Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. How does repeating “We” with a verb at the end of the Prologue connect to the novel’s theme in Indigenous Identity?

A) It lets the reader know that this is a story that will be told from an Indigenous person’s perspective.

B) It suggests that the reader should never forget who they are.

C) It tells readers that this book is about Tommy Orange’s life.

D) It reminds readers that books about “Urban Indians” are rare.

2. What specific misconception does the novel’s title refer to?

A) That Indigenous Americans can’t exist in rural areas anymore.

B) That white people “saved” Indigenous Americans.

C) That Indigenous land was seen as empty to justify colonization.

D) That tribal communities refuse to modernize.

3. Why are characters in this novel so struck by their reflections?

A) Each of the main characters imagine themselves as leading a different life.

B) Each of the main characters struggle to see themselves accurately.

C) Each of the main characters refuse to think about themselves.

D) Each of the main characters is unable to look in mirrors until the end of the novel, and so finally being able to see themselves shows how much they have grown.

4. How does Opal’s teddy bear illustrate the motif of Reflections and Mirrors?

A) His imaginary speaking reflects her thoughts back to her.

B) He begins to look more and more like her via the accessories she adds to him.

C) He symbolizes her childhood innocence.

D) He reminds her of being on Alcatraz, a pivotal place in her life.

5. What is Orange explaining through his metaphor about yachts and lifeboats?

A) That money determines whether or not one can survive in life.

B) That everyone can get a yacht if they want, meaning that nothing can hold someone back.

C) That the past is a yacht we must cling to, the present is a lifeboat and is temporary.

D) That privilege makes it easier or more difficult to cling to one’s history, depending on how much privilege they have.

6. What does it mean to Opal to be Indigenous?

A) It means being able to trace your Indigeneity through your bloodline.

B) It means having someone who can teach you how to live a traditional life.

C) It means knowing that people who came before her were special and made it possible for her community to continue to be Indigenous Americans.

D) It means tracing her roots back in specific detail.

7. Which of the following best describes what Orvil’s interest in Indigenous identity symbolizes?

A) A return to tradition

B) A willingness to forget the past

C) A resignation to watching traditions fade away

D) A new generation’s understanding of Indigenous identity

8. How does Orange begin to build to the novel’s climax after introducing the role of blood in Indigenous American history?

A) The images of violence start to build more and more tension, quickening the pace of the novel.

B) The timeline becomes more linear and Orange provides additional background to the Oakland powwow.

C) The importance of blood begins to decline from that point as the novel moves toward a resolution.

D) The characters all meet one another, suggesting that their assembly is significant as they enter the powwow.

9. How does Opal exercise control over her life?

A. She cares for Orvil, Loony, and Loother, believing that giving them lives better than hers shows her that change is possible.

B) She follows certain superstitions, which let her make decisions about how to approach tasks and situations.

C) She tells her sister what to do with her life so that she can be distracted from her own.

D) She focuses on the past and the life that she and her sister led with her mother.

10. How do the characters in this novel react to violence?

A) They wish to escape the lives that they have by traveling outside of Oakland.

B) They reach for healing and ceremony through medicine and community.

C) They forget their past and focus on the present, forgetting tradition.

D) They hold onto hope for a brighter future, as symbolized through their children.

11. Which of the following best describes what it means that dancing is a “prayer.”

A) It uses ceremonial and religious music to praise a deity.

B) It is part of a religious ceremony.

C) It is a way of connecting to one’s past and one’s ancestors.

D) It requires that dancers be professional.

12. What is the most likely reason that the older white woman on the train might view Tony as a novelty in his regalia?

A) She didn’t think Indigenous Americans existed in cities.

B) She forgot that the powwow was that day.

C) She hasn’t seen him since he was younger.

D) She thinks that it’s silly that he is all dressed up.

13. What is Edwin’s story about an Indigenous man who invites a white man to live with him a metaphor for?

A) The relationship between Indigenous people and white people.

B) The powwow’s significance for urban Indigenous folks.

C) The relationship between urban and rural Indigenous folks.

D) The way that settlers took over Indigenous land.

14. What do the moments in which Bill and Thomas are injured have in common?

A) They each think about specific histories of trauma and violence.

B) They are each hopeful that they’ll survive.

C) They each wonder if the women they loved love them back.  

D) They each promise themselves to leave the past behind.

15. Based on There There, what does Orange see as the cause of much of the violence and trauma experienced by Indigenous communities?

A) An inability to heal

B) An obsession with the pasts

C) American colonialism and imperialism

D) Indigenous tradition

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does Orange foreshadow the shooting at the powwow? Pick and explain two moments from earlier in the novel that connect to its end.

2. What is the difference between the older and younger generations of Indigenous Americans in this novel? Choose two characters—one from each generation—and compare and contrast them.