Nadia Keating

Mrs. Wines

Comp 1

26 March 2021

Reader Response: The Hate u give

Lisa one of the main characters from this book expressed to Starr, “Sometimes you can

do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” (

Thomas pg 122) This quote connects to the problem of this book, police brutality, racism, and

the murder of an unexpected teen. The hate u give follows the two words Starr, one of the main

characters has to live and the unexpected murder of her childhood best friend. She was in the mix

of the poor, and mostly black neighborhood. This book intended to aware the audience of when

you lose someone so important it puts a huge toll on you, the background of Starr and the police.

Starr was strong and witty. She felt very torn throughout the book because of the two

worlds she was living in. Violence and poverty of the place she lived, Garden Heights.

Something so dramatic happened to her when her childhood best friend got murdered

unexpectedly. After Khalis’s death, she wasn’t sure how to speak on it. She was terrified thinking

about how it was going to affect how her white friends and boyfriend would view her. After the

murder, it gave Starr an eyeopener about how people would see her from Garden Heights and

Williamson Prep. As the story progressed Starr realizes that no matter where she goes she is

going to be viewed differently from different people. Starr had this “light in the dark time”

personality. She hoped for so long and held so much truth for the characters. She was the type of

character where she would stand for what she believed in and held a stronghold of leadership. I
felt this incident that happened with Starr really formed her as a person and made her realize she

is her own person and people will always have something to say.

One thing that I can take from this book is how it connects to our modern-day world

today. In this novel, there was a lot of racism and police brutality. Just recently in the world we

live in today, there have been actions of racism. One example of this today is the George Floyd

incident. A majority of the country thought it was a racist thing why George Floyd was killed.

Soon after this situation protests started and the BLM movement came about. More and more

people started to join that movement and stood up for what they believe in. That is exactly what

Starr did. She walked with the protestors and stood up for what she felt was the right thing and

there was nothing going to change her mind. Starr was explaining to one of the officers she

encountered and shared with them, “Daddy once told me there’s a rage passed down to every

black man from his ancestors, born the moment they couldn’t stop the slave masters from hurting

their families. Daddy also said there’s nothing more dangerous than when that rage is activated.”

(Thomas pg 124) This quote I feel is so true to the situation Starr is in because nothing is more

terrifying and serious than when people you know who have ancestors are passed down and

people judge you by that.

In conclusion, this book brought my eyes to view more when hearing about racism and

how it was shown then and still to this day during the time I am living in. I highly recommend

this book to any audience who is interested in action, suspense, and important events going on

that we could relate to today.

Work Cited

THOMAS, ANGIE. I HATE U GIVE. BALZER + BRAY, 2021.