Facing An Identity Crisis In The Hate U Give

In the book, The Hate U Give, Starr faces an identity crisis because she is living in between two worlds. She is trying to come into terms of having two different worlds to live in. One world being in Garden Heights and the other in Williamson. She has two versions of herself in these two worlds which really affects her in the long run. She can not be truly herself in either of these world.

She finds conflict in herself trying to find a position to fit in both worlds.

In reality, it is really hard for her to be herself because she gets judged either way in both worlds. She does not want to seem too “white” in Garden Heights and she does not want to seem to “ghetto” at Williamson. Starr feels pulled between two universes all through The Hate U Give—to be specific, that of poor people, primarily black Garden Heights and the well off, basically white Williamson Prep.

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Thomas investigates the strain felt by characters of shading who must explore the limit between what their identity is and how the outside world depicts them. In doing as such, she brings out researcher W. E. B. Du Bois' renowned idea of 'double consciousness,' the vibe of 'two-ness' experienced by black people seeing themselves through the eyes of a supremacist society. Du Bois set forth this term in 1903 to depict the experience of being black in an American culture that has devalued being black for its whole history.

Black people’s perception of themselves is the manner in which they see themselves and the manner in which they realize the white world will see them, making a feeling of inner clash.

At the beginning of the book, she was going to a party at Garden Heights, she makes it clear that she has two versions of herself. She talks about the boundary that she sets for herself between the two worlds, she is not fully comfortable with the two different versions of Starr. She tries to change the way she speaks and uses different types of vocabulary for both worlds. She goes on by saying that in her world of Williamson she has to choose who she is and she says, “I choose every word carefully and make sure I pronounce them well. I can never, ever let anyone think I'm ghetto.” In Williamson, she has to be this preppy girl and not make anyone think that she is ghetto because of her skin color.

Starr grows from an uncertain teenage girl to an outspoken activist for change in her community. Starr’s witty and relatable narrative style contrasts with her reluctance to speak out at the start of the novel. Because Starr feels torn between her two worlds, the poverty and violence of Garden Heights and the wealth and respectability of Williamson Prep, she is uncertain how to talk about Khalil's demise, dreading the story will influence how her white companions and sweetheart, Chris, see her. Khalil's passing upsets any similarity to balance Starr has made between her Garden Heights and Williamson Prep characters, and powers Starr to understand that regardless of what she does, she will consistently be made a decision inside blank areas. With this acknowledgment, Starr stops quietly enduring bigot remarks from Hailey, permits Chris into her Garden Heights life, and at last affirms before the amazing jury for Khalil's sake, turning into a voice of equity for those exposed to police brutality.

Starr's name conveys the topical load of the numerous implications of 'star,' which accentuates her potential for administration in her locale. Dissident expresses that he picked Starr's name since she was a light in a dull time for him. All through The Hate U Give, Starr goes about as a light of expectation and truth for a considerable lot of the characters. In vouching for the great jury and standing up at the dissent, she reveals insight into reality with regards to Khalil and gets through the layers of deception that the media has made. By uncovering King's contribution in Khalil's passing, Starr rouses her neighbors and DeVante to have the fearlessness to take a stand in opposition to King. Starr's acknowledgment of her potential for administration in her locale features how Hailey's bigotry had recently consigned Starr to an auxiliary job in Hailey's life while Starr is the focal point of her own.

Williamson Starr or how Starr puts it, “Starr 2.0” is known for being the basketball star and the girl dating the really hot guy. She changes her vocabulary completely and she does not want to talk about her life at Garden Heights with her friends from Williamson. When Khalil was shot, she did not want to say that she knew him or that she witnessed everything that happened to him. She did not want to tell her friends that she was the girl that was with him that night because she felt like she was going to be judged and looked down on. When the whole incident happened with Khalil, Starr was sensitive about the entire thing and anything that her friend Hailey said made her feel bad. When Hailey talks about Starr eating fried chicken, Starr got really angry at her for making that remark towards her. There were many instances that Starr did not feel comfortable in her own skin with her friends because she was afraid she would say the wrong thing and make everyone think less of her. The only person that makes her feel comfortable is her boyfriend, Chris, they bond over The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and that was the major reason why they started talking and getting really close. She feels comfortable around him but not comfortable enough that she can tell him everything that is going on with her family and where she lives. She can not speak freely around her friends or she would feel like she would be judged by all of them. She feels like all of her friends and her have different viewpoints and completely different lives so something she would rather leave unsaid.

Garden Heights Starr is very different from Williamson Starr. Garden Heights Starr gets judged for acting the way she does, she is seen as “white” because she goes to Williamson. People think that she thinks that she is better than anyone in Garden Heights. When she is talking to Kenya, she assumes that Starr thinks more of herself when they go to the party. It is these little comments or remarks that make Starr feel like she has to act different in both of these worlds. She can not act too ghetto at williamson and she can not act too white in Garden Heights.

All the characters in the book especially shown in Starr’s family deal with these identity troubles. Lisa and Maverick engage in this sort of code switching too. When Lisa is talking to the District Attorney on the phone, for example, she “speaks in her ‘other voice.’” On the path to Starr's system news talk with, Lisa additionally gives her kids explicit guidelines concerning acceptable behavior: 'When we arrive, don't touch anything and only speak when someone speaks to you. It's 'yes, ma'am' and 'yes, sir' or 'no, ma'am' and 'no, sir.'' Starr further sees that her family has spruced up in order to not resemble 'hood rodents.' The Carters realize they should talk, dress, and carry on a specific path in a world that organizes white originations of decency. Much like 'the discussion' the Carter kids get about the proper behavior before cops, this code-exchanging is a proportion of self-assurance in a general public that expels and condemns obscurity. This has made a major impact on Starr and has made it hard to reconcile both identities but at the book, Starr comes to accept who she is and she should not change for anyone or anything.