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Chapter 18
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
Leo visits Archie, needing to talk to somebody. Archie tells him about the Amish practice of shunning. Leo fills him in on recent events with Stargirl and, feeling conflicted, wonders why Stargirl can’t be more like everyone else. They stand gazing at the desert, and Archie muses that Stargirl “seems to be in touch with something that the rest of us are missing.”
The Amish, a self-isolating Christian sect that rejects technology and other modern entanglements, views shunning as a way of driving an “offender” to eventually realign with the norms of the community. This parallels with Stargirl’s experience at Mica High, as students are shunning her in an attempt to make her conform. Leo feels the pressure to give in and wishes Stargirl felt it more, too.
Themes
Archie remarks that, in the few moments after we first wake up in the morning, we’re in touch with a more “primitive” part of our humanity—less attached to civilization and technology, and more attuned to nature.
Archie suggests that they consult Señor Saguaro. He addresses the cactus in Spanish, saying the Señor prefers it when dealing with “delicate matters.” He explains Leo’s situation and explains to Leo that he asked Señor Saguaro for “questions.” Señor Saguaro’s response is that there’s only one question: “whose affection do you value more, hers or the others’?” Later, Leo realizes that he understands this question perfectly, but he doesn’t want to answer it.
In a moment of whimsy reminiscent of Stargirl herself, Archie tries to help Leo put his situation in perspective. As he’d earlier remarked that Stargirl would become known more by the other kids’ questions than by her answers, he now tries to help Leo focus on the right question—and there’s nothing ambiguous about it.
Themes
