Code Switching Decoded in The Hate U Give

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In the novel, The Hate U Give, the protagonist Starr Carter is described to be living between two different worlds, her poor black neighborhood and her white suburban private school. She navigates these two environments using a term called "Code Switching" which means that she changes her personality to assimilate with the community she is amongst at the time. She calls her suburban private school alter ego "Williamson Starr" and pulls out this version every time she is with her white school friends or even with her white boyfriend. She then reverts back to her typical self when she is with her family or her Garden Heights friends. This consistent switching back and forth outwardly weighs on Starr and she begins to find difficulty in this practice, as mentioned at the very beginning of the book. "There are just some places where it's not enough to be me. Either version of me." (Thomas 3)

The thing about code-switching that this book is trying to portray is the degree that Starr must participate in. Anybody could argue that the typical person goes through something like this. You "code-switch" from friends to family, from personal to professional, and so on. The same person that laughs and swears and drinks with their friends is not the same person who politely takes your order at a restaurant or talks to their mother at church on Sunday. I would bet everyone does this subconsciously. Many people, particularly white people, could say they participate in this on a daily basis and it is part of their varying normal social interactions. We miss the point when we do this. The code switching seen in The Hate U Give  is a form of protection and self preservation and is a cognitive effort Starr makes every time she switches environments. "I just have to be normal Starr at normal Williamson and have a normal day. That means flipping the switch in my brain so I'm Williamson Starr. Williamson Starr doesn't use slang--if a rapper would say it, she wouldn't say it, she doesn't even say it, even if her white friends do. Slang makes them cool. Slang makes her 'Hood'." (Thomas 71) Starr already feels out of place simply attending Williamson, and the social implications of her perceived actions may put her farther over the line of  'different' then she feels like she is. Her white boyfriend, Chris, even has a tailored Starr that he is given so she can feel more comfortable around him. "Ever since, I don't have to decide which Starr I have to be with him. He likes both. Well, the parts I've shown him. Some things I can't reveal, like Natasha. Once you've seen how broken someone is it's like seeing them naked-- you cant look at them the same anymore." (Thomas 83)

Of course, there are people actively enforcing Starr to remain two split people. Her "friend" Hailey constantly makes snide, not-racist-but-definitely-racist comments towards her and shows her weak and wavering defense towards Starr. "Like, I mean...if he was a drug dealer," Hailey says, "that explains why." (Thomas 183) or another reference, "No. All the "black stuff" she called it. The petitions. The Black Panther pictures. That post on those four little girls who were killed in that church..."(Thomas 250) Starr integrates her two environments by sharing relevant things on Tumblr for her white friends to see and in return she is ridiculed and demeaned by Hailey. Almost as though she's fine being her friend if she pretends she is rich and white and privileged just like her. 
This phenomenon is not unheard of. This is something POC go through every single day. The constant battle Starr fights between not sounding too "black" or "ghetto" around her Williamson community and not sounding too "white" or "privileged" around her black community is a never ending uphill battle that is not unique to Starr. Her code switching is protective, if she doesn't give anybody a reason to talk about her or label her, they wont. But when Khalil gets shot by the police officer for doing nothing wrong and her friend Hailey starts disliking her because she begins to speak out on the truth, she realized that the versions of herself that made everybody comfortable were not the versions of her that would invoke change and speak out against injustice.

Comments

  1. Olivia BennettSeptember 14, 2020 at 8:32 PM

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  2. Olivia BennettSeptember 14, 2020 at 8:34 PM

    Hey Emily,
    I really like the fact that you pointed out to a certain degree, everyone, regardless of their race, can relate to the idea of "code-switching." I think it is easier for white people to understand the struggles of people of color when they can get an idea of what they are going through (I hope that makes sense, I guess I'm trying to say its easier to empathizes with others when we can get an idea of what they are going through). However, I like that you take it one step farther and point out the difference in the code-switching white people experience versus the code-switching people of color experience. People of color use code-switching as a means of survivial in a world built for white people. People like Haley definitely continue to reinforce the idea that people of color, like Starr, will have to code-switch to fit in (which is so sad in my opinion. can we not just accept the fact that everyone is different and that in itself is beatuiful?).

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  3. Logan SandorSeptember 16, 2020 at 1:20 PM

    Emily, this mistreatment is definitely not a phenomenon. This is nothing new. It is important that we talk about these issues until they no longer exsist.

    ReplyDelete

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