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STARR’S STRUGGLE TO FIND HER IDENTITY IN ANGIE THOMAS’S THE HATE U GIVE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By DITA DWIPUJOWATI Student Number: 124214021
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2020
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
STARR’S STRUGGLE TO FIND HER IDENTITY IN ANGIE THOMAS’S THE HATE U GIVE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By DITA DWIPUJOWATI Student Number: 124214021
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2020
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
there is always a glimmer in those who have been in the dark
- Atticus –
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FOR MY BELOVED PARENTS AND MY LOVELY SISTER
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to God for his endless guidance and blessing. Through Him, I could gain strength and continued doing my best until I could finish this thesis.
I would like to thank Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M. Hum., for his thorough support, patience, encouragement, and guidance. Without his motivation, it would be hard for me to fulfill my duty as a student. I would also like to thank my co- advisor, Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini, Ph.D. for her help in guiding me and improving this thesis. I also like to express my gratitude to all lecturers in English
Letters Department for the knowledge and the opportunity given to me to finish my thesis.
I would like to thank my beloved parents and sister who always put their trust on me and give their never ending support to me. Their love and prayers help me to become who I am now.
Last gratitude I would like to deliver to Maria Clementia, Theresia
Anggarani, Cicilia Dwi Saputri, Putri Ekarini, and Mikael Ari Wibisono. Their support, advice, and suggestions are meaningful and helpful for me to push me in finishing my thesis. I would particularly like to thank Ludgardis Venny Christy
Adoro Te for her support, love, and help that she always gives me.
Dita Dwipujowati
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...... ii APPROVAL PAGE ...... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...... iv STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ...... v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ..... vi MOTTO PAGE ...... vii DEDICATION PAGE ...... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... x ABSTRACT ...... xii ABSTRAK ...... xiii
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ...... 1 A. Background of the Study ...... 1 B. Problem Formulation ...... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ...... 3 D. Definition of Terms ...... 3
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...... 5 A. Review of Related Studies ...... 5 B. Review of Related Theories ...... 8 1. Theory of Character Characterization ...... 8 2. Theory of Double Consciousness...... 9 3. Theory of Racial Discrimination ...... 10 C. Review of Related Backgrounds ...... 10 1. Review of Police Brutality in US in 2010s ...... 10 2. Review of Angie Thomas’s Life ...... 14 D. Theoretical Framework ...... 17
CHAPTER III : METHODOLOGY ...... 18 A. Object of the Study...... 18 B. Approach of the Study ...... 18 C. Method of the Study ...... 19
CHAPTER IV : ANALYSIS ...... 21 A. The Depiction of Double Consciousness in Starr Amara Carter ...... 21 B. Starr’s Struggle for Her Identity as Black ...... 29 1. Living in Two Worlds ...... 30 2. Living in a Society Which is Affected by Police Brutality ...... 33 3. Making Actions ...... 35
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CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION ...... 41
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 43
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ABSTRACT
DWIPUJOWATI, DITA. Starr’s Struggle for Her Identity in Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2020.
The Hate U Give is a newly debut young adult novel which tells the life of African American teenage girl in America. The book is inspired by the author’s real life experience. This study focuses on Starr Amara Carter as the main character and her struggle to find her identity.
This study has two objectives. The first objective is to reveal the depictions of Starr Amara’s double consciousness through her characteristic. The second objective is to analyze Starr’s struggle to find her identity.
This study used library research as a method to answer the problem formulation. The Hate U Give written by Angie Thomas was the primary source of the study and references sites were second sources. The study used are theory of character characterization, theory of double consciousness and theory of racial discrimination. Review of police brutality in the US in 2010s and brief biography of Angie Thomas is also crucial for the study. Historical-biographical was used as the approach.
The results of the analysis can be divided into two. First, Starr Amara’s depiction of double consciousness is seen through her characterization. Starr Amara gives herself two worlds, Garden Heights Starr and Williamson Starr. Garden Heights Starr is a reserved Starr who does not socialize much meanwhile Williamson Starr has quality of someone who is approachable, friendly, yet pushover. Second, there are three factors to show Starr’s struggle to find her identity. The three factors are living in two worlds, being the victim of police brutality, and making actions. Starr lives between two worlds, in Garden Heights and Williamson Starr and she has to maintain her image between those two worlds. Starr is a victim of police brutality as she sees her two friends being shot by police officer. Starr takes actions to gain justice for her friend and reveals herself as part of black community. Those three factors are reflected from the author’s life experience.
Keywords: double consciousness, identity, struggle
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ABSTRAK
DWIPUJOWATI, DITA. Starr’s Struggle for Her Identity in Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2020.
Novel The Hate U Give yang ditulis oleh Angie Thomas berkisah tentang cerita hidup seorang remaja perempuan Afro-Amerika di Amerika. Buku ini terinspirasi dari pengalaman hidup sang penulis. Pembahasan berfokus pada karakter utama dalam novel, yaitu Starr Amara Carter dan perjalanannya berjuang menemukan identitas.
Pembahasan skripsi ini memiliki dua tujuan. Tujuan pertama adalah menemukan gambaran double consciousness melalui karakterisasi Starr Amara Carter. Tujuan kedua adalah untuk mengungkap perjuangan Starr dalam mencari identitasnya.
Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber utama dari studi ini adalah buku novel The Hate U Give karangan Angie Thomas dan sumber sekunder penelitian adalah referensi-referensi. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori karakter karaterikasi, teori kesadaran ganda dan teori diskriminasi rasial, serta beberapa review yang meliputi review brutalitas polisi di Amerika pada dekade 2010 dan biografi pengarang. Penelitian ini menerapkan pendekatan biografi-sejarah.
Hasil analisis dapat dijabarkan menjadi dua. Hasil yang pertama gambaran kesadaran ganda ditampilkan oleh Starr Amara melalui karateristiknya. Starr memberi dirinya sendiri dua identitas, Garden Heights Starr dan Williamson Starr. Garden Heights Starr adalah orang yang tertutup dan tidak terlalu senang bergaul sedangkan Williamson Starr adalah seseorang yang ramah dan terbuka dalam hal pergaulan, namun juga seseorang yang selalu mengikuti perkataan orang lain. Hasil kedua menunjukkan adanya tiga faktor perjuangan Starr Amara untuk menemukan identitasnya. Ketiga poin tersebut adalah menjalani hidup dalam duadunia, menjadi korban kebrutalan polisi, dan bangkit bergerak melakukan tindakan. Starr hidup dalam dua dunia, Garden Heights dan Williamson, dan harus mempertahankan kedua identitasnya dalam dua dunia itu. Starr adalah korban dari kebrutalan polisi karena Ia melihat secara langsung kematian kedua temannya di tangan polisi. Starr pada akhirnya melakukan tindakan supaya temannya mendapat keadilan dan menampilkan dirinya sebagai bagian dari komunitas orang kulit hitam.
Kata kunci: kesadaran ganda, identitas, struggle
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Novel is one of popular literary works that are read world-wide by people.
According to Taylor, novel is normally a prose of work of quite some length and complexity which attempts to reflect and express something of the equality or value of human experience or conduct (1981:46). It represents about life through the imagination and narrative. Therefore, it is not uncommon that the story of a novel may base on the life of the author or true cases that surrounds them. Novel can be their device to speak up about what happen in the sphere of human life and how it affects the society. One of the authors that write her story based on literal experience is Angie Thomas, through her book, The Hate U Give.
The Hate U Give focuses in the story of Starr Amara Carter. Starr is an
African American teenage girl who navigates her life between her black, poor neighborhood Garden Heights and primarily white private school Williamson
Prep. As Tyson states about double consciousness in his study:
Given the multiple forms of racism with which African Americans have had to contend, it should come as no surprise that many African Americans experience what W.E.B. DuBois first described in The Souls of Black Folk (1903) as double consciousness or double vision, the awareness of belonging to two conflicting cultures: the African culture, which grew from African roots and was transformed by its own unique history on American soil, and the European culture imposed by white America (2006:362).
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Starr shows two different versions of herself throughout the novel. She gives two identities to herself, Garden Heights Starr and Williamson Starr. She is trapped between these two cultures.
Furthermore, the novel describes her journey from when she witnesses the unarmed shooting by police that takes her friend’s life, Khalil, until the end where she tries to gain justice for Khalil. Other prevalent issues depicted in the story such as police brutality and racism are also crucial towards the development of the story.
The Hate U Give is written by an African American woman, Angie
Thomas, who gets inspiration for her book based on her experience and the situation around her. As a member of black community and part of those people that always juggle their life between two worlds and has to encounter injustice, moreover hears about police violence directed towards black people, she wants to deliver a message towards society that their lives (black people) matter too
(frankie.com.au, 2018).
She mentions in another interview that a lot of African Americans in
America, in the decade of 2010, understand and have a connection with Starr’s story, especially when they are put into a lot of white spaces. They have to figure out who they are and where they are (www.theguardian.com, 2018).
This novel is chosen as the object of the study because it is inspired by real experience of the author herself and contains interesting aspects about life. The major character of the story has to endure racism, seeks for her identity, and gains justice for her dead friend. Moreover, the statements from the author about the
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importance of true self, about how they can stand up within their own choice, also support the topic of the study about identity. The writer tries to reveal the struggle of Starr Amara Carter, the main character in the novel to find her identity. Thus, this topic is worth to be analyzed. There is also no other study discusses the newly-published novel yet.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the topic, the writer discusses two questions as problem formulation. The problem formulation is listed below:
1. How is double consciousness depicted in the novel The Hate U Give through
the major character?
2. How does Starr Carter struggle for her identity as Black?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of the study is to answer the questions stated in problem formulation. The first problem attempts to reveal the double cosciousness through the major character, Starr Amara Carter. On the other hand, the second problem attempts to analyze the struggle of Starr Carter to find her identity as Black.
D. Definition of Terms
This part contains explanations about important terms to avoid ambiguity.
Understanding the terms help the reader to comprehend the analysis.
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Jenkins defines identity as the ways in which individuals and collectives are distinguished in their social relations with other individuals and collectivities
(1996:4). Meanwhile struggle, according to Mifflin (1996) is a process of achieving something difficult. In this research, struggle refers to the fight of someone to find her identity.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
The Hate U Give brings a fresh story about black American‟s life. The
New York best seller copy shows the phenomenon of police brutality and racism.
However, not many discussions are made based on the young adult novel. In this part, the writer provides several findings that have similar topic and similar object with the research.
In the study entitled “Racism in the Novel The Hate U Give by Angie
Thomas”, Yunitri, Rajeg, and Maharani focus on the extrinsic elements (2019:84).
Extrinsic elements are other factors out of intrinsic elements that influence the creation of literary work. Through sociology and extrinsic approach, Yunitri Et al revealed that there are five extrinsic elements can be found in the story. They are biography, psychological aspect of the author, the society, the ideas and the other arts (2019:84-86). Biography of the author influences in the way the novel portrays the experience of living in two worlds. There are black and white neighborhood, predominant white school, adjustment on behavior and attitude.
The main character has to learn how to be different person. From psychological aspect of the author, the novel shows the reflection of author‟s hurt and anger towards individual and institution. The novel also enlivens the story by giving it the image of society especially black community. Philosophy is also indirectly shown in the story. It is shown through the environment, circumstances and how
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they treated by the society. Furthermore, art also plays a part in the story. The title
The Hate U Give is derived from a tattoo of a famous rapper, Tupac. Aside from those five extrinsic elements, racism also reflected in the story. According to
Yunitri et.al, Thomas portrays the racism in America by giving realistic depiction based on the real phenomenon happen in America, such as humiliating black, systemic racism, and the difficulty for black community to get a job (2018:88).
The second study reviewed is by Primawardhani. In her analysis entitled
“A Historical-Biographical Study of Frank McCourt‟s Angela‟s Ashes: A portrayal of Irish Social Condition in the 1940s and Frank McCourt‟s life”,
Fransisca states that Angela’s Ashes is not just a memoir but also a historical book on Ireland in 1940s (2004:8). The memoir shows deeper insight than that.Angela’s
Ashes share many things in common with the realities and with the author‟s idea
(2004:58). Frank has done a good job portraying Ireland in 1940s. He can reflect about the poverty, the religious aspect of the society, and the lifestyle of Irish people. Frank‟s life also reflected through three aspects in the memoir which are religious aspect, family aspect, and life motivation aspect. Religion, family, and his motivations to America make him a man as he is now.
In an analysis by Hapsari and Soelistyarini entitled “Negotiating Biracial
Identity as the Effect of Double Consciousness In Durrow‟s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky”, the authors focus on the main character, Rachel Morse, a daughter of a white mother and an African-American mother. Hapsari and Soelistyarini state that after she lives with her black grandmother in America after moving from
Europe, Rachel who was never aware about one-drop rule starts to realize that PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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“there is a classification based on skin color, and how she comes to be classified as black by her surrounding” (2015:49). They argued that this revelation and her characteristics make her anxious about her identity thus leave her to experience double consciousness.
Hapsari and Soelistyarini also write that “nevertheless, her anxiety over her identity does not make her reject her black identity and choose a new one as biracial girl” (2015:51). Rachel tries to balance her two identities. She makes an effort to know herself better, goes after what the black relatives of her show her how to be „black‟ but she still cannot be black for whole and so she begins to see another possibility as biracial. She feels more comfortable about herself as a biracial person. She decides to keep her Danishness as part of the identity that she does not want to leave behind. Nevertheless, this way does not affect people around her who still think her as African-American or black. They concluded that racism and stereotype are the main reason for African-American and biracial in the United States to live through double consciousness.
This study has similarity to the writer‟s study which focuses on the double consciousness. However, the writer focuses in struggle of Starr Amara as main character to find her identity. This thesis would be an attempt to show Starr‟s struggle through the reflection of author‟s life experience and the historical background.
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B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Character is an essential element of a story. Bennet and Royle state that characters are the life of literature: they are the objects of our curiosity and fascination, affection and dislike, admiration and condemnation (2004:60).
Character makes the story alive through the narrative and is related with human in the sense that through identification and sympathy empathy that characters are described in the story, they can be a part of how people conceive themselves and represent reality. Character can be divided into flat character and round character
(Forster, 1985:67-78). Flat character is built around a single idea or quality and is portrayed in the story without much detail. Therefore, flat character can be described in single phrase or sentence. Round character on the other hand, is complex. Thus, the character cannot be described in a simple sentence, undergo development and capable of surprising.
According to Gill, characterization is the way in which a character is created (1995:127). It is the way that the author uses to differentiate the established characters. Murphy implements nine ways for author to do characterization: a. The characterization is described by the author through personal description.
The author can describe a person‟s appearance and clothes. b. The author describes the character through the eyes and opinions of another
and the reader gets the reflected image. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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c. The author gives an insight through speech. The characters are described
through what they say in the story. d. The author let the character learn about a person‟s past life that can give the
reader a clue to events that have helped to shape a person‟s character. e. The author gives us a clue about a person‟s character through the
conversation of other people and the thing they say about him. f. The way the character reacts to various situations and events can also provide
the reader a clue about a person‟s character. g. The author can describe or comment on a person‟s character directly. h. The author gives direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. i. The author can describe a person‟s mannerisms, habits or idiosyncrasies
which may also tell the reader something about the character (1985:161-173).
2. Theory of Double Consciousness
Double Consciousness is first introduced by William DuBois in his book
The Souls of Black Folk (1903). DuBois puts his idea about double consciousness throughout his book. He defines this concept as twoness (1997:38). It is further demonstrated that this twoness means explicitly for African American that they have this sensation as being two, as a Negro and as American. The African-
Americans feel this concept because of their racialized oppresion in predominantly White society. The African Americans are trapped between two cultures, their Black culture and White culture. They are trajected to two different bodies, as an African American and as American. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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3. Theory of Racial Discrimination
Zanden defines that racial discrimination involves abritrary denial of privilege, prestige, and power to members of a minority group whose qualifications are equal to those of dominant group (1988:259). The minority of the group is denied to the access of facility and other social construction that they can have because of the majority group. In America, the most majority group to experience this unfortunate discrimination is African American (Roth, 1995:231-
232). The clear example is when among people qualified for a job are African-
American and White American, the employer chooses the White American.
C. Review of Related Backgrounds
1. Review of Police Brutality towards African American in USA in 2010s
Since the emergence of police brutality decades ago, the practice of said brutality is still happen even until today worldwide. Walker defines police brutality as the use of excessive physical force or verbal assault and psychological intimidation (2011:579). The authority utilizes violence while they are on their duty. They illegally go against civilian when disruption occurs between them.
Unarmed shooting, sexual harassment and abuse, false arrest, and wrongful imprisonment are some among many police misconducts. Many cases about police brutality have been filed during 2010s and many of them also come from the United States.
Police brutality is not a new phenomenon in US. According to Kane and
White, Blacks are more likely to be the victims of police brutality (2013). Rather PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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than Whites, Blacks are more likely to file for a lawsuit, file for a case of mistreatment, and file a report about how often they are stopped because of driving. They are treated poorly, unjust and improper. They have to endure discrimination from the authority.
As cited by Greene and Gabbidon, Myrdal gives useful information about
Blacks and Whites‟s relation:
The average Southern policeman is a promoted poor White with a legal sanction to use a weapon. His social heritage has taught him to despise the Negroes, and he has had little education which could have changed him….The result is that probably no group of Whites in America have a lower opinion of the Negro people and are more fixed in their views than Southern policeman (2013:232).
The statement above shows about how the Blacks and the Whites have historical legacy of the less than collegial relationship. They have among them bad blood since the beginning. The Whites are thought to use weapon towards the
Blacks and are set to mind that the Blacks have lower status than them. Thus, this mindset has been planted unto their successor. The discrimination value is still indicted even until now. African Americans or Blacks are likely to be frowned upon their existence and experience racism from the Whites.
In his study, Nix determines that black people fatally shot by the police were twice as likely as white people to be unarmed (2017:309-340). Furthermore, this finding also align with many studies published since 2015 that biracial biases do influence police shootings. The police officers are more likely to shoot unarmed black men during their duty. They apparently pull their trigger towards minority suspects. Proves of these data are found in reality by many names. Eric, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice are some of them that have unfortunate deadly encounters with the police.
Eric Garner was an African American man from New York City who died after NYPD officer put him in chokehold while arresting him. The tragedy happened in 2014. The videos of him telling people “I can‟t breathe” circulates online before his death. The 44 year old man died in the hand of the police after being falsely accused of selling cigarettes. The officer was fired by the government but not getting any punishment or imprisonment. Garner‟s family receives money from the government as a settlement. The media image of Garner during this case focuses more on his past criminal behavior and his obesity state rather than the fact that the police arrested him while he is unarmed
(ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2019).
The other case involving police brutality is the death of Tamir Rice. Rice was playing with a toy gun when suddenly a police officer came and man-hauled him. The 12 year old boy died after being fatally shot by the officer. The law enforcement agent blamed Rice for his own death. They stated that Tamir‟s death was directly and proximately cause by his own act. The media portrayal about him focused more on his mother‟s blaming bandwagon about how she allowed her son to play with the toy gun. They also highlighted about the family‟s representative that involved in a drug trafficking case (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2019).
From these cases, it can be seen that the police officer themselves see the
Blacks as a threat. Plant and Peruche, as cited by Robertson, suggest that:
since Black people in general, and Black males in particular, are caricatured as aggressive and criminal, police are more likely to view PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Black men as a threat which justifies the disproportionate use of deadly force. Therefore, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that police officers‟ decisions to act aggressively may, to some extent, be influenced by race (2013:483).
The said victims of police shootings such as Tamir Rice and Michael
Brown were unarmed during the time they were arrested by the police officers.
However, the police officers still held them on forces due to their viewing that the victims were Black people. Black people mean aggressive behavior and threat.
Thus, they took actions and shot them.
The media portrayal of the victims is often less than sanguine (2013:483).
They focus on their appearance as Black people. They focus on the issue that
Black people are prototypically criminal type rather than the pivotal issue about the police brutality. They also for the beginning does not reveal their name but only “Black man”, “suspected drug dealer”, and any other criminal traits they can put instead of giving the names of the victims of police brutality.
Moreover, the law enforcement agent also does not favor them. They put the blame on the victim rather than the perpetrator. For example is the case of
Tamir Rice. They put the blame on Tamir rather than the police. During the lawsuit also, they focus on the record of the victims. About how the victims are criminal suspects in the past, about how they are a threat to the society and how they deserve the harsh treatment by the criminal justice system.
Even after the election of Barack Obama, the first African American president in the history of America, the practice of police brutality continues.
With the founding of Black Lives Matter in 2015, the cases of police brutality is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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voiced nationwide and internationally. It is a long journey to make it perish yet black community is ready to defend their family.
2. Review on Angie Thomas
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1988, Angie Thomas grew up in a neighborhood called Georgetown. The neighborhood was notorious for all the wrong reasons: drug dealers, shootings, crime and any other “ghetto” stereotypes.
Gunshots were often heard at night in the neighborhood.
When I was six, I was at the park, and two drug dealers decided to recreate the wild west with a shootout,” Thomas recalls. “I ended up running out of the crossfire, and, the very next day, my mom took me to the library, because she wanted me to see that there was more to the world than what I saw that day (theguardian.com, 2019)
Thomas was raised in this part of town by her mother, Julia Thomas, and her grandmother. Her family went through a rough time when she was in high school years. They had to live off of her grandmother‟s benefits but it was not enough; they sometimes had to go hungry for days. She left school and became home-schooled instead with her mother as the teacher.
Driven by her passion of writing, she started to attend public school again.
She enrolled in Belhaven University. While she studied in this university, she felt like two different people:
I was a transfer student in my first year at the fine arts college I‟d later graduate from. It was in a nicer part of town than where I lived, but only ten minutes away from it, and it was very, very white. A majority of the time I was the only black student in my creative writing classes. I did everything I could so no one would label me as the “black girl from the hood.” I would leave home, blasting Tupac, but by the time I arrived to pick up a friend, I was listening to the Jonas Brothers. I kept quiet PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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whenever race came up in the discussions, despite the glances I‟d get because as the “token black girl”, I was expected to speak (Thomas, 2018)
It was also at this time that Thomas saw a video of Oscar Grant. Oscar
Grant was an African-American man who was a fallen victim of an unarmed shooting by a white police. When Thomas saw the video of his shooting, she was shocked and felt that Oscar‟s death was reality. To look back, at the age not more than eight years old, she had come across a picture of Emmett Till, an African-
American boy who was lynched after being accused of offending a white woman.
She did not feel it was a reality when she saw Emmett. She did not have to worry because she thought there was no way it would happen to her or someone she knew because things had changed after three decades of his death.
However, Oscar‟s tragedy made her realize that racism, prejudice, and violence towards black people were indeed a reality. The response of her classmates towards the tragedy also fueled her anger. They thought that his death was justified because he was an ex-con and drug dealer, that the police only did their job.
I was hurt, no doubt. And angry. Frustrated Straight-up pissed. I knew plenty of Oscars. I grew up with them and I was friends with them. This was like being told that they deserved to die. As the unrest took place in Oakland, I wondered how my community would react if that happened to one of our Oscars. I also wondered if my classmates would make the same comments if I became an Oscar. I wasn‟t an ex-con or a drug dealer, but I was from a neighborhood they were afraid to visit. They once jokingly said it was full of criminals, not knowing that‟s where I lived until months later (2018)
Thomas started to write a short story in her senior year as her way to speak out the words she could not say out loud. She created characters in the story that did it for her. The story was discontinued until years later, when Thomas found PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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out that the victim did not stop when Oscar died. There were a lot of black lives lost to police brutality. She opted out the choice to go into riot and burned down her school, instead she decided to go back to her writing and poured all her feelings in hopes that she could give a voice to every kid who feels the same way she did. With support from her mother and from all those questions and emotions,
The Hate U Give was born (2018).
The title of the best-seller novel, The Hate U Give, was borrowed from
Tupac Shakur, a late American rapper and actor. She used the first part of Tupac‟s controversial tagline T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E (The Hate U Give Little Infant Fucks
Everybody) as the title. Tupac was Thomas‟ role model during her life and part of her inspiration to write the book. Other than her beloved rapper, a lot of Angie‟s favorite things – her love for Jordan Sneaker, The Fresh Prince of Bell Air show, and even the series of Harry Potter – were included in the story. She wanted to give Starr‟s story as authentically as possible (theguardian.com, 2019).
In a shared interview with Arvin Ahmadi, Thomas inferred that she was just writing about her own identity (2017). The story reflected her life as someone who was black and came from marginalized background. She also stated in another media exposure with The Iris Times that she does not want to write another Black Lives Matter book. She wants to write about black lives that matter
(2017).
Thomas moved out from her old predominantly black neighborhood to a gated community with a population of black and white people in 2018. In the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17
beginning of 2019, Thomas gave life to another African-American girl story on her second book, On the Come Up.
D. Theoretical Framework
This part explains the contributions of theories in solving the problem of the study. The theories used in the study are theory of character characterization, theory of racial discrimination, theory of double consciousness, review of police brutality and brief biography of the author.
First, the theory of character characterization is applied to analyze double consciousness that the major character, Starr Amara, experiences. To understand double consciousness experienced by Starr, the writer uses nine ways by Murphy.
The theory helps the writer reveal her double consciousness through her thoughts, speech, past life, and reactions. The writer also uses theory of double consiousness to answer this question.
Last, theory of racial discrimination and review of police brutality, and the brief biography of the author is significant for the analysis. The writer believes that The Hate U Give reflects the similar life experience of the author, which engages about living in two worlds, police brutality and resistance. Therefore, it is appropriate to include the author‟s biography to analyze about the struggle of finding identity.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study used for this analysis is The Hate U Give, a Black
Lives Matter-themed young adult debut novel written by Angie Thomas. The first edition was published on February 28, 2017 by Balzer + Bray and was a success.
The book made it to the top of New York Times young adult Best-Seller list on its debut and was on it for more than 80 weeks. In 2018, The Hate U Give won
William C. Morris Award and Coretta Scott King Book Award. A movie based on the novel was also produced in 2018 by Fox 2000.
The Hate U Give tells a story about the life of an African-American girl named Starr Amara. She navigates herself between two worlds, the Black neighborhood Garden Heights and the predominantly White private school
Williamson Prep. Her life changes after she witnesses the death of her childhood friend, Khalil. A white policeman shoots him while he is unarmed. Driven by fear of being exposed, Starr hides her status as witness.
However, when she finds out that people think Khalil’s death is justified because he is black and a drug dealer, she decides to step up and gives her testimony. She starts her fight to gain justice for Khalil.
B. Approach of the Study
Historical-biographical approach is chosen to analyze this study. Aside from intrinsic elements, the study of literary works also includes extrinsic
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19
elements. It is a creation by someone at some time in history, and it is intended to speak to other human beings about someidea or issue that has human relevance
(Guerin et.al, 2005:17). In literary work, there are many aspects inspected in order to have further comprehension. One of them is extrinsic element. Extrinsic elements such as biography of the author and the society are some of the factors used in analyzing a literary work.
Historical-biographical sees a literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as a reflection of its author’s life and times or the life and times of the characters in the work (Guerin et. al, 2005:51). The author shows what things are valuable in their life and what living experience they have to endure and feel during their time. The writer draws on the life around them as well as on their own inner lives. They also develop distinctive style and vision. They take from their surrounding what may not be shown yet to society or what they want to show to society.
Historical-biographical study is chosen to analyze this study about Starr’s struggle to find her identity. It helps the writer relate the characteristics of Starr
Amara and her struggle in her two worlds with how the society is during the time and how the author’s life experience reflected in the story as Starr’s story to struggle for her identity.
C. Method of the Study
The writer used library research as a method in analyzing the study. The data are taken from both online and printed sources. The primary source for this PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
study was The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Other than the novel, the writer also used books of theories and definitions related to the topic as sources.
To answer the problem formulations in this study, the writer did some steps. First, the novel The Hate U Give as the primary soure was read and reread thouroughly and some notes are taken that can be used for the study. Second, the writer found theories and other sources as reference. Third, the important part of analysis was conducted. The writer used theory of character and characterization and theory of double consciousness in order to find out the characteristic of Starr
Amara Carter. The second question was answered using theory of racial discrimination, review of police brutality and review of the author, Angie
Thomas. The writer used the theories to reveal the struggle of Star to find her identity. The last step of the analysis was drawing the conclusion.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
The two problem formulations are answered in this part by conducting theories and reviews. First, answer the problem formulation about double consciousness.
The next and the last is answer how Starr struggle to find her identity as Black.
A. The Depiction of Double Consciousness in Starr Carter
Double consciousness, as cited by Tyson, occurs when someone feels trapped in two different cultures (2006:362). In novel The Hate U Give, Starr as the main character lives in two different ‗worlds‘. The first world is in black neighborhood Garden Heights and the second one is in the private school her parents have sent her to, Williamson Prep. This circumstance drives her to suppress her identity as the girl from ‗hood‘ neighborhood when she goes to
Williamson. She is caught between two worlds, as Williamson Starr and Garden
Heights Starr. To strive between these identities, she has to differentiate how she acts, speaks, thinks and behaves. In order to find her double consciousness,
Murphy‘s theory of characterization is applied.
Starr lives in a ghetto neighborhood with her family. Her father is an owner of a grocery store and her mother is a nurse in community clinic. She has an older step brother Seven and younger brother Sekani. Aside from her family, she does not really socialize in Garden Heights.
Kenya is about the only person I hang out with in Garden Heights—it‘s hard to make friends when you go to a school that‘s forty-five minutes
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away and you‘re a latchkey kid who‘s only seen at her family‘s store. It‘s easy to hang out with Kenya because of our connection to Seven (Thomas, 2018:9).
Starr goes to Williamson since middle school. She does not mingle with the kids her age in Garden Heights. She does not know a lot of people in the neighborhood. Therefore, it is hard for her to make friends, except for Kenya.
Kenya is her friend and Seven‘s step sister. Starr‘s father and Kenya‘s mother are
Seven‘s parents. The relation between them makes it easy for them to fall into pattern as friends and even family.
When Starr goes somewhere other than the store, she sticks to Kenya. For example, at the party thrown by Big D, Starr does not leave Kenya‘s side.
Kenya begged me to come to this party for weeks. I knew I‘d be uncomfortable as hell, but every time I told Kenya no she said I act like I‘m ―too good for a Garden party.‖ I got tired of hearing that shit and decided to prove her wrong (2018:14).
Starr always feels out of place whenever she is among her peers in Garden
Heights. The only reason she comes to the party is because Kenya. When Kenya asks her to stop following her and start dancing, Starr refuses to do that.In Garden
Heights, people know her as Big Mav‘s daughter and Starr, for most part of her life, does not have any good recollection about them. ―Their faces are familiar, but you don‘t get names and life stories when you‘re bagging folks‘ groceries
(2018:12).‖ Starr literally knows nobody there.
However, for Starr, rather than gets up and starts to make friends with people, she chooses to just observe the situation from the side. ―As long as I play it cool and keep to myself, I should be fine (2018:14).‖ In other words, Starr does not care about what people in Garden Heights think about her. She admits it PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
23
herself to Kenya, ―Do I look like I care what people think?‖ to which Kenya answers ―No! And that‘s the problem! (2018:9)‖.
From her conversation with Kenya, it shows that Starr has no issue with how people in Garden Heights see her. She does not go to school in Garden
Heights and she does not meet them daily. For Starr, people can talk about whatever they want to talk about. According to her, in Garden Heights it is so hard to earn coolness and she is fine in her little bubble.
However, it all takes a drastic turn when she is in Williamson. Williamson
Prep is a predominantly white private school that is located outside of Garden
Heights‘ area. Starr attends the school along with her brothers. Their parents send them to study in Williamson because they want their kids to get proper education that they cannot get in Garden Heights. Another reason is because the neighborhood is not that safe for them to roam around. It is their way to protect their kids from bad things that usually happen in the neighborhood, such as shooting and gang war.
In Williamson, Starr is one of the black students in eleventh grade. ―I am cool by default because I‘m one of the only black kids there (2018:15)‖. People in
Williamson see her as a breath of fresh air among many whites. They welcome her. Her social life is not as dull as in Garden Heights. She can associate with the students well. She has two best friends, Hailey Grant, a white, and Maya Chang, a
Chinese American. Her boyfriend, Chris, is also white. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Starr in Garden Heights and Starr in Williamson are different personas. It has started since seventh grade. One night, Starr has invited Hailey, Maya, and
Kenya to have a sleepover at her house. It is revealed from her thought:
Hailey didn‘t come. Her dad didn‘t want her spending the night in ―the ghetto.‖ I overheard my parents say that. Maya came but ended up asking her parents to come get her that night. There was a drive-by around the corner, and the gunshots scared her. That‘s when I realized Williamson is one world and Garden Heights is another, and I have to keep them separate (2018: 39).
Her friends and their family find it dangerous for them to come to her neighborhood. Since then, Starr understands that her world and her friends‘ are different. She cannot bring Garden Heights to Williamson. She cannot be seen as ghetto in Williamson. She cares about how people see her. She wants to fit in among the white peers. She does not want to send people away because they are scared of her blackness, of her. Thus, Williamson Starr is born. From her thought, it can be clear what she decides: ―I just have to be normal Starr at normal
Williamson and have a normal day. That means flipping the switch in my brain so
I‘m Williamson Starr (2018: 73)‖. When she alights from her mother‘s car and enters Williamson‘s ground, she is no longer Starr Carter from Garden Heights but Williamson Starr. Williamson Starr defines how Starr is and how she adapts in
Williamson.
To be Williamson Starr means a lot of things. First, Starr does not talk with slang at school. According to Starr‘s thought, ―Williamson Starr doesn‘t use slang—if a rapper would say it, she doesn‘t say it, even if her white friends do.
Slang makes them cool. Slang makes her ―hood.‖ (2018:73).‖ Slang is one of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
25
many stereotypes people have about living in ghetto neighborhood. Thus, Starr does not use slang when she has daily conversations with people at Williamson.
For example, when Starr gathers around with her friends and they talk about how to eat Pop Tart, she responds with word that she does not usually use in Garden
Heights. She says ―Ewww” instead of ―Ill” (2018:76) to show her disgust after
Luke says that he prefers to eat warm Pop Tart.
Second, Starr hides that she comes from black neighborhood Garden
Heights. She refrains herself to talk about Garden Heights and she does not want people to talk about Garden Heights. This can be seen from her thought:
I hope none of them ask about my spring break. They went to Taipei, the Bahamas, Harry Potter World. I stayed in the hood and saw a cop kill my friend (2018:79).
She is conscious about how people especially her friends see her background. Thus, when conversations mull around about their vacations, she only listen and does not tell her story. She still applies this rule when Hailey and
Maya ask her whether the Khalil mentioned in the media is her friend or not.
The drug dealer. That‘s how they see him. It doesn‘t matter that he‘s suspected of doing it. ―Drug dealer‖ is louder than ―suspected‖ ever will be. If it‘s revealed that I was in the car, what will that make me? The thug ghetto girl with the drug dealer? What will my teachers think about me? My friends? The whole fucking world, possibly? I— I close my eyes. Khalil stares at the sky. Mind your business, Starr, he says. I swallow and whisper, I don‘t know that Khalil (2018:115).
She feels that she betrays Khalil but she does not have any other option.
Do not speak about Garden Heights means she cannot talk about people in the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
26
neighborhood too. Starr is afraid people know that she is the sole witness of a police shooting that kill Khalil. She is afraid that her long-build image of William
Starr crumples if people know she come from the same neighborhood from Khalil.
In the end, she chooses to lie and says that Khalil is not her friend.
Third rule she has as Williamson Starr is to follow what people say. She just lets people have their way. By people it means Hailey. For example is when
Starr and her friends discuss about the colors of Jonas Brothers‘ hair that suits them the most when they want to dye their hair. ―I really wanted to be Joe—I secretly loved him the most, but Hailey said she should have him, so I let her
(2018:78)‖. Then Starr lets Hailey becomes Joe and she chooses Nick. She does this since they are still in middle school.
The fourth rule is to stay silent and do not be easily provoked. Williamson
Starr holds her tongue when people piss her off so nobody will think she‘s the
―angry black girl (2018:73)‖. She prevents to get into an argument and just keep it to herself when someone irks her or makes her sad. She does not want to be seen as the angry black girl and someone that is different from the rest of them. She decides to go away from the scene rather than confront the person. There is a scene when they – Starr, Hailey, Maya, and the rest of the girls of her grade – play basketball and Hailey unintentionally (according to Hailey) says something to her that has double connotation as racial slur. Starr hears it just fine. She hears how
Hailey asks her to pretend that the ball is fried chicken. Starr thoughts as she plays with her friend:
The world surges forward without me. I hold the ball and stare at Hailey as she jogs away, blue-streaked hair bouncing behind her. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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I can‘t believe she said . . . She couldn‘t have. No way. The ball falls out my hands. I walk off the court. I‘m breathing hard, and my eyes burn. The smell of postgame funk lingers in the girls‘ locker room (2018:113).
It can be seen from her thought that even though she hears Hailey says something that offends her, she decides to just go and hide herself in the locker room. If she stays at the court and be around Hailey, she does not believe herself to not snap. It is another stereotype. Snap at people when they get their anger raised. That is what people think someone who comes from the ‗hood‘ do.
However, these traits are not limited only at school. Starr becomes
Williamson Starr when she is surrounded by white people or is in the situation where white people involved. She changes the way she talks, the way she dresses, and the way she behaves.
I let go of my mom‘s hand to shake the detectives‘ hands. ―Hello.‖ My voice is changing already. It always happens around ―other‖ people, whether I‘m at Williamson or not. I don‘t talk like me or sound like me. I choose every word carefully and make sure I pronounce them well. I can never, ever let anyone think I‘m ghetto (2018: 97).
The ―other‖ in this context is two detectives, Mrs. Gomez and Mr.
Wilkes. Starr is conscious about her impression in front of them. All the reasons
come back to how she does not want people to think she is a ghetto girl. She
even scolds herself when she slips.
I raise an eyebrow. Nah. Dammit. Proper English. I sit up straight. I mean, no, ma‘am. We were talking when the fight occurred (2018:99).
Another example is the night of the interview. Starr is scheduled to show PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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up in an interview on one of national news programs as a witness for Khalil‘s death. She goes with her whole family. They come as her moral support. Before they depart, her mother tells them about what they have to do later in the studio.
We all head out to the limo. Some neighbors watch curiously from their porches and yards. Momma made all of us, including Daddy, dress up like we‘re going to Christ Temple—not quite Easter formal but not ―diverse church‖ casual. She says we‘re not gonna have the news people thinking we‘re ―hood rats.‖ So as we‘re walking to the car, she‘s all, When we get there, don‘t touch anything and only speak when somebody speaks to you. It‘s ‗yes, ma‘am‘ and ‗yes, sir,‘ or ‗no, ma‘am‘ and ‗no, sir.‘ Do I make myself clear? Yes, ma‘am, the three of us say (2018: 277).
Starr and her family initial respond to the mother‘s instruction are clear.
They follow what she tells them to do, which is to use proper English by the answer ―Yes, ma‘am.‖ They also clean up nice with their semi-formal attires.
They take it as if they go to the church. Therefore, they have to put on their not so casual dress. Do not want people to think they come from ghetto. That is not the point of the interview; they want people to know the truth about Khalil.
Starr describes these worlds as not bad, just different (2018: 289). Garden
Heights Starr is reserved, rarely socialize with people except her best friend and family, people know her as Big Mav‘s daughter not her name because apparently nobody knows her–she is not ―cool‖ enough for the peers in Garden Heights.
Added with how she refuses to approach people and finds solitude by herself.
Another thing as Garden Heights Starr is she can talk in slang. She can also talk about Khalil in Garden Heights. On the other hand, Williamson Starr is someone
―cool‖. She is one of few African-American students in the entire school. Thus, according to Williamson‘s residents, she is cool by default. She has a moderately PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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good social life. People know her; she has close friends, a basketball teammates
and a boyfriend. However, as Williamson Starr, she cannot act like ―ghetto‖ and
she cannot talk about Garden Heights. She uses Proper English on daily
conversation and she is someone who is approachable.
B. Starr’s Struggle for Her Identity as Black
A literary work is the product of author‘s creation. According to Becker and
Boskoff, the author as the addresses wants to speak or reveal something about the society as addressee (1957:482-483). Through their work, they want to reach the society with their ideas. Or in the other words, they want to give a portrayal about what happen in society and with imagination that they create in the story, they want to speak and criticize.
Angie Thomas, as the author of The Hate U Give, has stated that through this book, she wants to express about what happen, what African-American community experience every day in their life –double identity, racism, injustice, prejudice– and she wants to let young people especially to know that they are not alone in their struggle. To share and make people understand about those feelings, she writes it with the help of the character in her story (2018). In the novel, Starr
Amara is the character that represents this.
Thomas admits in one interview that it is her identity that she put in the novel (2017). Starr is drawn from her. Her life, her experience, her whole being in the story is similar with those that Thomas lives in. For example isabout police brutality that is the theme of The Hate U Give. Based on this, the writer of this PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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study wants to reveal the true identity that Starr Amara has through the author‘s life and events that inspire the novel.
1. Living in two worlds
Stripped from her persona as the bestseller author of young adult novel
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas is an ordinary African-American woman who spends most of her life in ghetto neighborhood. She grew up in a neighborhood called Georgetown, which is the ‗hood‘ (https://medium.com).The area is notorious for bad things: drug dealer, shooting, gang war, and other ―ghetto‖ stereotypes. It is not that she has to fear about Klu Klux Klan again in that time, but she has to be cautious about daily threats, such as gunshots in the night. She rarely goes outside when the night comes; instead she chooses to be safe inside her house.
When she applies to Belhaven University, she falls into two worlds. She gets herself between her mostly black, poor neighborhood, and her mostly white, upper class school. She often changes who she is, wherever she is
(frankie.com.au, 2018). At Belhavern, Thomas is one of the black students in her class. The rest of pupils are mostly Caucasians. She tries to fit in with her friends and does everything she can to show that she is not a ―ghetto‖ girl. She is black but she is not ghetto.She changes the way she talks, changes her taste in music, and changes her style of clothing. She does not use African-American Vernacular
English (AAVE) but she speaks with proper English. Her favorite genre is hip hop and favorite singer-rapper is Tupac but whenever she is among her friends in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
31
class, it changes to Jonas Brothers. She does not wear her baggy clothes to school but substitute it with the casual but formal polo shirt paired with jeans. She goes under all these transformations in hope that people welcome her and not see her as the girl from ghetto.
Thomas pours these criteria into her work too. Starr is an African-
American girl who lives in Garden Heights. She lives with her family; father, mother, step older brother and younger brother. Garden Heights is a poor black neighborhood. There are gang activities, drug dealer, shooting, and many other crimes involved in the area. One of the tragic events from her childhood days even has a bad impact for her. Her parents decide to transfer her and her brothers to private school forty five minutes away from the neighborhood to protect them.
She is sent to a white predominantly Williamson Prep.
As it has been explained in the analysis above about Starr‘s two worlds,
Starr has to differentiate between Garden Heights and Williamson. She becomes
Garden Heights Starr and Williamson Starr. The two identities are exact opposite.
They define how she is at those circumstances. This issue about two identities later becomes her dilemma. She is a sole witness of unarmed shooting that kills her childhood friend, Khalil. At that night she has been Garden Heights Starr. She goes to a party hosted by Garden Heights‘ people and acts as Garden Heights
Starr. After the incident, she continues to live. She goes to school and be her usual
Williamson Starr. However, the news about Khalil reach her school, she has to choose between truth and lie. She decides to deny that she knows about Khalil.
She is afraid people know about her affiliation with a suspected drug dealer and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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therefore they know about her life in Garden Heights. She does not want people to see her as ghetto girl.
Garden Heights Starr is the opposite of Williamson Starr. To live in
distinctive worlds is not a pleasant experience for Starr. Both of the worlds do
not collide and Starr has to hide this:
I‘m not even sure I belong at this party. That‘s not on some bougie shit, either. There are just some places where it‘s not enough to be me. Either version of me. Big D‘s spring break party is one of those places (2018:1).
Starr feels that she is neither Garden Heights Starr nor Williamson Starr.
There is no place where she can be herself and do not have to put up a façade to
fit in. ―I just wish I could be myself at Williamson like Will was himself in Bel-
Air (2018:39).‖ She compares her life with her favorite TV show. The theme
song goes similarly with her life story. However, the character does not need to
change who they are in order to survive in society. Starr wants that to happen to
her too.
Furthermore, become Garden Heights and Williamson Starr drains her:
God. 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 (2018:296).
Starr has to change who she is according to people and situation around
her. She switches to whatever characteristic suits her best for the circumstances.
She has done it since middle school. It cannot be denied that Garden Heights and
Williamson Starr are part of her. It has become how she handles herself in front
of the public. When she is in Garden Heights, she turns to Garden Heights Starr. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
33
On the other hand, Williamson Starr appears when she is at school or in the
presence of white people.
Moreover, Starr does not feel like she belongs in these two worlds. She wants to be accepted as who she is in Williamson and she wants to bring
Williamson to Garden Heights. She wants to be accepted as who she is.
2. Living in a society which is affected by police brutality
Angie Thomas and Starr Amara are both affected by police brutality.
Police brutality wrecks their life. Thomas lives in her two worlds normally, studies and socializes on her college then gets back to her solitude at home.
However, it all changes in 2009. In 2009, African-American community was shaken by the news of Oscar Grant‘s death. He died after one police shot him while he was unarmed. The death of Oscar Grant in the hand of police opens her eyes of injustice that police can cause in black community. It also struck her that her white colleagues have different mindset with her. They think Oscar‘s death is justified. Thomas feels betrayed by the people she sees as friends, but she does not know how to correct or criticize them (ttbook.org, 2019). Thomas feels torn between her black community and her group of white friends. All this time she lives in one of her world, making a relation with them, but then she has to swallow bitter pills that her friends belittle black people. They do not find it wrong for the police to kill unarmed person because the victim is black people.
They only focus on the fact that the victim is a former drug dealer. That fact PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
34
makes his death acceptable in the eye of Thomas‘ friends. She cannot see her worlds in the same perception.
This struggle is reflected in Starr‘s story. Starr witnesses the death of her childhood friend, Khalil. Khalil, just like Oscar Grants, is shot while he is unarmed, by a white police after he and Starr come back from a party. Starr as the sole witness of that unfortunate night has two options: testify in front of grand jury in the name of Khalil or hide her identity as the witness from the world. If she testifies in front of grand jury, she gives contribution to Khalil‘s case even though the result has a big possibility to not be in their favor. On the night before she meets the grand jury, she comes to a realization:
We want an immediate end to police brutality and the murder of black people, other people of color, and oppressed people. And what did Brother Malcolm say is our objective? Seven and I could recite Malcolm X quotes by the time we were thirteen. Sekani hasn‘t gotten there yet. Complete freedom, justice, and equality, I say, by any means necessary. Again. Complete freedom, justice, and equality, by any means necessary. So why you gon‘ be quiet? Daddy asks. Because the Ten-Point Program didn‘t work for the Panthers. Huey Newton died a crackhead, and the government crushed the Panthers one by one. By any means necessary didn‘t keep Brother Malcolm from dying, possibly at the hands of his own people. Intentions always look better on paper than in reality. The reality is I may not make it to the courthouse in the morning (2018:316-317).
Injustice towards black community has happened since a long time ago and can still be found nowadays. There are numerous acts and fights from black community towards the system but to no avail. They still lose. Starr realizes this bitter fact. No matter what they do, it does not change anything. Khalil‘s death is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
35
not the first injustice they experience, not the first police brutality case in history of African-American.
Police brutality in America towards African-American is dispersed to a bad condition. Police brutality was discovered to be a fact of daily existence for
Afro-Americans and primary source of abuse by whites against any challenge by blacks to the status quo (1975:17). African-Americans become the victim of white privilege. They are seen as a stereotype: they are black then they are likely to commit a crime. The police take action such as illegal arrest, brutal beatings and even shooting. The lethal forces are given upon said criminal. The gun involvement is thrust only when the person does not want to cooperate and chooses to fight back. They cannot use it against unarmed people but that is the problem in the first place.
C. Making actions
The Hate U Give is a debut novel from Angie Thomas that underlies police violence and racism. The police violence brings the detail in the story as pivotal issue. As the story progresses, Thomas shows another wonder of what lies behind the theme. Thomas realizes that she can make changes to society:
But my mom was very community-oriented. She was always speaking out about things that happened in the neighborhood. So even with poverty and violence and drugs in the neighborhood, I recognized that there was power within me to not only make myself heard, but also to change the way kids like me were seen (time.com, 2019) PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
36
She searches for what can she do to the society, to speak up about the injustice happened in her community and she found it through what she loved, writing. When she first came across the case of Oscar Grant, she wrote a story about it but the story ended up neglected until she saw that police brutality still existed and people were silent about it, other than the black community itself.
Together with Black Lives Matter movement that the development she continuously follows since 2013 as inspiration, she produces The Hate U Give.
As the sole witness of Khalil‘s shooting, Starr lives in dilemma. She has to choose whether or not she comes forth and puts up a fight in the name of justice for Khalil. As it has been discussed above, Starr has her two worlds that she has to maintain and the existence of police brutality in society that drives her to conceal her identity and make her hesitant to go be the witness.
However, the barrier she plants begins to crack when for the first time she gets angry in front of her friends in Williamson. ―All my Williamson rules go out the door, and Starr from Garden Heights shows up. ―What the fuck that got to do with it?‖ (2018:181)‖ She gets mad after she knows the reason behind people in her school follows a protest in the name of Khalil is because it is the perfect chance to skip class. She throws away the Williamson Starr as she learns more that Hailey, her best friend, thinks it is kind of messed up they protest for a drug dealer (2018:181). She decides to not join the protest and by that decision itself, for the first time also, she makes her own choice and does not follow others‘ at school, ―I think I‘m done following Hailey (2018:182)‖. Starr stands up for PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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herself and she finds out that people do not care about Khalil and his death. For them it is only for the getting the day off, for Starr it is her life.
In the midst of that situation, albeit small, Starr starts to do something in order to help Khalil. Everyone else in the community has done it; they get to
Black Twitter, they march, they cry about the injustice that Khalil gets. She then starts from what she likes to do the most to speak her mind, posting on Tumblr. ―I started a new blog—The Khalil I Know. It doesn‘t have my name on it, just pictures of Khalil (2018:202). The media does not portray Khalil in a fair image.
At first, they do not bother to even give his name when the news about the shooting breaks. After that, they give him name but with added title as Khalil
Haris, a suspected drug dealer. They do not say that Khalil is unarmed too in the news. People who see and read the news come to an understanding that the victim of police shooting is a drug dealer. That is what they focus on about the news.
―The drug dealer. That‘s how they see him. It doesn‘t matter that he‘s suspected of doing it. ―Drug dealer‖ is louder than ―suspected‖ ever will be (2018:115).‖
Starr has an aim to change people‘s perception about Khalil. She starts posting things on her Tumblr about Khalil that she knows. She puts an action. She uploads Khalil‘s childhood picture such as his picture when they went to an old ranch when he got afraid of a horse and a picture when they took bath together. ―I know it‘s not the same as getting on the news like Kenya said, but I hope it helps.
It‘s helping me at least (2018:202).‖ She posts those pictures in hope that people know Khalil that is portrayed as drug dealer is the same Khalil in the pictures on PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Tumblr. Khalil is not just a drug dealer. He is more than that. It is also Starr‘s way to speak up even though she still hides her identity as a witness.
As a witness, people only know her as ―the-sixteen-year-old black female witness‖. They do not have any idea that Starr is the said black girl. Starr wants it to stay that way too. To show herself as the witness risks her life and her family.
On the day of Khalil‘s funeral, she learns that the police do not have any intentions to arrest the officer who murdered Khalil. Aside from that, they also do not want people to know that Khalil was unarmed that night.
This piece of information does not deter her determination to not put herself in spotlight as the witness. ―I am not sure I‘ll ever be ready for the shit that‘s about to happen (2018:135)‖. She opts to still stay low and does not go join the march that people join in after the funeral. Even when Ms. Ofrah offers to represent Starr if she wants to go public, Starr does not relent.
An interview though, however, makes her principle waver. Starr is told that One-Fifteen‘s father holds an interview to tell people their side of the story.
Starr is assured by Ms. Ofrah that sometimes this thing backfires and at the end of the day public opinion does not count, the grand jury‘s does. While in this trance,
Starr remembers about Natasha, her childhood‘s friend who was murdered in a drive-by when they were ten years old. She was also the witness of said event and she knew that the police never caught the person who did it. It matters though who did it. Natasha matters and Starr realizes that Khalil matters too. She wants people to know that Khalil mattered (2018:216). Starr accepts Ms. Ofrah‘s offer as her representative and Ms. Ofrah promises to help her voice heard even with her PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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identity not being published. The interview with One-Fifteen‘s father does backfire. People who know and do not know Khalil call it a lie.
Afterward, Starr does her own interview on national news program just like what One-Fifteen‘s father did. Her identity is still unknown and people only know her as the teenage black girl. Starr views her interview as her way to fight, not caring who she hurts and if she gets hurt (2018:286). She pours all her story in the interview. She rights what was wrong about Khalil. She also sends the final blow in the interview and asks One Fifteen in front of the interviewer and viewers if he wished he killed Starr too.
Her struggle does not end there. She still has to face the grand jury to give her statement regarding on what happened the night of the shooting. She has to follow the procedures before she stands in front of the grand jury. She meets the
DA first. ―And I cry and puke. Cry and puke. It‘s all I can do (2018:263)‖. When the topic of Khalil comes up she can only vomit and let her tears loose. She cannot bear retelling the story without being emotional about it. Starr is not ready, even after she undergoes the interview and let people know the story, she is still not ready. The thought of Khalil‘s death makes her sick in the stomach. The night before she testifies in front of the grand jury, she almost cancels it.
Starr battles her own feelings even when she already inside the panel room where she stands in the name of Khalil to speak the truth about what happened that night.
The un-brave part of me, which feels like most of me, shouts no. It wants to crawl up in a corner and act as if none of this ever happened. But all those people outside are praying for me. My parents are watching me. Khalil needs me. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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I straighten up and allow the tiny brave part of me to speak. Yes, ma‘am (2018:293).
Starr encounters mixed feeling towards her involvement as Khalil‘s witness. On one hand, she still thinks that she is not that brave as people told her.
On the other hand, she has to be courageous enough to give her statement in front of the grand jury. At the end, with Khalil and her family on her mind, she frees her courageous side and talk in front of the grand jury.
Her decision to speak in front of the grand jury, turns out, does not bring justice to the case. The authority does not have any intention to arrest the officer.
This brings rage for Starr. She goes in front of the crowd when people make riot.
She throws away all her images then leads the protest towards the police. ―You know what? Fuck it. ―My name is Starr. I‘m the one who saw what happened to
Khalil,‖ I say into the bullhorn. ―And it wasn‘t right‖ (2018:402)‖.
All these actions above show how Starr makes some changes in her life.
The Williamson Starr is no more and she stands up for herself. She starts from a small thing, with the help of Tumblr‘s posts. She gathers her courage to testify in front of the grand jury even when she is still afraid to speak up until finally she decides that she has to do something else about it and forget her image, to lead a protest for Khalil‘s injustice.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis discussed in the previous chapter, the writer draws conclusions of this research. The first part of analysis is the study of main character Starr Amara in The Hate U Give. The second and the last analysis, the writer analyzes the struggle main character Starr Amara experiences in The Hate
U Give.
The writer applies theory of character characterization and theory of double consciousness to answer the first analysis. Through the thorough examination using the theories, the writer discovers Starr’s double consciousness that shapes her characterization. Her life revolves around two different worlds, as
Garden Heights Starr and Williamson Starr. For each of her worlds she has distinct characteristics too.
Garden Heights Starr is shown as a person who does not socialize much.
Starr keeps close to her family and family friend. On the other hand, Williamson
Starr is a social active person. She is approachable. She is a pushover, always follows what other people say and does not give refusal or opinion about matters that she finds bothering her. She becomes passive and not vocal whenever she is at Williamson or at place where white people dominantly occupied. She practices code switching where she does not talk in Slang but in proper English and wear clothes that shows that she is anywhere other than the ghetto.
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For the second part of analysis, the writer applies theory of racial discrimination, review of police brutality and biography of Angie Thomas. Starr’s worlds start to crumble and she begins to realize that she has a problem maintain her two worlds when her friend, Khalil, dies in the hand of a police officer. She chooses to not be a witness for Khalil for she fears that people in Williamson see her as Starr from ghetto.
Starr’s decision to not be the witness and show herself to public is further influenced by the situation that she lives in. Police brutality in America is a phenomenon black people always have to endure during their life. Khalil is shot by a white police officer unarmed yet the police department does not have any intention to arrest the officer. Due to this acknowledgement, Starr is hesitant to speak up. She knows that even with her statement, nothing changes Khalil’s fate.
Although she is reluctant to show her status as witness, Starr speaks up through other things. She speaks up through Tumblr; to show the world that
Khalil is more than a suspected drug dealer. She goes against people at school who think Khalil’s death is justified. She goes for an interview to talk about
Khalil. Her identity is still hidden but she starts to speak up louder.
Starr decides to testify in front of the grand jury despite being afraid about her image and her family’s safety. However, the final verdict from the court does not show justice for Khalil. This leads to Starr bravely shows up in front of the protesters and the police officers in front of the court house to voice her rage. By speaking up in front of the crowd, Starr throws away her image, acknowledge her status as witness and declare that she is part of the black community. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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