65 pages • 2 hours read
Angie ThomasThe Hate U Give
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 20-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Eight Weeks After It”-Part 4: “Ten Weeks After It”
Chapter 20 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of racism.
Starr testifies in front of the grand jury for three hours, giving answers to lots of specific questions. Two weeks pass, and no one knows when they will get an answer regarding a possible grand jury indictment of Officer 115.
When Starr arrives at school, she sees Maya and Hailey talking. Hailey confronts Starr, calling her a liar. She has figured out that Starr knew Khalil and that both Maya and Hailey met him at Starr’s 12th birthday party. Hailey wants an explanation and an apology.
Instead, Maya and Starr confront Hailey about her racist behavior. She gets defensive and tells Starr to get over Khalil’s death, saying that because he was a drug dealer, it was only a matter of time before he died. When she says, “the cop probably did everyone a favor. One less drug dealer” (341), Starr punches Hailey in the side of the face. Hailey’s brother Remy steps in to try to stop Starr, but Seven gets involved and fights Remy. Security guards break up the fight, and both Starr and Seven are sent home. Hailey’s father demanded Starr’s expulsion, but the headmaster suspends Starr instead.
Lisa is angry at Starr and Seven for resorting to violence just like “They” expect, adding, “They with a capital T. There’s Them and then there’s Us. Sometimes They look like Us and don’t realize They are Us” (343). At home, they find Mav in a meeting with the Cedar Grove King Lords and the Garden Disciples—which are usually rival gangs. He wants them to control the riots that will inevitably break out if the grand jury decides not to indict Officer 115. Both sides agree.
Chapter 21 Summary
Four weeks after Starr’s testimony, there is still no grand jury decision. Over Memorial Day weekend, they have a party to celebrate Seven’s birthday and his graduation. At the party, Kenya flirts with DeVante even though her father, King, wants him dead. Chris and Maya join the party, and Starr worries about how to behave as her two worlds collide. Kenya meets Chris for the first time, and Maya tells her about Starr’s fight, which Kenya appreciates. Lisa gets everyone to dance, and Starr starts to relax.
Later, while Starr is inside, the phone rings. It’s the guard at the front gate, who tells them that Iesha is outside, asking to be let in. Seven invited his grandmother to come, and Iesha came along. He lets her in after DeVante hides.
Iesha is upset that Seven didn’t invite her to his birthday. Seven gets angry at her when she makes a scene about it. He yells at her, saying that she never knows how to act and calling her a bad mother. He accuses her of choosing King over her own children and says that Lisa has been more of a mother to him than her. Iesha accuses Mav and Lisa of turning Seven against her, saying she can’t wait for King to “fuck y’all up for letting that girl snitch on him on TV” (365). She leaves. Seven cries, but Starr understands why Iesha might be afraid to leave King. Kenya comes into the house looking for her brother, and Starr finally confronts her about always calling him her brother instead of their brother. Kenya does not respond. They all go back outside for cake, and Mav makes a speech for Seven’s birthday. He tells Seven that he is proud of him and that he is going to do great things.
Chapters 20-21 Analysis
In this section, Hailey’s ingrained racism finally boils over in a confrontation with Starr, emphasizing a more personal angle on the issue of Systemic Racism in American Society. By refusing to recognize or apologize for the casual racism in her language or her ideas, Hailey makes herself into an active proponent of racism, especially when she echoes the cruel sentiment implied by the police and the media: that Khalil’s death means that there is one less drug dealer on the street. This kind of justification rightfully infuriates Starr, who resorts to violence and thereby gains a personal realization of how the Garden Heights community riots began. Additionally, Hailey’s reaction is consistent with larger societal efforts that work to dehumanize Black men and women, devaluing their lives. Beating back against this narrative lies at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement and is one of the driving forces behind the author’s decision to write The Hate U Give.
The author also uses this section of the novel to address the complex issues surrounding the gang system in Garden Heights and the difficult road facing those who decide to reject it or fight back against it. To this end, the character of Seven stands as a representative of the issues involved, for as the son of a former gang member and King’s girlfriend, he easily could have slipped into the life that Khalil fell into. However, encouraged by Mav and Lisa, he stands up to Iesha and is implied to have a bright future ahead of him at college because he chooses to take a stand and reject harmful patterns. Thus, the novel uses this subplot to emphasize the importance speaking out in order to make progress on both personal and societal issues.
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By Angie Thomas
