The Hate U Give- Arushi Kashyap

[Arushi]

"The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas is an inspiring novel following the life of a sixteen-year-old black girl named Starr Carter. After witnessing the fatal police shooting of her childhood-friend, Khalil (who was unarmed), Starr was drawn to activism. While the media depicted Khalil as a thug and drug-dealer, they subtly justified the white police officer who shot him. The identity of Starr as the witness was kept a secret from everyone besides her family, which raised some eyebrows of her white classmates in her white school when Starr viciously defended Khalil. As the police noticeably don't give much negative attention to the shooting, protesters marched the street demanding justice for Khalil and the general black community. The police resist and the streets of Starr's neighborhood turns into a war zone. On top of that, a local gang is trying to intimidate Starr and her family. It's up to Starr and her friends to make things right while also bringing awareness to Khalil's shooting and the unfairness her community faces.

When reading this inspiring novel, I noticed the number of allusions carefully placed throughout to give a more modern feeling. Some of the allusions in the book were the song THUG LIFE and 3 popular musicians. This helped me recognize when this is taking place and help me connect to the book. For example, the title is an allusion. This was representing the song "THUG LIFE" by Tupac. THUG LIFE stands for "The Hate U Give Little Infants F Everyone". This title had a deeper meaning which helped the readers understand the situation better. It meant that the discrimination and racism that's given in the beginning or when people are still young negatively affects everyone. After thinking about the title, you then realize the truth behind it.

In addition, the allusion of Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Drake provided us to figure out when the story is taking place. Knowing that these artists are present to our time, I realized that while this is still a story I'm reading in a book, this is actually happening across our country as well as our generation. I particularly enjoyed the use of these famed musicians because Starr was talking about them in a humorous and sarcastic style. She talked about Taylor and Beyonce's songs when thinking to break up with her white boyfriend. She was funny when mentioning some lyrics. Also, she had claimed that Drake was her "future husband" which made me laugh on the connection our generation has with Starr. I personally believe that when a book has points we could connect to (allusions), the story seems more enjoyable and interesting to read. In addition to the use of allusions, I loved the way Angie Thomas wrote the book. Though there was some crude language, I liked the perspective and the tone the narrator used.

A part of the book I did not particularly love was the questions/ answers in the police station when filing the statement, the tv interview, and the grand jury part. I hoped that the author would include more detail/ description of what happened and the reactions, but there was not a lot of content of that. Though the book was amazingly written, I would've loved more detail in those types of moments. I would say that one of this book's weaknesses is giving action parts bigger scenes than some of the dialogue scenes. For example, the police station moment did not give many features on what Starr truly believed happened that night. She was being interrupted and her mother was sympathizing with Starr. In the tv interview, they did not talk about all of the aspects of the shooting. Explaining it more could make the audience see more of Starr's opinions on the events. It would either lighten up the controversy or make more. But either way, it would progress the story better. The grand jury part wasn't even described as it was happening with Starr. Angie Thomas could've made those scenes powerful with emotion when Starr was talking about what happened the night of the shooting with all of the reactions of others. This would give more tension and make the reader really think to his/herself.