There There

Feathers are a crucial recurrent image in There There. Although they primarily appear in relation to regalia, the formal dress for powwow dancing, feathers specifically signal moments of heightened emotion and Indigenous identity. For example, as Orvil prepares to dance for the first time in the locker room, he looks around at the older men who are also getting ready. Orvil notes that “they all needed to dress up to look Indian too. There’s something like the shaking of feathers he felt somewhere between his heart and his stomach” (232). As a young Indigenous man who feels somewhat disconnected from his heritage, Orvil is reassured by understanding that these men also need to “dress up to look Indian.” The “shaking of feathers” inside him implies that Orvil has some deeper connection or internalization of his identity because of this experience. His feathers are his Indigenous identity.

Later, as Orvil lies on the grass bleeding from his bullet wound, he “wants to stand up, to fly away in all his bloodied feathers” (271). This impulse to fly is only possible because of the feathers he wears. For Orvil, like other characters, wearing his feathered regalia allows him to transcend any of his limitations—the feathers both define him and make it possible for him to escape.