Starr's Experience of Conformity and Code-Switching In Comparison To Arnold's

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Throughout our readings from the course, there are copious similarities between Starr in Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give, and Arnold in Sherman Alexie's Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Starr has issues discerning who she really is. Is she prep-school Starr or is she Starr from the black urban community she comes from? Likewise, Arnold struggles with his identity. Is he Arnold from the 'rez' or Arnold from Reardon? Through Angie Thomas's novel The Hate U Give, the reader is able to examine Starr having to maintain her two identities to be successful and to be perceived as a likable person to her peers. 

Over Starr's development in her journey to discovering who she is and what she should stand up for, she demonstrates her struggle to determine who she is by attempting to conform to both of these subsets via code-switching.  Starr, like Arnold, constantly has to consider where she is and adjusts her speech and train of thinking to adapt and conform to her surroundings. Starr becomes tiresome of her constant attempts to code-switch. For instance, Starr discusses how code-switching has taken a toll on her health and mental well-being. "Being two different people is is exhausting" (Thomas 301), is how Starr views her life in two vastly different environments. Arnold felt very similar to Starr in his experience in feeling like he was two different people. We see a great example of this in the images in the book of his two identities illustrated (see my last blog post for inspiration). Moreover, we see Starr suppressing who she is and code-switching after Khalil's death which is very traumatic to her. She goes to school the next day and expresses, "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 doesn’t say it, even if her white friends do" (Thomas 71).  This quote shows an emphasis on Starr's way of thinking even after facing her friend's murder. Starr is more concerned about avoiding the 'angry black woman persona or stereotype. She tiptoes around who she really is in order to avoid being criticized as different from her peers.

With the consideration of the ways in which Starr and Arnold code-switch and struggle with their identities in two different settings, one can consider how adolescents might feel in the classroom. Adolescents in the classroom often code-switch without recognizing they are doing so, similarly to all of society today. With this being said, it is vital we educate our youth on the dangers of a single story and the attempts to conform to society's idea of perfection or normality i.e.'s society's "single" story in a way. This is a lesson I will utilize in my classroom through this novel. 


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