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
The following Monday, Leo doesn’t escape Stargirl. She approaches his lunch table and says, “You’re welcome,” in a singsong voice. Leo realizes he must acknowledge Stargirl, though he’s terrified. He turns to face her, feeling heavy with dread. He finally says, “Thanks for the card,” and Stargirl’s smile “put the sunflower [on her bag] to shame.” Leo is so staggered by the smile that even Kevin’s teasing doesn’t bother him.
Leo’s hesitation to acknowledge Stargirl shows that he’s uncomfortable being seen as departing from the larger student body. He’s never been comfortable in the spotlight, yet is torn because he’s attracted to Stargirl. It will be hard for him to have it both ways.
Themes
After school, Leo feels helplessly drawn in Stargirl’s direction. As he searches for her, he hears girls gossiping about Stargirl getting thrown off the cheerleading squad. The girls mock Leo as “Starboy,” but he’s secretly thrilled. He walks to Stargirl’s house, nervous—he feels “more comfortable with her as history than as person,” wanting to know everything about her. He hangs around outside her surprisingly ordinary-looking house and whispers skyward, “That’s where Stargirl Caraway lives. She likes me.”
Leo’s comment—that he feels more comfortable with Stargirl as an idea than somebody he has to deal with directly—is another example of both Leo’s shyness and his reluctance to face the implications of association with her.
Themes
Suddenly the door of Stargirl’s house opens, and Leo hides behind the car parked in front. A shadow stops a few steps from him. Stargirl asks Leo if he remembers following her that day after school. She asks why he’d turned and gone back. Leo lies that it wasn’t because he was afraid. Stargirl says she wouldn’t have let him get lost. Just then Cinnamon comes over and noses at Leo. Stargirl teases Leo, saying she’ll make Cinnamon bite him if Leo doesn’t admit that he thinks she is cute. Leo stays crouched behind the car, letting Cinnamon nuzzle his ear. Finally Stargirl and Cinnamon leave. Leo limps home, stiff from his hiding place, yet wishing he could stay there all night.
Leo’s concealment behind the car—though it’s a sweet example of his continued shyness—further illustrates his ambivalence about getting into a relationship with Stargirl. It’s also another of the many examples of the interplay between visibility and invisibility in the novel—in this case, of desiring both to be seen and to remain hidden.
Themes
