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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Stargirl, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individuality and Conformity
Human Nature
Seeing, Visibility, and Invisibility
Friendship, Love, and Social Pressure
Summary
Analysis
As Stargirl retrieves Cinnamon, things return to normal on the set of Hot Seat. Kevin eagerly begins the interview. He asks Stargirl about her unusual name, then looks flustered when she shrugs about it. A girl in the “jury” demands to know what was wrong with Stargirl’s birth name. Stargirl explains that her original name, Susan, was a good name, and that she simply changes her name when she feels she’s outgrown it—going from Pocket Mouse, to Mudpie, to Hullygully, to Stargirl. One night, while walking in the desert, the name Stargirl “just […] fell onto” her. Her parents have always gone along with her new names.
Stargirl isn’t the typical interview subject—the things that seem unusual to Kevin, and to viewers in general, are normal to her. But before Kevin has a chance to regain control of the interview, a student runs with Stargirl’s hesitation, using it as a chance to attack her individuality as abnormal.
Themes
Kids continue to hurl hostile questions at Stargirl. One girl, Becca Rinaldi, wants to know why a Mica cheerleader cheers for the other team. Stargirl, “her voice small as a little girl’s,” asks if Becca has never felt happy while seeing the other team’s joy at scoring a point—or does Becca always want to be a winner? She seems genuinely surprised, saying that she roots for everybody.
Another girl asks why Stargirl quit homeschooling. Stargirl says that she wanted to make friends. The student says that Stargirl has a funny way of showing it. Leo begins to regret ever having asked Stargirl onto the show. Stargirl, too, is starting to appear rattled. Finally, Hillari Kimble takes the microphone. She says that if Stargirl wants to cheer for other schools, then she should get out of this one.
The heart of the students’ objection to Stargirl is apparent: they find her disloyal. To them, her cheering for others can’t simply be an expression of kindness; it’s a failure to conform, and since it threatens school unity, it can’t be allowed.
Themes
Other kids grab the microphone, flinging accusations, claiming that Stargirl only behaves unusually for attention, or to get a boyfriend. “Why can’t you be normal? […] [I]s something wrong with us?” they ask. Leo feels helpless behind the control room glass. Suddenly the faculty advisor, Mr. Robineau, turns off the console, saying, “That’s enough.” Hot Seat stops filming, but the students’ shouts continue.
The students keep trying to reduce Stargirl’s behavior to motives they can easily understand. They take Stargirl’s actions as a personal affront. The pile-on is bitterly personal, as shown by the fact that even though the interview has stopped, the attacks persist.
Themes
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