Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a story about a girl who is different from everyone else. She comes to Leo Brolock’s school on the first day of his junior year. Stargirl, as she calls herself, is completely focused on others. Mica High School’s football program had been failing, until one night when Stargirl takes the field. She wows everyone with by dancing and cheering for the Electrons. Soon, Stargirl is asked to join the cheerleading squad. However, when she starts to cheer for the opposing basketball team the students question her loyalty. Leo’s best friend, Kevin, interviews Stargirl for their school’s monthly program, “The Hot Seat.” This interviews solidifies Stargirl’s position as an outsider. As the story unfolds, Stargirl confesses her feelings for Leo and finds that he likes her as well. Soon, the two become a couple, but Leo is meet with resistance from those around him. For the once popular Leo, being an outsider becomes too much for him. He must decide whether to stay with Stargirl or regain his popularity.
One prominent theme throughout Stargirl is that of individuality and optimism. Stargirl, herself, is completely different from everyone else in Mica. She is consistently cheerful and her positivity attracts those around her. It should come as no surprise that a key symbol in Stargirl is that of “electrons,” which is Mica High’s team mascot. Electrons are, of course, negatively charged, but attracted to a positive charge. Stargirl is that positive charge. This is arguable, but Señor Saguaro seems to also be a motif of the text. He is Archie’s cactus. Archie is an older man who teaches the students of Mica on the weekends. Señor Saguaro survives, like any cactus, even in the harshest of conditions. In fact, he thrives. Stargirl also thrives, even as those around her root for her to fail. Certainly, Spinelli’s main theme is that of being true to yourself.
Roberta Seelinger Trites asserts in her book Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature: “Identity politics are a social construction. That is, they are defined by discourse, not biology. Social constructions play a determining role in how we perceive ourselves politically” (46). This is very true for Leo, Stargirl, and another character, Hilari. As Leo develops a relationship with Stargirl, he finds that he loses almost all his friends. As he loses his friends, he beings to lose his identity in the school. Soon, Leo begins to question his relationship with Stargirl. Although he enjoys his time with her and certainly has feelings for her, he longs for championship outside of the relationship. His role is no longer defined by what he does at school, but who he is with.
Spinelli challenges these “identity politics” by creating a character who, by her lack of pervious social experiences, has no knowledge of social construction. She is joyful and unaffected by the opinion of others. When Leo challenges her to become like the other girls in school she concedes, only to find that this unfulfilling. As a result, she decides to go back to the person she was at the beginning of the novel.
Hilari is the quintessential electron. She is full of negative energy. When Stargirl starts school, Hillari makes up a rumor dubbed,“Hilari’s Hypothesis” claiming that Stargirl is a plant by the school to promote school spirit. As Stargirl popularity grows, Hilari challenges her habits. She warns Stargirl against singing “Happy Birthday” to her. Stargirl meets the challenge by singing it not to Hilari, but to Leo. By the end of the story, Hilari can’t find her place in the school. Once the most popular girl, she now seems to have no friends. Spinelli’s characters all search for identity in school, except for Stargirl, who knows exactly where she belongs from the beginning.
Jerry Spinelli’s Book List:
Blue Ribbon Blues
Crash
Do the Funky Pickle
Eggs
Fourth Grade Rats
Jake and Lily
Jason and Marceline
Knots in My Yo-Yo String
Loser
Love, Stargirl
Maniac Magee
Milkweed
Picklemania!
Report to the Principal’s Office
Smiles to Go
Space Station Seventh Grade
Stargirl
The Bathwater Gang
The Library Card
There’s a Girl in My Hammerlock
There’s a Girl in My Hammerlock/Wheel Trouble
Third Grade Angels
Tooter Pepperday
Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?
Who Ran My Underwear Up the Flagpole?
Wringer
Zoomer and Other Stories
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