The Hate U Give Sparknotes

The most important book of the last one hundred years is a question with a myriad of answers based on what you hold to be significant. This judgement could be based on religion, race, gender, politics, where you live, class, nationality and generally the way you have been brought up and socialised. For instance, if you were raised in America and read a book that rebukes the country's healthcare system, most Americans would jump to its defence because of how they were raised and the fact it is the only healthcare system they have ever experienced, prompting them to assume it is superior despite them not experiencing any other .Then, of course every book will have its critics, that goes without saying however there are some books which are universally

Despite this being quite recently published it is a relevant book that displays the dangers of police brutality and shows systemic racism in America. The events that take place in the book could be compared to the murder of George Floyd that occurred in 2020. The main event in the book is the murder of the main characters (Starr) friend (Khalil). He is killed after being pulled over for speeding and is shot by a white policeman in an act of ‘self-defence’ because he thought Khalil was reaching for a gun which turned out that he was just checking on Starr. Throughout the whole novel, the effect of Khalil’s death is shown throughout the community with Starr trying to prove that he was murdered because the policeman was racially motivated. The novel ends with the news that the policeman who shot Khalil was not convicted. This prompts an uproar from Starr’s neighbourhood which then turns into a riot against this racially motivated act of police

The novel shows the pressure Starr has to be ‘less black’ in school, even changing the way she speaks and hiding from her closest friends that she was a witness to Khalil’s murder. Furthermore, she and her Asian friend, Maya, experience racist comments from one of their friends called Hailey. They later stand up to it but it shows how subconscious racism can be and how accepted it is. None of Hailey’s white friends called her out on it but instead they left it to the victims of Hailey’s comments to fix them. This indication casual racism and racism in general makes the book important and teaches a lesson to the reader by showing how unacceptable it is and the fatal effects it has. It changes the readers mentality and allows them to take a stance against racism by providing them with these scenarios and portraying effectively the way it tolls on Starr throughout the novel. Secondly, the way Thomas mentions names of victims of police brutality, it forces the reader to realise what a world they live in and to not assist to that but instead take action against