Bravery in "The Hate U Give"

     A central theme of this coming-of-age novel, "The Hate U Give" is bravery. Starr, the main protagonist, experiences the traumatic event of her childhood friend, Khalil, being murdered by the police. She has to face this loss and the expectations from others, as the witness, to speak up about what happened, all while trying to navigate her grief and typical teenage drama. In the beginning, after this event, Starr just wants to be able to grieve in peace and to be safe from backlash about her being the witness. People around her are constantly telling her she was brave for surviving and for speaking up but Starr does not personally feel brave. She feels she has not done enough, said the right things, or been a good enough friend to Khalil. But when she is about to testify before the Grand Jury her mom explains to Starr what being brave really means. “Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, Starr,” she says. “It means you go on even though you’re scared. And you’re doing that (middle-Ch. 19).” Starr still does not feel brave but absorbs her mom's words and realizes that it is okay to be scared but that there are so many people who love her and support her, so she chooses to be brave. Bravery is more than a feeling or emotion, it is a choice and an action. Having support and a community with you makes this choice easier but having just one friend can help so much too. Maya and Starr decide to be brave and stick up for themselves against Hailey's bigotry and racism, because despite her adamantly claiming not to be a racist, not once does she ever apologize or admit to saying hurtful racist comments to both of her "friends". Later in the novel during the riots, Starr makes the choice to be brave multiple times. First, after hearing that the DA decided to not place charges against the officer, Starr, Seven, DeVante, and Chris go to Garden Heights to join the protests. Once realizing that it has taken a turn and people have started looting, Starr, despite her justified anger, decides that it is not okay to support the destruction the looters are doing. It takes a lot of bravery to not fall into the hivemind of a crowd, which she did during William Prep's walkout and again here in Garden Heights. Starr has split herself into two people, the Garden Heights Starr and the William Prep School Starr. But in both places, Starr sticks up for her beliefs and bravely does what she believes to be right. While they are trying to get out of the area, Seven's car runs out of gas. They notice other people and their chanting "A hairbrush is not a gun!" Ms. Ofrah is there and leading this crowd on Carnation where Khalil was killed. Starr joins this protest because it is about getting justice for Khalil. Ms. Ofrah gives Starr the space to use her voice, her biggest weapon. Someone from the crowd yells "Don't be scared! Speak!" And Starr does and she gets them chanting "Khalil lived!" and does not let the police scare her into stopping. The police throw a can of tear gas at them despite them peacefully protesting and using their First Amendment Right to free speech without causing harm to others. Starr throws it back at them (Ch. 24). Her father shows his bravery and the neighbors do too when they snitch on King, the drug lord, who has been causing harm to the community and just burned down the store with the kids inside (end Ch. 26). It takes one person speaking up and those who feel the same way supporting to achieve change and get justice. And because Maverick stood up to King, DeVante bravely chose to reveal where King's stash was so that he would be in prison longer than an arson charge would have had him in for to protect his family, Seven, Kenya, and the whole community. At the end, Starr promises that she will never stop being brave and fighting for justice and that she will never forget.