Thursday, May 6, 2021

Why is Starr terrified in chapter 11 ?

Starr is terrified and upset in chapter 11 for several reasons, and none of them are her fault.  Firstly, she is terrified because the police have ordered her father on the ground and are searching him as though he has done something wrong.  She sees the police treat her father like a dangerous criminal, when he was merely having a conversation with his neighbour about something very serious.  She fears that they will shoot him like they shot Khalil.


The second reason that Starr is terrified is that she discovers that people know that she witnessed Khalil's death.  A neighbour called Tim reveals this just after the police incident, saying, "They only did that shit 'cause they 'bout Starr."  The family had worked hard to keep her identity as the witness secret to protect Starr, and now she feels very exposed.


The third reason that Starr feels terrified is that Kenya exposes her fears that she is a coward.  Kenya accuses her of sitting back and letting Khalil be disrespected: "You're letting them trash-talk him."  This is Starr's own fear, and now Kenya has confirmed it.  Kenya runs the point home by saying, "The Khalil I know would've jumped on TV in a hot second and told everybody what happened if it meant defending you.  And you can't do the same for him."  Starr is now feeling terrified because she is scared of the police, scared of the people in her neighbourhood, and scared of what she sees as her lack of courage.


Now that you have read my example, go to your document answering the reading comprehension questions that we worked on earlier this week, and have a go at writing a 1-3 paragraph answer to the same question:  "Why is Starr terrified in chapter 11?"

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