Stargirl

by

Jerry Spinelli

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Stargirl: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Looking back on this period, Leo finds that his memory blurs, because “head and heart are contrary historians.” Even though Mr. Robineau destroys the tape, everyone knows what happened on Hot Seat by the next day. Mica High is filled with tension over the treatment of Stargirl and how Stargirl will react. But the next day, Valentine’s Day, Stargirl leaves candy on her classmates’ desks, just as she’d done for each previous holiday.
Leo observes that one’s ability to perceive and remember things accurately is often shaped by the state of one’s heart at the time. His heart is already invested in Stargirl’s status at Mica High.
Themes
Seeing, Visibility, and Invisibility Theme Icon
Friendship, Love, and Social Pressure Theme Icon
That night there’s another basketball game. The Electrons are undefeated—an unprecedented development—and heading into the playoffs for the Arizona championship. At first, Stargirl only cheers when Mica scores. Then, halfway through the game, opposing Sun Valley’s star player, Ron Kovac, trips and breaks his leg. As his coaches and teammates attend him, Stargirl, too, kneels beside him and soothes him. Everyone applauds as Kovac is carried out of the game on a stretcher. Leo wonders if some Mica students are applauding because they’re happy to see him go. They win the game easily.
Though the exact cause of Kovac’s injury is never specified, the preceding scenes of student cruelty suggest that the Victory-hungry Electrons would do almost anything to win a game. Stargirl, however, is once more oblivious to everything except that someone is hurt, and that she wants to help.
Themes
Individuality and Conformity Theme Icon
Human Nature Theme Icon
Two nights later, Mica High loses to an even better basketball team. The students are devastated—winning had come to feel like destiny. But Leo notices that, as the other cheerleaders cry and listlessly cheer, Stargirl continues to cheer with “ferocity […] [flinging] her defiance at our gloom.” Then, suddenly someone throws a ripe tomato in Stargirl’s face. There’s scattered, bitter laughter as she stands there in bewilderment.
Stargirl is the truest cheerleader, in a sense—she’s most steadfast in her cheers when things are falling apart. But for some students, her cheering is like salt in a wound, and they lash out, seeing Stargirl as a symbol of everything that’s gone wrong.
Themes
Individuality and Conformity Theme Icon
Human Nature Theme Icon
The next morning, Leo finds a card in one of his school notebooks. It’s a childish cut-out Valentine declaring, “I LOVE YOU.” It’s signed with a crude picture of a star and a stick-figure girl.
At the point when Leo’s sympathy for Stargirl is at its height, she declares her love for him in a characteristically heartfelt, albeit unsophisticated, way. At a time when she’s most rejected and ostracized, she’s still thinking of someone else before herself.
Themes
Friendship, Love, and Social Pressure Theme Icon
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Stargirl PDF