The Hate U Give

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In Angie Thomas’s, The Hate U Give, we are introduced to an African American girl named Starr that struggles with many things in her adolescent life. One of the main things she struggles with throughout this novel is finding her identity. The reason for this is because she is stuck in between two worlds. The African American world of Garden Heights and the white world of Williamson. Since she is in this situation, she tends to change who she is based on the people she is around, which is common for most Adolescents her age. The other thing she struggles with during this novel is having to deal with Racism and police brutality because she is African American. At a very young age Starr has to try to understand why her friend was killed outside of a car for simply making his way towards her window. Even though he was unarmed and had nothing on his person the white cop shot him down in cold blood like it was nothing.
From the very beginning of this novel the reader is able to see how Starr is struggling with her identity because she is living in two worlds at the same time. Since Williamson is a prep school there are a lot of white adolescents that go there which means Starr is deemed cool because she is an African American, and she stands out among the crowd. However, when she is in Garden Heights, she feels like she has to earn her coolness because everyone around her is African American. Here it states, “I’m cool by default because I’m one of the only black kids there. I have to Earn my coolness in Garden Heights, and that’s more difficult than buying retro Jordans on release day” (11). Here the reader is able to see that Starr feels like she has to be someone she’s not just so she can fit in with everyone at Garden Heights. She shouldn’t have to feel this way because of where she’s at or the people she is around. The people around her should accept her for who she is and not make her feel pressure to change her personality.
Another thing that Starr deals with throughout the novel is the problem with racism and police brutality surrounding African Americans. This also happens early on in the book when one of her friends Khalil is shot and killed during a traffic stop. Here it states, “It’s not smart to make a sudden move. Khalil does. He opens the driver door. “You okay, Starr— Pow!” (23). Here we can see that Khalil was simply making his way back to the door to see if Starr was okay during this situation. He was not reaching for a weapon to attack the police officer with, he just wanted to see how his friend was doing. This shows us how quick a white cop will pull his weapon out on an African American man for making sudden movements. As Starr is sitting in the passenger seat, she is witnessing racism and police brutality happen before her very eyes. At such a young stage in life she must process why she lives in a world where African Americans aren’t safe from their own law enforcement. Why they are punished for being African Americans and must die because of the color of their skin.
Through this novel adolescents can see many different important aspects of life and the truth of being an African American in America. One of the aspects adolescents can take away from this novel is the fact that you shouldn’t have to change who you are to fit in to a certain crowd. No matter what your skin color is you should be accepted by everyone in the room. You shouldn’t have to feel like you must earn coolness because you’re different from everyone else. Also, this novel gives adolescents from many different races an authentic look of how hard it can be to be an African American in today's world. 

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 12, 2019 at 9:50 AM

    I really appreciate this book for a lot of reasons. It definitely explores the definition of one's identity in relation to race and background. Starr's character allows YA readers to know that it's okay to feel an extra struggle in this area under her circumstances and those relating. In regard to police brutality, do you think more needs to be released to inform people about what is happening or would more coverage only fuel a need to "pick sides."

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