Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl as Contemporary Gospel
Reviewers of Jerry Spinelli*s Stargirl have disparagingly described the protagonist as "too good to be true," a "contemporary Pollyanna" who has "no shadows to contour her character" (The Horn Book, School Library Journal). In their apparent search for a female counterpart to Maniac Magee, these reviewers fail to recognize that Stargirl, "larger-than-life" and "hard to pin down," might best be understood as the protagonist of a modern day gospel narrated by her most devoted disciple, Leo Borlock.
This paper will compare both the protagonist and the narrative voice of Stargirl to traditional Christian gospel in order to explore Spinelli*s portrayal of a young woman "who seems to be in touch with something that the rest of us are missing" (Stargirl). It will also examine ways in which Stargirl moves beyond the often worn-out cliche of the Christ Figure and teaches a new lesson on surviving in a hypocritical and conformist world.
Stargirl might be viewed as a Christ figure through these and other details: her kindness to strangers, her impartiality and lack of class adherence, her relationship with her parents to whom she seems something of a mystery, her name (invoking the famous Star of Bethlehem), her ability to get a whole dance floor of teenagers to follow her through the desert, and her influence on Leo, an ordinary teenager and her disciple. Spinelli himself has described her as a kind of alpha and omega: "I think she perhaps resides in more than just this moment. I see her as having come from the past and anticipating the future, at the same time participating fully in the present." More importantly, however, she moves beyond the traditional suffering savior and presents another, less passive and more creative model for behavior. For example, rather than turn the other cheek when she is literally slapped by Hilari Kimball , her would be nemesis, she asserts herself by kissing Hilari and walking away. Moreover she is neither perfect nor completely consistent in her messianic role. At one point she succumbs to peer pressure, even giving up her cosmic name for the more ordinary "Susan." By the end of the novel, she has rather mysteriously disappeared leaving Leo to spread the good news of her coming and evidence of her continued presence in the world.
Like Christ*s disciples, Leo is an ordinary person whose life has been forever changed by an inspiring individual. As with traditional gospel narrators, his tone is one of looking back on amazing events in awed near-comprehension. What has been interpreted as "an unnecessary adult perspective" (School Library Journal) is in fact the distance necessary in contemplating and relating Stargirl*s significance. Leo*s reverence and devotion are tempered by his willingness to at least try to relate all aspects of Stargirl*s character objectively, even the parts he can*t understand or admire. Again, this connects him to the gospel writers who (although they were not eye-witnesses like Leo) seem to be recording what remains in many ways a mystery, but a mystery they are willing to accept.
Whether Stargirl is "emulatable," as Spinelli claims, or not, her story is presented as a contemporary gospel, her life as a model of nonconformity and kindness in a desert of stasis and boredom.
Click here to return to TOP of Conference Program
Use the browser's BACK button to return to the session you were viewing.
© 2004 ROCKY MOUNTAIN MODERN LANGUAGE
ASSOCIATION