In middle and high school, many people are afraid to be different because they feel like others will think that they are "uncool". However, this also continues throughout life. People want to be accepted, so don't try to deny it... at one point, you have refrained from doing something because you don't want people to think that you're weird. Although many people don't go head over heels in trying to make people like them, I don't think that there's anyone in the world who doesn't care at all about what others think. But Stargirl from the book "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli comes very close.
Stargirl is a high schooler who moves into Mica, Arizona, which is the town where Leo lives. Leo is a popular boy at Mica Area High School (MAHS), where everyone is pretty much the world's definition of "normal". But everything about Stargirl screams "NOT NORMAL". She carries a rat on her shoulder and strums a ukulele. When someone has a birthday, she breaks out into happy birthday for them in the cafeteria, whether or not she knows them. She cheers for the other team. Even her name is weird. At first, Leo thinks that Stargirl is crazy, but he begins to fall for her. But when everyone at school shuns Stargirl, Leo tries to turn her into something she's not: "normal".
What does "normal" mean anyway? It's what people expect someone to be. But why should you expect someone to be a certain way? Everyone has their own personality, and you shouldn't let go of that to please someone. Although I wouldn't want to be like Stargirl, because she's a little too unexpected for me (plus I'm scared of rats, they're dirty), I don't want to be like the popular kids at MAHS. Why do people who are their own person get judged for being "different"? Besides, even when Stargirl tries to be "normal", people still hate her. I would rather be hated and my own person than hated and a clone of somebody else.
This whole book is really about being different, and even the format is not what you'd expect from a teen novel. In most teen novels, the main character falls in love in the end, while Leo falls in love in the middle. Also, in the end of most books, argument between characters is resolved. At the end of this book, Stargirl is still mad at Leo, and even packs up and leaves town to avoid him and his friends.And most epilogues leave readers fulfilled, but the epilogue of this book left so many unanswered questions. Although it annoyed me that this book had a very blunt and unhappy ending, it was the author's way of making a statement, of being different. And I respect that.
I definitely agree with you and really like the line you wrote, "I would rather be hated and my own person than hated and a clone of somebody else." My personal opinion of the definition of "normal" is the majority. This is because, when someone doesn't act the way the majority of people do, they are generally classified as not normal. I think many are just scared of going out of a set comfort zone. Overall, great post!
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