Book Analysis

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

TITLE AND RELATION WITH ITS CONTENT:

"The hate u give" is a novel against racism and violence and discrimination against black people. The novel itself is a scream for all the people that have been killed and all the hate that what they call white people has given them just for being black.

AUTHOR AND HER PURPOSE:

Thomas first began writing The Hate U Give as a short story in her senior year at Belhaven University, as a response to the 2009 police shooting of Oscar Grant. In the years that followed, more and more black boys, teens and men were killed by police officers: Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, and Thomas decided to expand the story into a novel. The book draws its name from a Tupac Shakur lyric :”The Hate U Give Little Infants F*cks Everybody”: a line that becomes pivotal to the action of the story.

Angie Thomas was born in Jackson, Mississippi. She grew up near the home of assassinated civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and has stated that her mother heard the gunshot that killed him. When she was six years old, Thomas witnessed a shootout. The following day, her mother took her to the library to show her that "there was more to the world than what [Thomas] saw that day", which inspired her to take up writing.

Thomas earned a BFA from Belhaven University, a private Christian college in Mississippi. Thomas was the first black student to graduate in creative writing.

SUMMARY:

Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old black girl, who lives in Garden Heights and goes to a school with white people, attends a party in her neighborhood, Garden Heights. Which is a dangerous neighborhood ( drugs, guns, only black people live there) Starr goes with Kenya, a friend. When Kenya goes off with other friends, Starr runs into her childhood best friend, Khalil Harris, whom she hasn’t seen in a long time. Gunshots from a gang fight interrupt the party, and Khalil offers to take Starr home. While Khalil drives, he explains rapper Tupac Shakur’s idea that “Thug Life” stands for “The Hate U Give Little Infants F---- Everybody.” Soon after, a white police officer with the badge number one-fifteen pulls them over. One-Fifteen shoots Khalil without reason at all.

Starr has nightmares about the death of another childhood friend, Natasha, who died in the crossfire of a gang shooting. On Monday, Starr goes into the police station after school with her mother, Lisa, to testify about Khalil’s shooting. Starr realizes that the officers are asking more questions about whether Khalil was a troublemaker than about the night of the shooting. She worries that justice for Khalil will not be served. At Khalil’s funeral, a lawyer and activist named April Ofrah confirms Starr’s fears when she announces that the police will not pursue legal action against One-Fifteen and invites the attendees to a rally in Khalil’s honor. Starr blames herself for the police’s inaction.  April Ofrah tells Starr to call her if she needs legal representation.

 During this time, Maverick, Starr’s father, explains to her his interpretation of Tupac’s phrase “Thug Life.” He believes that Thug Life describes a system designed against black communities. Only by speaking out can black communities begin to break the cycle. DeVante  a member of kings gang begs Maverick, a former King Lord, to help him leave the gang. Maverick agrees. Starr sees DeVante’s request as a chance to help someone in a similar situation as Khalil. A few days later, Maverick gets into an argument with the neighborhood barber, Mr. Lewis. Although the argument is peaceful, two police officers intervene, and when they see Maverick is Starr’s father, they push him to the ground and search him. Between this scary event and pressure from Kenya, Starr decides that she will no longer be silent.

The District Attorney calls Lisa to announce that a grand jury will hear the case against One-Fifteen and asks if Starr will testify. Starr agrees, and April Ofrah decides to represent Starr pro bono, and also find a way to get Starr a television interview. Meanwhile, DeVante tells Starr that Khalil had never been a member of the King Lords and only sold drugs for King to protect his mother, who had stolen money from King. During Starr’s television interview, she decides, against Ms. Ofrah’s advice, to talk about the truth behind Khalil’s drug dealing. In the end, Starr decides that Khalil needs her truth. She testifies before the grand jury.

Almost two months later, the grand jury announces their decision not to indict One-Fifteen and a protest starts. As she tries to avoid the chaos, Starr stumbles upon a protest led by Ms. Ofrah. She offers Starr the megaphone, and Starr leads a chant in front of the protest. The police try to break up the protest with tear gas. King turns on fire the family store but in the end, Starr`s father attacks King and wins. The police arrive, and King, confident that no one will testify against him, claims ignorance. However, the neighbors rally around the Carter family and tell the police that they saw King set fire to the store. The police arrest King. Although the grocery store is in ruins, Starr knows that the family will rebuild. She vows to continue fighting for justice on behalf of Khalil and all other black people killed at the hands of the police.

THEMES:

Blackness

The Hate U Give explores the relationship between race and identity as Starr struggles to have 2 worlds, the black world of Garden Heights and the white world of Williamson Prep. Starr feels pulled between her Garden Heights self and Williamson Prep self, trying to have two different personalities when she can only have one. After Khalil’s shooting, Starr is not able to speak about his death for fear that her friends, Hailey and Maya, and her boyfriend, Chris, will not understand everything that happens in her Garden Heights world. Starr feels“too black” to talk about Khalil’s life and death with her school peers.

Identity

Starr’s identity conflict is evident in her father figures, Maverick and Uncle Carlos, who have different perspectives on authentic blackness. Maverick draws inspiration from the Black Power Movement.  Maverick’s philosophy explains why, throughout most of the novel, Maverick refuses to move his family from Garden Heights to a safer neighborhood because he doesn't want to leave te neighborhood behind. Uncle Carlos, with his job as a police officer and house in a gated community, represents assimilation into white culture. Uncle Carlos believes that he can support black communities by using white organizations like the police force to combat gang violence.

The Weaponizing of Stereotypes Against Black People

The Hate U Give examines the way society uses stereotypes of black people to justify violence and racism against them. These stereotypes protect white communities making discrimination more clear. For example,  One-Fifteen has no reason to think Khalil’s hairbrush is a gun other than One-Fifteen’s presumption that Khalil is violent because he is black. However, the news media and many white characters endorse One-Fifteen’s version of events because by protecting him, they protect law enforcement from accusations of racism. Uncle Carlos, Starr’s black uncle on the same police force as One-Fifteen, also initially defends One-Fifteen’s actions before realizing he wrongly tried to justify the shooting of Khalil. News coverage emphasizes Khalil’s alleged gang connections, perpetuating stereotypes of black boys as violent and dangerous.

Poverty

Underlying the traumatic events of The Hate U Give is the cyclical nature of racialized poverty, which Maverick explains to Starr during their conversation about Tupac’s phrase “Thug Life.” According to Tupac, widespread racism keeps black communities from the opportunities and resources needed for financial prosperity, and poverty feeds on itself, affecting generations of black families. This cycle entraps many of The Hate U Give’s black characters into a situation where they cannot escape poverty without relying on the drug trade, which is then used to devalue them as people in both life and death.

CHARACTERS:

Starr Carter - The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Starr is a sixteen-year-old black high school student who spends her life divided between the poor, primarily black neighborhood of Garden Heights and Williamson Prep, a wealthy, primarily white school. Traumatized after witnessing the fatal shooting of her friend Khalil, Starr blames herself for not being there for Khalil before his death. As Starr gains the courage to testify at the grand jury hearing for One-Fifteen and grapples.

By  Manuela Orozco, Step 9