Xie 1 Samuel Xie Ms. Danvers ENG1D1-7A May 24th, 2022 So Different, yet so Similiar “Being two different people is so exhausting. I've taught myself to speak with two different voices and only say certain things around certain people. I've mastered it.” (Thomas 301), this quote is said by the protagonist, Starr, in The Hate U Give (2017), shows the number of times Starr has had to code-switched around the people she's with. The novel follows a black, teenage boy whose life was taken by a white police officer. The only witness to this murder is Starr, who is afraid of speaking out because of the possible consequences that will affect her and her family. Speaking out to gain justice for Khalil put Starr under a lot of pressure, but many characters in this novel help support and care for her. Two of these characters are Chris, her boyfriend, and DeVante, a teenage King-Lord. In the novel, DeVante and Chris are similar in that they both care deeply for the closest people around them. The culture and environment they grew up in dissimilar's them as such, and their approach to situations in life varies depending on the circumstances. Throughout the story many characters developed changes, Starr spoke out bravely, DeVante is putting the effort to quit being a King-Lord, The Carter family moved out of Garden Heights, and so on. By going through ups and downs with the main character, the side characters in this novel play a huge role in helping Starr reach her goal, of getting justice for Khalil. Xie 2 Every person’s culture is different, culture makes up for who they are. Culture separates different groups of people from others, making each of them different in their way. In this novel, DeVante is a black teenage boy and Chris is a white teenage boy. Throughout the novel, their culture has an impact on the decisions they make. “I’m a King. I don’t run from no-damn-body.” (173). DeVante is introduced into the storyline as a black teenage King-Lord; when he hides in Maverick's store while running away from King, he met both Starr and Maverick. Maverick explains his history of being a King-Lord and how he got out of the game, it inspired DeVante to quit but he was afraid of the trouble he had gotten himself into. But DeVante agreed to quit so Maverick helps him by getting him to stay with Uncle Carlos (Starr’s uncle). “As much as I say I don't have to choose which Starr I am with Chris, maybe without realizing it, I have to an extent. Part of me feels like I can’t exist around people like him” (301) When Starr says people like him, she refers to white people. Because Chris is white, Starr keeps her Garden Heights Starr hidden from Chris for the majority of the story as she fears Maverick’s (her dad) reaction to her dating a white boy and Chris's reaction to her background. “A cop as white as Chris points a gun at me.” (83) “As white as Chris.” (84). These quotes were said by Starr when she was talking to Chris outside her class. Suddenly Starr starts getting flashbacks to Khalil’s shooting when Chris grabs her hand, finding it hard to differentiate Chris’s whiteness from One-fifteen’s. She snaps. The way these two characters approach situations in the novel is somewhat dependent on their culture. Chris acknowledges the fact that he is dating Starr, a black girl so he knows that there are things that he can and can not do/say, the same goes for DeVante. The environment where you grow up or live in could impact you heavily. The environment you are in could also influence you to make choices that will either be beneficial or Xie 3 detrimental. In this novel, DeVante lives in Garden Heights, a community where gangs and drugs are popular. In contrast, Chris lives in a wealthy, white neighborhood. “Man, I can't go back to Garden High,” Devante says. “All them king lords up in there” (177). In this quote, “King-Lords” are gang members that are hunting DeVante because he stole from King (the gang boss). Since Garden Heights has a good number of king lords in it, DeVante acknowledges the danger of going back to that community. Chris lives in an opposite environment than DeVante.“The day before Big D’s party, Chris and I were in Chris’s ridiculously large room” (81) “I try to forget that he has an entire floor as big as my house” (81). As said in these quotes by Starr it is pretty clear that Chris lives in a mansion with his family. Chris does not have to worry about gangs or trouble in his neighborhood because it is peaceful. The environment that DeVante grew up in encouraged him to become a King-Lord because of one major factor; drugs going in and out of Garden heights. Chris grew up in more of a peaceful environment so he is just a normal teenage boy. The environment you live in could guide you in making the wrong decisions. In this novel, Chris and DeVante are characters who deeply care for the people around them and do anything to the best of their ability to support them. Despite DeVante's arrogant personality, he deeply cares about his family and friends, similarly, Chris also cares for his friends and his girlfriend Starr. DeVante explains to Maverick why he was getting hunted by King, “ I stole ‘bout five Gs from King.” (222) “ I had to get my family outta here! I was gonna handle the dudes that killed Dalvin, and shit, all that would do was make some GDs come after me. I was a dead man walking, straight up. I didn’t want my momma and my sisters caught up in that. So I got them some bus tickets and got them outta town.” (222). Through these quotes, Xie 4 readers understand that Devante only stole 5,000 dollars from King because he needed the money to get his mom and sisters out of Garden Heights. DeVante did not want his mom and sisters involved in the trouble that he caused. Despite all the problems DeVante has, he still put his family before him and made sure that they could not get involved in any of his troubles. While talking to Starr outside her class, Chris asks “Please, Starr? Can we at least talk about it?” (80), “it” was referred to the day before Big D’s party where Starr and Chris were going at it and Chris pulled out a condom and asked to go all the way. But Starr was not ready for that and Chris knew, so that annoyed her and made Starr leave his house pissed and sexually aroused. Despite his mistake, Chris still made an effort to check on Starr and made sure that she was okay. Throughout the story, Chris does his duty as Starrs boyfriend and tries to resolve problems in his best duty with Starr. Starr says that Chris is her normal as she feels free with Chris, rather than having to be “Williamson Starr.” Both Chris and DeVante have been supporting Starr and others throughout the story whenever they need help, and make decisions that are best for the people around them. Chris and DeVante’s characters have helped the reader learn the importance of making reasonable decisions for themselves and the different characters around them. Although their differences differ them from each other, their similarities also resemble each other. Their culture has been a factor in the decisions they make, DeVante becoming a King lord and Chris just being a normal teen. Living in Garden Heights is no easy work and because of gangs and the amount of drugs going in and out of the community, DeVante became a king lord to provide for his family and for a sense of family that the gang provides. In comparison, Chris has it easy living in a nice and peaceful community. Lastly, they are similar in the way that they would both care for Xie 5 characters that are important to them, for example, DeVante stole money from King to get his family out of Garden Heights fearing that they might get caught up in his trouble. Or whenever Starr feels empty, Chris is there to help fill in that gap for her, she describes Chris as her normal because she does not have to worry about how she acts around him. After reading the novel readers will now understand how the similarities and differences between two or more characters are much more than what they seem. Different path, same objectives. Xie 6 Works Cited Thomas, Angie. The Hate U Give. Balzer + Bray, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022.
