James L’Angelle
University of Nevada, Reno
Dr. A. Keniston
29 October 2019
“There There” Is No Safe Zone ( Addendum)
Oakland Athletics “during that magical time for Oakland, 1972 to 1974, when the A’s won three
World Series in a row.” (page 84) What the ex-con Army vet character fails to mention are the
two Oakland Raiders’ Superbowl victories in 1981 against the Philadelphia Eagles and again in
1984 against the Washington Redskins. (Wikipedia)
What’s fascinating about this rather obvious blunder that qualifies Bill Davis as an unreliable
narrator is the fact that Jim Plunkett, the Raiders’ quarterback, was part Native American, from
his mother’s side;
“Plunkett was born to New Mexican parents with an Irish-German grandfather on his paternal
side. Plunkett's father was a news vendor afflicted with progressive blindness, who had to
support his blind wife along with their three children. Plunkett's parents were both born in New
Mexico; his mother, whose maiden name was Carmen Blea, was born in Santa Fe and his father,
William Gutierrez Plunkett, was born in Albuquerque. Carmen was also of Native American
ancestry.” (Wikipedia)
As this is a brief sketch of the MVP quarterback and Wikipedia isn’t the greatest source for
information, still it exposes yet another major fault line in the story, making Bill Davis another
important unreliable narrator.
References,
There There , Tommy Orange, 2018, Vintage, NY
Jim Plunkett, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Plunkett
Jim Plunkett Photo, https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5-for-friday-jim-plunkett-raiders-super-bowl-quarterback-081514