Character Analysis
The Danny Pike Incident carves yet another chink in the armor of Stargirl's popularity. Just like Stargirl's encounter with Anna Grisdale, her encounter with Danny Pike sends waves of suspicion about Stargirl and her mysterious motivations throughout Mica.
Danny Pike is a little boy who crashes his bike and is seriously injured. Even though she doesn't know him personally, she attends his coming home party, and people begin to suspect that Stargirl is the anonymous gift giver who gave the kid the bike in the first place. Whoops.
Despite the fact that Stargirl may have given Danny the bike that got him hurt, the Danny Pike Incident is yet another example of Stargirl's deep sense of empathy. The newspaper photograph that inadvertently captures her expression the day of the party is genuine; she honestly does care about him as if he "were her little brother back from the dead" (10.25). In fact, she cares about everyone that way. Unfortunately, the rest of the people who see the photograph think that this is another example of her being a phony. They think she is pretending to be happy for Danny to seek attention. Oh, if only they knew the real Stargirl.