Week Four: Wandering Stars
JUNE 26, 2024 • CAMP TOB WEEK FOUR
Wandering Stars
second half discussion
Hello, and thank you for joining us again at Camp ToB 2024! This time around is all about the second half (and really all) of Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars—keep on scrolling to find this week’s discussion questions from 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.
1.
When Orvil got shot at the powwow, it seemed to me that through this story Tommy Orange was connecting his two books. Were you surprised by the mentioning of the powwow, and is there any influence from There There book to Wandering Stars?
2.
So many threads are weaved throughout the story. Threads of intergenerational trauma and drug use. Threads of wanting to connect to one’s community and one’s culture. What do you think of all the different characters finding their way to community and the trauma they experience? How does their trauma impact their bid for connection?
3.
In reading the therapy session, it felt relatable to me with what was being said in the book about wanting genuine connection. Did any of that scene resonate with you?