Be True to Yourself: It Maybe Difficult but, Follow Your Own Road

Roads are used to connect society just like themes in books are connected to real life. In the book Stargirl, Leo has to make a choice should he stay with Stargirl or leave her and become noticed again by everyone else. While in “The Road Not Taken”, the person has to choice which path in the woods to follow. Both of these literary works involve choices that will affect the characters journey through life and put them on different pathways and roads of life. Leo and Stargirl are the main characters in the book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Throughout the book Stargirl is a different and unique person but, she is ok with it.

She wears unique clothing like a long off white dress to school. She also acts different than most people; she plays people Happy Birthday on her ukulele. She goes outside when it is raining and dances. Everyone thought she was weird but, people began to like her. She became popular after she joined the cheerleading team. She never stopped cheering at games.

She would cheer for her team and the opposing team. This upset some people but, she still remained popular. During the play-offs, when the opposing team’s star Kovac was hurt, she was the first to make sure he was ok. This upset people more. They won that game but, lost two nights later and everyone blamed Stargirl. She became a scapegoat because she was different.

She went from popular to unpopular because of this. While Leo is a nobody person. He begins to like her. Since Leo is hanging out with Stargirl he gets the silent treatment from everyone else too. On Valentine’s Day Stargirl makes Leo a banner that says “Stargirl loves Leo” and hangs it were everyone can see it.

This secretly makes Leo happy but, really he is embarrassed. He avoids her because he does not know what to say. She finally tracked him down and got him to talk. He told her she should start acting normal. After he said that he did not see her for two days.

When he does see her she looks normal. She is wearing jeans, sandals, lipstick, and hoop earnings. She changed her name to Susan. Now Leo was not embarrassed anymore. He was proud and happy to have a normal looking girlfriend.

He was the only person who really appreciated Susan everyone else still just ignored her. Even though she won the oratorical contest people ignored her. She thought there was going to be a huge mob of people waiting for her when she got back from the contest. It only ended up being a couple of teachers and her friend Dori. She was so upset that she dropped her silver trophy that she was so worried about before. On school on Monday Susan returned to Stargirl because she discovered people still did not like her when she became normal.

Leo does not like that she changed back into Stargirl. She understands that he is not going to ask her to the Ocotillo Ball and that he does not like her anymore. She ends up going by herself and gets everyone to do the bunny hop dance. This really annoys the most popular girl in school Hillari and Hillari slaps Stargirl. Stargirl being the calm and cool person she is just kisses Hillari on the cheek. Then leaves and no one sees Stargirl again.

The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is similar to Stargirl. This poem is about a person and they are unsure about what road to choice. The person is not sure if he or she wants to take the path traveled on my lots of people or the one less people have traveled on. The person ends up deciding “I took the one less traveled by” (Frost). This reminds me of Stargirl because the path the person choose was not taken by many people so, he will be different like Stargirl.

One thing I love about Stargirl is, she is so different, and not many people would have the guts to wear her clothing to high school. I was very upset with Leo when he wanted Stargirl to become normal. I was not the only person upset with this change. Stargirl was not that happy either because she had only two pebbles in her happy wagon. Leo kind of forced Stargirl to change because Leo did not like her appearance and the way she acted.

He said “I think you should try to be more like the rest of us” (Spinelli 137). He also says this when talking about her not being normal, “Because nobody likes you” (Spinelli 138). This really hurt Stargirl and I think the only reason she became normal is because of what Leo said. She changed to make Leo happy because she loves him so much. Stargirl is always thinking of others and not herself this is just one of her many examples. When everyone did not talk to her or congratulate her that she won the contest.

She turned back to her old self because of this. I was really happy because I like her being Stargirl better than being Susan. Since Leo was not happy with the change he did not ask her to the ball, this shows what a jerk he was to her. When she went to the ball she got everyone to do the bunny hop. Hillari gets annoyed and slaps Stargirl. She kisses Hillari and no one every sees her again.

I was sad to see Stargirl go. I was glad though that Leo did not end up with Stargirl because he always tried to change her and I do not like it. While in “The Road Not Taken” it is about a person deciding which path to take. The road or path is supposed to represent making a choice in life. It is a big choice because the person says “And that has made all the difference” (Frost). I think he made the right choice of being different and taking the path less traveled on.

Roads are a big part of our society today, they help us get places. There are many types of roads dome are big and traveled on by lots of people like highway, or it could be a road used by few people like a country road. If any road was taken away it would affect people’s lives in a big or small way. That is like taking Stargirl changing her into someone else and it will affect the world. No one would be able to get her cards, presents, or any of her random acts of kindness. There are a lot of roads in the world some smooth, bumpy, or have pot holes.

They could also be made out of gravel, dirt, or they could be paved. They are all different just like people, and both of them were made the way they were for a reason.