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The Hate U Give Character Analysis

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As bullets ring in her ear and the fog clears, three bullets fly past her, and the environment suddenly shifts into a heartbreaking moment of silence. Starr Carter fights to resolve the harsh world she lives. Angie Thomas follows Starr Carter's mainly black neighbourhood of Garden Heights and the privileged, white community of Williamson Prep. Starr, the novel's protagonist, is left with the task of gaining justice for Kahlil, her best friend who gets shot by a cop. In The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas uses Starr Carter's character to demonstrate struggles while navigating through two different worlds, media struggles and how people's opinions affect her ability to speak out. Throughout this novel, Starr faces challenges as she finds her way through …show more content…

Similarly, readers can see how Starr's dual personalities, her internal and external selves, affect her relationships. "'I can't share that part of me here, Chris.' 'Why not?' 'Because,' I croak. 'People use it against me. Either I'm poor Starr who saw her friend get killed in a drive-by, or Starr the charity case who lives in the ghetto. That's how the teachers act.'...' I would never use that against you. You once told me I'm the only person you could be yourself around at Williamson, but the truth is you still didn't trust me'" (300). A part of Starr is closed off, ensuring no one can say anything negative about her. Starr is careful of her words around Chris, not wanting to expose too much about herself, making it a struggle for them to maintain an honest relationship. Starr is hesitant to speak about Garden Heights and her community to Chris. Starr is afraid to reveal her true self and the struggles of Garden Heights to Chris. In conclusion, The Hate U Give shows Starr's challenges as she navigates between the two worlds of Garden Heights and Williamson and her …show more content…

But I guess—' I think about DeVante for some reason. 'I don't understand how everyone can make it seem like it's okay if he got killed if he was a drug dealer and a gangbanger.' A hook straight to the jaw" (288). After a police officer kills Khalil, he is quickly referred to as a gang member and portrayed as a threat, despite not having any involvement in criminal activity. The police question Starr, focusing more on Khalil as a person than the specifics of what took place the night of the shooting. The media's portrayal of Khalil affects Starr by making her doubt memories and emotions towards Khalil. The media pressures Starr to conform to this narrative, which causes internal conflict and makes it hard for her to speak the truth, which is seen through her hesitation to speak to the

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Hate U Give, written by Angie Thomas. Is a book that has a deep yet touching story. The story follows a 16-year-old girl named Starr. She decided to go to a party, so she happened to have an old friend there. Khalil Haris, a childhood friend who she hadn't seen or heard from in years.

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1329 Words | 6 Pages

When going to school, she thinks to herself, "I don’t have to think about Khalil. 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… slang makes [her friends] cool, [while] Slang makes her, "hood.” Williamson Starr holds her tongue when people piss her off so nobody will think she’s the, "angry black girl.”

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One of the main events that spur the action of the novel is the killing of Khalil harris, Starrs unarmed black friend, by a white police officer. This moment of police brutality is a part of a larger picture of racism and the criminalization of black communities in America as a whole. A quote that caught my attention states “What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be”. Police brutality is portrayed when Starrs friend Khalil is killed by a police officer as I state in the paragraph above. Police brutality is such a reality in Starrs world that her parents maverick and lisa talk to starr and her brothers seven and sekani about what to do when a cop pulls you over and what to say.

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518 Words | 3 Pages

In The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Starr learns to accept herself, accept her community and to use her voice to promote justice in the world due to the relationships she has with others. Furthermore, Starr struggles to be her true self anywhere she is, in Garden Heights she is one person and in Williamson she is another but her boyfriend, Chris, helps her with this. He makes her feel comfortable enough to just be Starr around him since they met, “Ever since, I don’t have to decide which Starr I have to be with him. He likes both” (Thomas 83). Evidently, her relationship with Chris helps her to accept and be who she is because he is the first person that she feels totally comfortable with.

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2000 Words | 8 Pages

In the novel written by Angie Thomas The Hate U Give we are presented with the main character Starr Carter who is drawn into activism after she witnesses the unjust police shooting and murder of her unarmed friend Khalil who was only pulled over for having a broken taillight. Khalil's death occurs in the first few pages of the book, but his presence stays and maintains throughout the novel. Starr is a sixteen-year-old African-American who resides in the most poor and black neighborhood of Garden Heights where she has experienced two traumatic events, the deaths of her two close friends. Regardless of the dangerous events she has experienced here in the hood of Garden Heights, her family has been living there their whole lives for explained

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2074 Words | 9 Pages

The constant shifting between lives has caused a rift in Starr's life, creating a sense of conflict within herself and her identity. In the first few minutes of the film, we listen as Starr describes her need to separate her true self from the version she presents to her white peers as she code-switches to prevent herself from being seen as "too hood", and suppresses aspects of her identity to prevent being discriminated against. Acts like this are created due to the pressure of assimilation, which is a survival tactic among many racial-ethnic minority group members. Although it causes the individual to become less authentic, it helps them become one with the crowd, which can be seen with Starr as we observe her changes within the film. However, this battle with her identity is not only shown at school but when she returns home.

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Caden Mielke Mrs. Lusk English 10 28 February 2024 T.H.U.G Literary Analysis Essay Have you ever thought about someone thinking differently about you by the way they perceive you? In the novel, people tend to perceive Starr as a bad person, only because of where she lives. They believe that she lives on the low side of the area, and that she's a bad person for living there. In reality, she's a really nice person, and where she lives doesn’t affect her. In Angie Thomas’s novel The Hate U Give, the author develops the theme that other people's perceptions do not define one’s self.

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1129 Words | 5 Pages

The Hate U Give, a young adult novel published in 2017 by Angie Thomas, is about a Black teenage girl who faces various types of oppression. Starr Carter is a 16 year old girl who is stuck between a poor and rich life. She lives in Garden Heights, an impoverished neighborhood consisting mainly of black individuals, and attends Williamson Prep, a wealthy school mainly full of white students. Starr witnessed the shooting of her friend, Khalil Harris, whom she grew up with, and she also dealt with the racist actions of her peers; this led her to create negative aspects about herself. Starr’s continuous experiences of discrimination caused her to create negative thoughts about her identity.

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1145 Words | 5 Pages

Specifically, Starr's ethnocentric lens highlights the need for empathy and understanding in the fight for justice, while Kenosha's cultural relativist lens highlights the complexities of the Black Lives Matter movement. The novel demonstrates the importance of listening to and understanding different perspectives in the fight for

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896 Words | 4 Pages

In this novel, Starr is constantly reminded about speaking out against the police officers and the gangs running in the neighborhood.

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778 Words | 4 Pages

While Starr is going through a riot that was based on Khalil's murder, she tries to escape and go home but runs into trouble. Starr is trying to get home through the riots and protests and even gets on stage to speak and use her voice and express on how she feels about being a witness and how she wants justice when the riots are led by local gang members and they are stomping out police cars and setting things on fire. Starr is trying to escape the madness and get home when,“A Molotov cocktail sails toward the car.” (Thomas 227). Just because using the power of voice can make a change doesn't mean it’s a good change.

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1155 Words | 5 Pages

Williamson Starr holds her tongue when people piss her off so nobody will think she’s the ‘angry black girl.’ Williamson Starr is approachable… Williamson Star is nonconfrontational. Basically, Williamson Star doesn’t give any reason to call her ghetto” (71). Rather than internalizing the racism, she acknowledges the racial stereotypes and sacrifices the expression of her cultural background and unified identity to achieve inclusion and disprove the notion that all African Americans act a certain way.

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1129 Words | 5 Pages

The book focuses on how Khalil was murdered and how he needs justice. Although, has never mentioned the fact that he lived, until the riot. Like Starr clearly states “His life mattered”. Unfortunately, this is not just about Khalil, all their lives mattered. Which is why Starr makes a difference.

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1666 Words | 7 Pages

Although it is a really hard journey to tell and expose the truth, Starr eventually learns how to tell everyone the truth and set her path towards justice. Another way that justice is served from Starr’s perspective is that she and her community start protesting and rioting together in demand of justice for Khalil. These protests aren't only protests but help to represent something bigger. Through her efforts, Starr has come to rally the entire community together, letting them know that the troubles they have to face are going to be put to an end finally with their combined efforts. “I don't know what justice is anymore.

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1864 Words | 8 Pages

In The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas demonstrates that code-switching and double consciousness heavily impact the lives of black individuals through the depiction of the character’s interactions with other communities. To begin, Starr Carter’s code-switching first becomes evident when she encounters law enforcement. Initially, Starr and her friend Khalil are pulled over by the police, and in this situation, Starr begins to code-switch as she remembers her father’s advice. “ “Starr-Starr, you do whatever they tell you to do," he said. "Keep your hands visible.

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