Dueling identities

By -
While reading "The Hate U Give", I was amazed how Angie Thomas created a character that so many African-American adolescents could relate to. Police brutality and reclaimed identity are major themes shown throughout the novel that we witness Starr approach and tackle, but I feel the true gift to readers is understanding the importance of "dueling identities". Starr is a perfect example of simply just wanting to fit in with her surroundings, and the cost of that is giving up pieces of herself to conform to the expectations of the "other" group. Code-switching is very common and reading this novel helped bring to light how emotionally, and mentally draining it is to operate in this behavior. Code-switching in this novel is a survival trait that Starr must master if she wants to live a life where she has control over who she is and how the outside world see hers. Starr is very careful with her behavior and claims that her  "...voice is changing already. It always happens around “other” people, whether I'm at Williamson or not. I don't talk like me or sound like me. I choose every word carefully and make sure I pronounce them well. I can never, ever let anyone think I'm ghetto." Reading this further proves how racism and stereotyping is still widely used in American and how we should continue to create and promote diversity in YA literature. 

Comments

  1. Anna GilfillanNovember 13, 2019 at 3:22 PM

    I think Angie Thomas did a great job at portraying code switching as well. Most people code switch even if they do not realize it. People do not act the same around their parents as their friends. We do it without thinking about it because as humans we want to fit in with our environment. I think this novel is a great way to promote Y.A. literature because of the diverse perspective it gives.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe...
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm...
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C...
Read more