Analyse af Angie Thomas' 'The Hate U Give'

Racism is a very essential and tense subject of matter. In this new book, from Angie Thomas “The Hate U Give”, this very issue is shed light on. The text is about a 16-year-old girl, Starr Carter. She, along with her family, lives in Garden Heights, a black neighborhood in the US. She has two brothers, one older and one younger, and her parents. The older brother, Seven, is only her half-brother, she shares this brother with her best friend, from Garden Height, Kenya. This essay will focus on Starr and her environment, the ambivalence she fells, regarding the question about where she belongs. Part of the essay will also focus on the style of writing in chapter 7, page 107, line 22-27.

Starr is a 16-year-old black girl, who lives in Garden Heights. Garden Heights is a battered area, know from gangsters, brotherhoods, and frequent shootings. Starr goes to a private school called Williamson prep, here the majority of students are white, including her boyfriend, who is also white. One day Starr attends a spring break party, in Garden Heights, with her friend Kenya, who too is from this area. At this party, a shooting starts, and Starr runs out with her old friend Khalil. They have known each other for a long time, but lately drifted apart. Starr and Khalil get into his car and drives away. Suddenly a police officer, One-Fifteen, pulls them over. The officer thinks, that Khalil has a gun, but he is only reaching out to ask if Starr is okay, and in that beforementioned believe, the officer shoots him dead. Starr now must live with the loss of two childhood friends. Furthermore, she most face the discrimination and disbelieve in her, only due to the fact of her skin color. Starr feels out of place at the party, this can be seen in the following quote: “Damn, I wish this hoodie could swallow me up somehow”. This quotation shows that Starr desire to disappear from her surroundings. Starr is well aware that she, in the eyes of the youth in Garden Height, does not really belong. She feels the same way: “I know this moment I’, supposed to remember her, but I don’t”. This quote shows that Starr is aware, that she should know more people in this area, but she does not. Starr has a different version of herself, regarding if she is at Williamson or in Garden Heights: “All my Williamson rules go out the door, and Starr from Garden Heights shows up”. Before mentioned quote shows, that Starr is torn between the two worlds, she feels that she needs to chance her personality to fit in either place. This could be a sign of identity crisis because she is left when the question of which Starr she really is, behind the facades.As beforementioned, Khalil and Starr go way back. They have known each other since they were toddlers. “I gape at him. “Leave my husband alone”, Khalil answers “Your corny husband”, this quote shows, that they have an insider joke, which clarify the bond between them. Khalil too is from Garden Heights, he has gotten himself into trouble, by beginning to sell drugs. Starr knows this, but she also knows, that it is a part of Garden Heights. Starr notes on several occasions, that Khalil makes world-weary choices and comments, that in her opinion sound like her parents: “He sounds like my parents”. This could foreshadow his death and to introduce the audience, of the troubling theme, that the children of Garden Heights take on the responsibilities of an adult, at a very young age. Maverick, also known as Big Mav, is well known in the environment, and therefore Starr is known too, due to the fact that she is his daughter. Maverick has a Black Power philosophy, that has a big impact on Starr and the household. These Black Power values, that Starr has been given, is shown when Khalil gets shot. Starr makes the conclusion, that he died because of the color of his skin. When Starr and her mother drives to the police station, for the interrogation, Starr makes a us and them narrative. This is between the mother and her, unarmed black women, and the maybe twelve armed white officers. This shows that she does not associate herself with them, and that she has ground value, that black and whites are different. This can be seen in the following quote: “… the guns in their holsters are all I can see. All of them. Two of us.”.In the lines 22-27 on page 107, Starr reflects upon the differences between the races, due to the fact that she has a white boyfriend and best friend, but in someway feels ashamed. Her, being torn between the two worlds, is being emphasized when she admits she feels like she is giving every black guy in her life, a big, loud “fuck you”, by having a white boyfriend. In these lines, the writer uses contractions and swear words, which makes this paragraph informal. Furthermore, she uses repetition of the word “really”, which emphasizes the usage of informal language. Although there is usage of informal language, the writer uses long sentences and correct grammar, which points at formal language.