Week Three: Wandering Stars
JUNE 19, 2024 • CAMP TOB WEEK THREE
Wandering Stars
first half discussion
Welcome back! This week at Camp ToB 2024 we’re kicking off our discussion of the first half (through part one) of Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars. Here to guide us through the discussion is Activity Leader Rachel S.!
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Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.
This has been excerpted from the publisher’s summary and edited for length.
Rachel, thank you for joining us! Tell us where you’re at and how long you’ve followed the Tournament of Books.
I live in Denver, and I started following ToB in 2020 during the pandemic.
And what are your reading preferences?
My reading tastes fluctuates between mysterie, romance, romatasy and nonfiction. I love ToB because it asks me to read outside of my comfort zone and typically exposes me to a wide variety of books that I probably wouldn’t have picked up.
Thank you—and now here are Rachel’s discussion questions for the group!
1.
Reading about Henry Richard Pratt’s point of view in chapter five and how he views the whole situation of running a school and keeping letters from various Indians who have attended his school makes me think he lacks the ability to understand his impact on others. What do you think of Richard Henry Pratt’s feelings toward the Indians he has interacted with throughout his time as warden of the prison and superintendent?
2.
It seems to me that Tommy Orange is very intentional through his writing about obvious use of stories to denote assimilation of the Indians, such as the use of the Bible to pick Jude’s name. How has the use of stories and this writing influenced your feelings toward these characters and the techniques used to assimilate them?
3.
Tommy Orange’s dedication of this book “to anyone surviving and not surviving this thing called and not called addiction” made me wonder if there aren’t other things Tommy Orange is referring to besides alcohol. First, how does alcohol play a role in stripping Jude of his identity? And second, what other tools and tactics are used to strip Charles from his Indian identity and culture?