Book Report on ‘The Hate U Give’ – Free Essay Example

Book Summary:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a realistic fiction novel about the life of a sixteen-year-old girl named Starr after she witnesses her childhood best friend’s murder. Starr lives in Garden Heights, an underprivileged neighborhood with only people of color that’s infamous for its gangbangers and drug dealers. She once went to school in Garden Heights, but after seeing her friend, Natasha, get killed in a drive-by when she was just ten years old, her mother thought it was best to send Starr and her brothers to private school. This brings us to Williamson, the upper-class all-white prep school where Starr is one of the few black kids there. Because the settings of her home and school are so drastically different, Starr felt that she had to keep these two places separate. Until she witnessed her friend, Khalil, get shot by a white police officer even though he was unarmed, Starr believed that she was able to handle the pressure of having a school life and a home life. Speaking of Khalil, since Starr was the only person who saw what happened the night he was murdered, it is her job to give her side of the story and bring him justice. Her white friends at school know of Khalil’s death, too, but only from what they saw on the news. For all they know, Khalil was just another drug dealer who probably deserved to get shot. Starr tries her best to prove them wrong without mentioning that she and Khalil were close, and this causes tension with her friends and family. A lot of pressure is put on Starr to try and figure this all out. She even questions whether or not she should be speaking up for Khalil in the first place. However, Starr realizes, after seeing her community stand up and protest, the importance of taking action to make a change, because if she stays silent, no one will know why Khalil deserves justice.

Character Summaries:

Starr is the protagonist of the story. She is funny, smart, and absolutely loves basketball. When Starr is at home in Garden Heights, she’s more outgoing and tough, but at Williamson, she chooses to be more reserved and quiet. After Khalil’s death, Starr finds it hard to keep the chaos of her neighborhood away from her school life. Throughout the novel, she learns to accept both sides of her life and to own who she is.

Seven is Starr’s half-brother. Just because he isn’t fully related to Starr doesn’t mean he loves her any less. He constantly has her back throughout the story, whether it be through emotional support or physical support. He is a senior in high school and will be able to graduate, which is something his father wasn’t able to do. Speaking of his father, whenever he isn’t around, Seven feels like he has to take the role of “man of the house”.

Maverick is Starr’s father who is an ex-member of the King Lords, one of the gangs in Garden Heights. Facing the hardships of life on the streets has caused him to become very wise, so he knows the ups and downs of how to stay alive and how to avoid being taken advantage of as a result of the color of your skin. He has a rose garden that he tends in his free time, and he owns and runs a small grocery store in Garden Heights.

Lisa is Starr’s mother who is a nurse. She is a very strong, female role model for Starr, and she knows her children inside and out, including Seven, who isn’t even hers. Speaking of which, she is one to forgive and forget, as she stayed with her husband even after he had an affair that resulted in Seven.

Uncle Carlos is Starr’s uncle on her mother’s side. When her father went to jail when she was three years old, Uncle Carlos became the father figure of their family. This has caused him and Maverick to have a sort of rivalry between them, seeing who Starr loves more. Uncle Carlos brings a unique point of view to Starr’s situation with Khalil, as he is a black man, but he is also a police officer. The officer that killed Khalil is his coworker, but he chooses to come to the defense of Khalil as he knows how important he was to Starr.

DeVante was friends with Seven before he met Starr. He became a member of the King Lords at a very young age to pay off his mother’s debt to the leader of the gang. DeVante recognizes the dangerous influence of the gang and tries to find another way to make money other than selling drugs. As a result, he becomes employed at Maverick’s grocery store and Starr helps him out. It is found out later in the book that the leader of the King Lords wants him dead, so Starr’s family takes him to Uncle Carlos’ house so he can hide.

Kenya is Starr’s best friend in Garden Heights. They share Seven as a brother and even treat each other like sisters. They are so close that they aren’t afraid to point out one another’s mistakes. Kenya constantly points out to Starr that going to an all-white school is causing her to lose her edge as someone from Garden Heights, and Kenya doesn’t care how “hood” she acts.

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Place Order

Chris, Maya, and Hailey know Starr from school. Although there isn’t much to say about these characters, they are very important because they represent Starr’s life at Williamson, where she feels she cannot let anyone know about her life in Garden Heights. Chris is Starr’s boyfriend who is white. He cares for Starr so much and wants her to feel comfortable when she’s around him. He learns about Starr’s hometown and the chaos that comes with it, yet he isn’t afraid to be by Starr’s side and he doesn’t love her any less. He also feels that he constantly has to apologize to Starr on behalf of all wealthy white people. Maya is one of Starr’s gal pals who is Asian. She is sweet, as all good friends should be, but is often caught in the friend drama between Starr and Hailey. Hailey is Starr’s ex-friend. She is white and isn’t afraid to express stereotypes about other races, and doesn’t see anything wrong with it. She is quite bossy and is an overall toxic person.

Connection to the GROVES Way:

Open-Minded: Keep an open mind avoiding judgments and stereotypes.

“We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay for them and normal for us” (Thomas 252).

The Hate U Give deals with the idea of being on the receiving end of judgments and stereotypes based on race. Hailey’s character is not one to think about the hurtful things that come out of her mouth, and she believes that she isn’t doing anything wrong. Maya and Starr have had to deal with Hailey’s mean comments since freshman year, but they haven’t said anything because they were afraid of losing Hailey as a friend. Starr realizes that if Hailey is the type of person to even think of those hurtful things, then she isn’t worth being kept as a friend. In the context of this quote, Starr has called Hailey decides to make herself the victim in this situation, and tells Starr that she’s accusing her of being a racist, to which Starr replies something along the lines of “You can say racist things without actually being a racist”. This results in a big fight between the two girls, ending when Hailey storms out in a fit of anger. Maya goes to comfort Starr and tells her about the time when Hailey asked her if she ate a cat for Thanksgiving because she’s Asian. The two girls decide that they should cut Hailey out of their lives and form a “minority alliance” where one person would come to the other’s defense should they be attacked with racial insults ever again.

Empowerment: Empower yourself and others to be the change you wish to see.

“People are realizing and shouting and marching and demanding. They’re not forgetting. I think that’s the most important part” (Thomas 444).

The Hate U Give revolves around the theme of empowerment and standing up for oneself. Starr struggles with the idea of having to speak up for Khalil on her own, but she later realizes that she isn’t alone, and that empowers her to use her voice to bring justice for Khalil. The quote I used for empowerment is said right after a huge riot takes place after word gets out that the police officer that killed Khalil wouldn’t be arrested for his unjust actions. There had been riots in the book before, but not as big as this one. Starr, after hearing the news, becomes so frustrated that she decides to join the rioting for once, something she was told not to do. She establishes that if her voice alone wasn’t able to convince the court to bring Khalil justice, then maybe her actions will.

Support: Support and have empathy for others

“It was just cool to have somebody take care of us for the change, instead of the other way around” (Thomas 238).

A small, but important, scene in The Hate U Give involves DeVante and Starr discussing why someone would want to join a gang. Starr expresses her worry that Khalil might have actually been a drug dealer and how that may negatively affect the court’s decision. DeVante tells her that even if he was, there might have been a valid reason for it. Starr asks him what he means. DeVante then goes on to explain why he joined the King Lords in the first place. His mother and sisters weren’t able to take care of him and support him well enough, so he decided to join the King Lords to make money but to also have a family-like group that would take care of him. They made sure that he had clothes and that he was well-fed. Upon realizing that his mother was still struggling, DeVante decided to use the money he made to help her out much to his resentment. He tells Starr about how he just wanted someone to take care of him but ended up having to be the one to take care of his mother.

Book Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Hate U Give. I found myself being able to connect with Starr, despite the fact that we theoretically have nothing in common. The characters and events in the story all felt so real to me, and I had to remind myself that this was a fiction novel and that it was just inspired by real events. The casual style of the writing definitely added to the realness of the story. Something else I noticed that was interesting was the way the novel can explore deeper themes, like mourning a loved one or domestic abuse, in a way the reader can easily grasp. There wasn’t much that I didn’t enjoy about the book. The only things that made me a little uncomfortable were the racial slurs, but that’s only because I don’t come from a community where that kind of language is tolerated. Speaking of which, this novel contains a lot of profanity, as well as graphic images of violence and abuse. I was considering recommending The Hate U Give to younger readers due to its easy readability as well as the important messages the story teaches. However, I believe that this book is meant for young adults above the age of fourteen because they are mature enough to handle the intensity of the events in the novel. At least young adults are still impressionable enough to be able to take to heart the positive messages of the story. After all, that said, I believe The Hate U Give is an incredibly important book for our generation because it provides us with an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of someone that struggles because of the color of their skin. We can use that new experience to become aware of what we say and do to make a change for the good of our society.