Student’s Name
Tutor’s Name
Course, its core the Hate that you give is a meditation on the effect of ‘code switching’ or moving between various societal identities depending on scenarios – in this case, for black girls in particular. By the time readers interact with Starrr, she is conversant with the code-switching script. Starr has been showing up to school as a minor percentage of herself all the course of life while giving more than 100 percent to make up for the fact she black, a female, and from a working-class neighborhood. While conventionally, cinematic representations of code-switching focus on external transformations, the actor’s utilization of language, hairstyle and mode of dressing, comportment, the Hate you give a treatment of identity politics transcends
the outward social performance to relay the significance of being a witness and emotional effect of burying trauma.
In most cases, code-switching is a survival tactic. In the book, the protagonist, Starr, the first-ever emergence of her version ‘two’ takes place after a life-altering incident, a couple of years at the start of the novel, she looks her other best friend, Natasha, the three friends referred to themselves as the hood trio gets gunned down in h front of her after one of the gang members opened live fire on the street. At the time, the two friends were at the tender age of ten. We later realize that Starr saw the murder and knew the identity of the tattooed law enforcement officer, yet she remains silent to protect herself. She proudly proclaims that ‘I din’t snitch’ both as a
show of pride and shame in her voice when a couple of more years later, she finally opens up to her parents the sad tale. Immediately after Natasha’s brutal murder, Starrs parents elect to send to school in a private school in the white suburbs. As such, for Starr, the horror of being witness to Natasha’s brutal murder, the pressure of remaining mum by the street codes, and her initial; acts of code-switching in elementary school become intertwined.
As it is common with the various black
girls, the p[rotaganist learns to hide her pain while being present for all the persons who matter in her life. In the book The Hate U give, the lead actor carries both the secret of being conversant with what caused death and the shame of not having the requisite courage to share with anyone else. In most cases, when female students try to communicate –whether talking about witnessing merciless killings or sexual aassaul6, or common racist encounters, they easily conclude that the adults around them do not always possess the skill, set, or requisite resources to be of help. Various research undertakings show that school-age black girls go through increased rates of interpersonal assault. Yet, they receive inadequate support from the necessary institutions such as learning institutions and the juvenile justice systems, among other stakeholders.
On her part, Starr tries to repress the memories that continue to torment her and instead focuses on becoming the type of individual her close relations need her to be. She remodels herself as the dutiful respectable daughter by performing exemplary in school. To her white school mates and friend, she is the innocent girl who allows them to fantasize about being b; lack, spitting slang and rapping the lyrics of the current trap songs –while carrying none of its burdens. Starr comes off as the loyal hood chic for her friend Kenya and other friends she grew up with within Garden heights.
Irrespective of representing herself as the complete person, Starr never allows herself to develop a cohesive sense of being. This why her fleeting moments at a house party with Khalil, in an earlier scene just before he dies, morphs into a source of joy. It is a moment where they can go back to the innocent past –when she an immature kid who loved watching Harry Porter snd he is not compelled to peddle drugs to cater to the grandmother and little siblings while reminiscing about old stories and discussing matters of music and sneakers.
Through the narration, Star can no longer keep up with the pretense after seeing her unarmed friend get killed. Her constructed identity unravels. Her emotions come to boils in a serious scene where she argues with her white girlfriend, Hailey, who states that Khalil was a drug that would have died in the long run and the hairbrush Khalil as possessing, mistaken for a weapon, posed a significant threat to public safety. Starr snatches Hailey’s hairbrush and threatens her with it to indicate how harmless a hairbrush can as compared to a gun. It is a recoup of the day Kahalil was killed and is indicative of the publics’ increasing anger.