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 looks like she’s in shock. As her parents, who are less outwardly emotional, lead her from the car, she drops her silver plate. Mr. Caraway gives the plate to Leo.
Susan’s parents seem more accustomed to Susan finding herself in situations like this—which is heartbreaking in its own way.
Themes
By Monday, Stargirl is back to her old self, with long skirts and hair ribbons. She passes out cookies and plays her ukulele with Cinnamon perched on her shoulder. Dori applauds. Leo is too cowardly, not wanting to signal approval for the return of Stargirl.
Susan’s poor reception after winning the contest is a breaking point: she goes back to Stargirl, and Leo is forced to confront the fact that he really prefers the conventional Susan to the challenging Stargirl.
Themes
After school, Leo catches up with Stargirl to ask if she’s given up on being “normal.” Cheerfully, she says yes. Leo asks if Stargirl might just back off a little from her persona and not come on so strong. In reply, she simply smiles and says, “Because we live in a world of them, right? You told me that once.”
Stargirl is truly happy being herself, and Leo can never be completely happy with that. He wants a Stargirl who’s comfortable for him—because he really does belong to “them” in a way he can’t, or won’t, escape from.
Themes
After a moment of silence, Stargirl kisses Leo’s cheek and starts to walk away. She adds, “I know you’re not going to ask me to the Ocotillo Ball. It’s okay.” She gives Leo a benevolent, sympathetic smile—the same smile he’s seen her bestow on countless “needy souls.” In that moment, Leo feels as if he hates her.
Stargirl’s and Leo’s breakup is especially heartbreaking because their romance looked so much more promising at first. When newly in love, Leo felt the pull of Stargirl’s differentness more strongly that the conformist pull of his peers. Now he’s snapped back, like the rubber band image he used earlier himself—and he hates knowing that about himself.
Themes
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That night, Kevin calls Leo to ask if he’s taking Stargirl to the Ocotillo Ball. Leo crankily hangs up on him. That night, for the first time, he pulls down his bedroom shade instead of relishing the beauty of the moonlight. He dreams of an old man on a bench, saying, “How dare you forgive me.”
Leo is pained by reminders of the “otherness” in which he’d previously found such mysterious beauty. He’s also tormented by Stargirl’s forgiveness of him, knowing he doesn’t deserve it, and that it places them among those, like the old man, most in need of Stargirl’s kindness.
Themes
The next morning, the Mica High roadrunner bears a flyer inviting students to sign up for a new musical group calls the Ukee Dooks. By the end of the day, the sheet is filled with joking entries, like Darth Vader and Wayne Parr, but Dori Dilson signs up in earnest. After school, Kevin tries to joke with Leo about Stargirl acting goofier than ever, but Leo walks out on him. He knows that “permission to [mock Stargirl] must have come from my behavior.” He knows Stargirl saw through him in the same way.
Kevin acts as though Leo is uncomplicatedly on the “normal” side of things now. Leo is pained by this implication and resists it, even as he knows that, deep down, that it’s true to a large extent. He tried to be on both sides, and it wasn’t sustainable.
Themes
Leo hears Stargirl mocked everywhere he goes at Mica High. Trying to become a popular girl backfired, and now everyone hates her more than ever—or at least Leo is more attuned to others’ hatred.
The hatred of Stargirl shows that even while she was “Susan,” her real nature remained evident to the rest of the kids. Now that Leo has been in Stargirl’s world, the others’ hostility feels sharper, and he feels partly responsible.
Themes
Stargirl and Dori Dilson practice ukulele duets and become a very good singing duo. They perform in the school courtyard, where they’re stubbornly ignored by everyone. Leo realizes that the shunning is never going to end, and that he should be brave enough to show some public appreciation for Stargirl’s individuality. But he doesn’t. As the two girls continue to perform for no one, he slips out another door.
The full extent of Leo’s cowardice comes through. Stargirl and now Dori are undaunted in their determination to be themselves, while Leo can’t even bring himself to applaud them when no one else is watching.
Themes
