THUGLIFE

Anja Brooks

The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas

"The first shot rings in my head. The second. The third.”(Thomas 23)

In The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, the main character Starr Carter lives in a bad neighborhood called Garden Heights. Starr goes to a big spring party and she sees her best friend from childhood, Khalil. As they were catching up they heard gunshots so they ran and got into Khalil’s car and drove away. As they were driving home they get pulled over. They do what Starr’s dad told them to do when they get pulled over: put your hands on the dashboard, don’t make any sudden moves, and do not talk unless told to talk. The cop said that their tail light was broken and then he pulled Khalil out of the car and patted him down 3 times. Then he went to go and check his license and regression and told Khalil to stay still. Khalil looked through the window to see if Starr was okay. Next 3 shots went out. POW!! POW!! POW!! Khalil was on the ground dead. As Starr is going through the sadness she decides to speak up about this police brutality. She has a conversation with her dad in the car. He is rapping to Tupac when he says, “I know you’re fed up, baby but you got to keep your head up.” (Thomas 167) He tries encouraging her to keep doing what she is doing even though it is really hard. People started saying that Khalil was in a gang and drug dealing, “I remember what Khaili said- he got tired of choosing between lights and food.” As the book goes on it talks about the true meaning of society, and what is like to have seen police brutality.

I really loved this book because it had the true meaning of society. Tupac once said, “The Hate U Give Little Infants F---s Everyone” (Thomas 168) Meaning the things you expose kids to will hurt you later on. If you expose kids to gangs and drugs, later on, kids will start doing/joining gangs. Khalil started to do drugs because he needs the money, not because he wanted to because his mom was a drug addict that exposed him to that life making him feel like he needs to turn to drugs to get the money he needs for his family, because of the lack of opportunities. I think this is a really good example of what THUGLIFE meant because it shows the society in a way not many people think about because they are not exposed to it, so they think it does not exist at all. That is another reason why I liked this book. It exposed me to a part of society that I did not really think about. It also gave me perspective on life. It helped me see that not everyone has a good life, and sometimes people need to turn to the thing that hurts them the most to survive, like how Khalil sold drugs; he never wanted to because his mom was an addict, but he wanted to survive with his. So he did what he had to do.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a new look on society and a new perspective on life. After you read this book, you will never take anything for granted. I would also recommend this book to anyone that has experienced police brutality or to anyone who wants a good book to read.