culture but also feels disconnected from it, so the Powwow robbery is a way for Tony to get revenge for not being accepted. Before the Powwow, Octavio asks Tony to buy bullets and come wearing his insignia so he can blend in. At this point in the novel, Tony feels very alone and as he is dying at the end, after being shot during the robbery, he feels as if he has been set free. Jacquie Red Feather: Battle with Alcoholism Another character in this novel who has faced life-changing challenges is Jacquie Red-Feather. Like Tony Loneman, alcohol plays a role in Jacquie Red-Feather's life. Jacquie is first introduced as one, 2018.