Characters

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas features a large number of characters, as the main character Starr Carter comes across lots of different groups of people in the course of the novel, from her family and her neighborhood to her school friends and people from the wider justice system. The narrative is told in the first person by Starr, and readers are given a lot of insight into her thoughts and feelings. 

Another important character in the novel is Khalil. Even though readers only see him directly in the first two chapters, the entire novel revolves around his death at the hands of police officer One-Fifteen and the dramatic effects it has on Starr’s life and on her neighborhood. 

Other significant characters in the novel include Starr’s parents Maverick and Lisa Carter, who have worked hard to create a better life for themselves and who try to support Starr as she tries to come to terms with Khalil’s death while facing the pressures of school, the media, and threats from the local gang leader, King. The novel also explores Starr’s relationship with her boyfriend Chris and her friend Hailey, who are both white and who represent different attitudes to race and to Starr’s experiences.

Starr's relationship to many of these characters develops as the story progresses, with some of them becoming closer to her, and others growing more distant.