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
That dance happened 15 years ago—15 Valentine’s Days, Leo reflects. He vividly remembers the “sad summer” after Stargirl left. He remembers peering inside her empty house, a For Sale sign out front. He went to see Archie, who tells him that the Caraways moved to Minnesota. Leo said that it all seemed like a dream—was Stargirl even real? Archie assures him that Stargirl was “as real as we get.”
Even as an adult, Leo can’t stop thinking about Stargirl. Her appearance in his life had a fairy-tale quality to it. But Archie maintains that this is because Stargirl is more connected to what’s most “real” about human beings, not because she was less of one.
Themes
Archie admits that he doesn’t understand Stargirl, either, but that every once in a while, a “star person” comes along who’s “a little more primitive than the rest of us,” more in touch with the primordial “star stuff” that makes up human beings.
Archie associates Stargirl with his paleontologist insight that people are composed of star matter. This truth is obscured in most people; in Stargirl, it shines through.
Themes
Archie tells Leo that Stargirl really liked him. She loved him so much that she even became a “normal” girl for a while, just for him. He tells Leo he doesn’t know how lucky he was. But Archie doesn’t rub it in any further.
In a way, Stargirl’s conformist phase as Susan was an act of kindness toward Leo, even more than an attempt to gain approval for herself.
Themes
The summer before Leo leaves for college, Archie invites him over. He opens his toolshed and reveals Stargirl’s “office”—it’s filled with ribbon, wrapping paper, newspaper clippings, phone books, and other supplies. A Mica map and birthday calendar cover the walls. Peter Sinkowitz’s album is there, waiting until Peter is a little older. Leo opens a filing cabinet filled with hanging folders. He opens the “Borlock” file and finds the article about his necktie collection, as well as photos and lists of his personal likes and dislikes. There are files for everybody at Mica High. Leo is stunned, saying Stargirl was like a spy. “A lovely treason, hm?” jokes Archie.
Long after she’s left Mica, Stargirl’s secrets are still being revealed. Her attention to others, it turns out, took a great deal of effort, research, and planning. There’s still something a bit raw and unsettling about her methods—while they’re undoubtedly a sign of love, they also require a devoted, single-minded watching of others, in a way that’s not seen as socially acceptable and could easily be misconstrued. Stargirl’s society was never really ready for her.
Themes
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