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Chapter 3
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
Hillari Kimble is famous for her big mouth, an infamous hoax, and her boyfriend, Wayne Parr. The hoax took place in Hillari’s sophomore year: she’d tried out for cheerleading, made the team, then turned down the position, claiming she’d just wanted to prove she could make it. Her boyfriend, Wayne, is taciturn, attractive, and otherwise undistinguished. Yet he’s the “grand marshal of our daily parade.” Without anyone’s quite realizing it, Wayne Parr has become the leader of Mica High, though Leo isn’t sure if he “[created] us, or was […] simply a reflection of us.”
Hillari Kimble is a foil for Stargirl: where Stargirl’s authenticity shines, Hillari prefers to lead people on with a big fake-out. While Stargirl naturally garners attention because of who she is, Hillari forcefully commands people’s attention and devotion, as she does Wayne’s. Leo’s musings about Wayne reflect his more big-picture perspective on the dynamics at Mica High. He observes that conformity is a self-reinforcing phenomenon, with Wayne Parr a prime example.
Themes
During sophomore year, Leo had recruited Wayne Parr for Hot Seat, though he wasn’t sure why. During the show, Kevin had asked Parr who his role model was. Parr smugly replied that it was the magazine GQ—he wanted to be its cover model someday. He gave a stereotypical model’s pose for the camera. Leo then assumed that Wayne Parr would always be Mica High’s “grand marshal”: “How could I have known that he would soon be challenged by a freckle-nosed homeschooler?”
Leo’s instincts about people are apparent in his decision to put Parr in the “hot seat.” He senses that Parr’s desire to literally be just a handsome face on a magazine—and the approval this wins for him—says a lot about Mica High. He assumes that his peers will always try to conform themselves to the mold created by Parr, because it doesn’t hold them to a particularly high standard.
Themes
