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
Susan and Leo are riding to the state contest in Phoenix while Mr. McShane, the faculty advisor, drives. Susan is in a flirtatious mood, sitting in the middle seat so she can cuddle with Leo. She admits that she also invited Dori Dilson to come along, but that Dori is angry at her, seeing “Susan” as a betrayal of Stargirl. Leo feels uncomfortable at this, but Susan distracts him with her chatter about the victory parade she predicts tomorrow. She wants Leo to hold her big silver trophy plate so that she doesn’t drop it when the crowd rushes her.
Dori Dilson’s reaction to “Susan” shows that at least one of Stargirl’s friends sees through her attempts to fit in and isn’t buying it. This forces Leo to confront the fact that he doesn’t fully accept Stargirl for who she is, but he allows himself to get swept up in Susan’s vision before he can think about this too much.
Themes
Mr. McShane asks Susan if she’s heard of counting her chickens before they hatch, and Leo reminds her that a loss is possible, but Susan is confident, saying she’d rather celebrate now. She’s only nervous about what it will be like to be “adored by mobs of people.” Leo gives up reasoning with her.
Susan is confident in the accuracy of her own vision, as she’s always trusted her view of the world. Her expectation of sudden adoration is irrational, though—it doesn’t match up with how “everybody else” works.
Themes
Noticing the vibrant spring colors of the surrounding desert, Susan begs Mr. McShane to stop the car, and he relents. Susan jumps out of the car and whirls among the various cacti, pretending to wave to an adoring crowd. A little later, she stops and comes back, asking Mr. McShane if he knows of any extinct birds. Mr. McShane knows of a huge bird called a moa that died out in New Zealand. He’d done a report on them as a kid. But he doesn’t know if moas could sing.
The desert is a special realm for Stargirl—she comes to life there, in a way that she doesn’t elsewhere. That’s what happens here—it’s a momentary emergence of Stargirl from the outward trappings of Susan.
Themes
Susan explains that she’d just heard a mockingbird in the desert, and it made her think of something Archie told her—that maybe mockingbirds don’t just imitate living birds, but that perhaps the sounds made by extinct birds have been passed down and preserved by mockingbirds—“pitching fossils into the air” as they sing.
Get the entire Stargirl LitChart as a printable PDF.
