Theme Of Identity, Bullying And Conformity In Jerry Spinelli's 'Stargirl'

In the novel Stargirl a teenager in high school is very outgoing and a little “weird” to the other students at Micah High School. She has to face a big decision to become a conformist to the high school norms or be a nonconformist and be her unique self. She meets a boy Leo who will impact her decision heavily. The other students are very rude to her because they are, in away, scared of her because she isn’t “normal”. Archie a old man that students often went to for stories understood Stargirl and helped other to except her.

Theme is the message of the story that the author wants the reader to take away from the story. In the short story “Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto. The theme is don’t pretend to be someone you are not. For example, Mr.Bueller remembers his story about how he tried to impress his girlfriend by renting different cars every time they had a date. This led to him to running out of money. He pretended to be someone he was not. Victor also tried to be someone he was not by pretending to know how to speak French fluently to impress his crush, Teresa. Luckily, no one pointed out that VIctor didn’t know French, so he wasn’t embarrassed in front of the whole class, including Teresa.

Throughout the novel Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, several topics across the novel contribute to the overall theme. From identity, conformity to bullying, the topics of Stargirl cover everything under the Mica sun. Conformity is touched after everyone in Mica Area High School is described as conformists, blending into one another. Identity is challenged by Stargirl as she breaks away from conformity. Bullying makes its debut after the kids at MAHS reject Stargirls quirky ways. Overall, the Stargirl novel puts a fresh take on the underlining theme most people aren’t true to themselves unless they are confident.

The theme of Stargirl is to always be yourself, it’s the best person there is for you. It tells you to be a Stargirl, be different don’t follow the crowd. People will like you for you and if they don’t then it`s their loss. It teaches you valuable lessons, like to never let people come in the way if you really love someone. To just push them aside and let you make the choice, what`s more important my peers or someone that I love? They give many examples of this in the book, here are some….. ~`` We did not know what to do make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to a cork board like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and she flew away.`` - pg. 15 This piece of figurative language is saying they tried to change her, or put her into place. But when they tried, she barely changed and striated from the crowd. ~It was during one of these night moon times that it came to me that Hillari Kimble was wring. Stargirl was real.``-pg.12 This is saying that he thought about Stargirl and she was just really being herself, and she was different but it was ok. ~``. The lie dormant and waiting, these mud frogs, for without water their lives are incomplete, they are not fully themselves. For many months the sleeps like this within the earth. And then the rain comes. And a hundred pairs o eyes pop out of the mud, and at night a

In “Phoebe Prince: Should School Bullying Be a Crime?”, an article written by journalist Jessica Bennet addresses school bullying, the outcomes and the consequences that bullies deserve or not. Above all, this article aims the spotlight on bullying, a 15-year-old who took her own life due to harassment, torment, rumors, physical threats all leading it to being bullied by well-known good students. In any case, the process of being bullied has never been taken into consideration nor importance in the school system or by society in general. “It’s even gotten better over the past decade says Dan Olweus, a leading bullying expert”. However, bullying just does not disappear, it is still an issue that humankind does not have any diligence to the cause

In Unfriended, the author starts to present the theme to the reader, when the main character is in a tough situation. “That whole oh I care so much stuff. Just to make everyone like her. She is just trying to fit in with “the girls” when its not working because she is one of us. Who does she think she is?” (Vail 43).

The theme of the novel is determination. This was demonstrated when the character experienced being an outsider form all the other kids. Rania was determined to fit in with the older kids. She put on makeup to make it look like she older.”Ew, What did you do to your face (Telgemeier 131). That same day she threw her bear away and blamed it on her sister.”I don’t care about this stupid bear my sister just packed him !!!!’ (Telgemeier 130). Raina is so trying so hard to be cool and fit in that she forgot how to be herself for a minute.

theme of how the important characters as vehicles to convey the theme familial love and

The book, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, taught me several lessons. While reading the book, I noticed that one of the main themes of the novel was the importance of being yourself. Or in other words, not letting what others think determine who you are. Stargirl is the perfect example of this. It is very hard to get Stargirl to change.

The narrator influenced the theme as she was being shaped into a person she did not want to be. Her mother continuously pushed her to be less like a tomboy and more like a typical girl. The narrator viewed the word “girl” as something she had to

One way the author conveys the theme is through the main character’s actions. She strives to be like an American girl and is stubbornly blind

At first, to Leo, it felt as if everyone was giving him and Stargirl the space they needed. But as time goes by Leo soon realizes that the reason why there is so much space between him and everyone else was because everyone distanced themselves from him because of Stargirl. Later he asks Stargirl to be like everyone else, and so she disappeared for a few days only to come back completely transformed. After a few days of not seeing Stargirl, Leo all of a sudden hears, “‘What do you have to do to get somebody’s attention around here?’ I turned, but it wasn’t her. The girl standing, grinning in front of me wore jeans and sandals, had burnt-red nails and lipstick, painted eyes, finger rings, toe rings, hoop earrings I could put my hand through, hair…” (Spinelli 139). Through Leo’s pressure, Stargirl took on a challenge of her own, to be like everyone else. She wanted to help Leo not feel left out so she conformed to Leo and everybody else’s standards just for Leo’s

When this romance initially commences, Leo notices people treating him differently as if he is an alien. This is because Stargirl is an extraordinarily typical girl who doesn’t track the culture of the school. She plays an ukulele, keeps a pet rat in her tote bag, treats everyone with kindness and serenades them in the lunchroom on their birthdays. As a result Leo requests Stargirl to transform her identity so she can fit into the school, and people won’t look down upon them. He wants her to conform into the society. She adjusts her name into “Susan”—an “ordinary” high school girl. The reader discovers in this progression that she is discontented pretending to be what she isn’t. Ultimately, she is happiest when she is factual to herself. As she articulates “Every once in a while someone comes along who is . . . a little more in touch with the stuff we’re made of, it’s our identity what really perceives who I am rather than assimilating I rather enjoy myself as who I really am. ” (Spinelli, Stargirl 177). This advocates that perhaps one can take a message from her and be a little truer to one self. Rather than following what others say and having no genuine identity, it is vital to build up an own identity a way one can be referred to as.

The girl’s inner characterization resembles a coming of age character. She develops because of the action and her traits as a child are presented in contrast with her traits as a teenager. This contrast is emphasized using the third-person narrator at the beginning of

The central character’s personality is important to the story’s central idea as it is the dominant element that exemplifies the type of people that the central idea encompasses. It is people like the woman with the pink velvet poppies that keeps ideas including racism alive.