How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
And each night I thought of her as the moon came through my window. I could have lowered my shade to make it darker and easier to sleep, but I never did. In that moonlit hour, I acquired a sense of the otherness of things. I like the feeling the moonlight gave me, as if it wasn't the opposite of day, but its underside, its private side, when the fabulous purred on my snow-white sheet like some dark cat come in from the desert.
It was during one of these nightmoon times that it came to me that Hillari Kimble was wrong. Stargirl was real (2.41-42).
When Leo lets the moonlight into his window, he gains insights into the world around him. He feels connected, and he acquires wisdom. Thanks, nature! This occurs several times in the novel, so feel free to look for more examples of when he lets nature into his life. When he does so, does he seem improved as a person? What about when he shuts nature out of his life?
Quote #2
We said "adios" to Señor Saguaro.
On our way out, Archie said, more to me than to Kevin, I thought: "You'll know her more by your questions than by her answers. Keep looking at her long enough. One day you might see someone you know" (7.50).
Archie names a lot of things that you might not expect, like a cactus. This naming is a way of emphasizing the fact that all things are connected. Maybe everything has an identity, even the stuff in nature that lacks a brain.
Quote #3
"I lay under my sheet of moonlight. Her voice came through the night, from the light, from the stars" (15.10)
Sometimes, instead of knowledge and wisdom, Leo just feels connected to other people, specifically Stargirl. It is interesting to note the connection between her name (STARgirl) and the MOONshine, isn't' it?
Quote #4
"Well, this fellow here lost his game, too. He was winning for ten million years or so, but found himself in a different league. He hung in there as well as he could. He scored his points, but he kept falling farther and farther behind. The opposition was better, quicker, keener. In the championship game, our boy got annihilated. Not only didn't he show up for class the next day, he never showed up, period. They never saw him again" (15.13).
What might Archie be trying to tell his students here? Like all things Archie, this nugget of wisdom is a bit vague, and a bit confusing. He holds up the skull of a (long extinct) animal and compares the species to a team. Even though the animal species existed successfully for many years, eventually it was wiped out by another. He may be talking about the inevitability of losing. All things lose in the end, so it is not the end result that should matter. There will always be someone who is better than you, smarter than you, quicker than you. Eventually, you will lose. It's not good or bad. It's just the cold, hard truth.
Quote #5
"Did you know there's a country with officially designated 'enchanted places'?" […] I think it would be neat if we had that here. You'd be walking or riding along, and there would be this stone marker with a brass plate: 'Enchanted Site: U.S. Department of Interior.'"
"We'd litter it up," I said (17.58-63)
Would marking places as "enchanted" help people connect to and respect their surroundings more as Stargirl hopes, or would we just litter it up, like Leo thinks? He's being a bit cynical, but the dude has a point.
Quote #6
"The earth is speaking to us, but we can't hear because of all the racket our senses are making. Sometimes we need to erase them, erase our senses. Then—maybe—the earth will touch us. The universe will speak. The stars will whisper" (17.85).
Stargirl believes that to connect, you must forget about your physical body and set your mind free to hear without your physical ears. It is then that you may be able to hear the wisdom of the universe. Hey, in a way, doesn't Leo do this already? It is in the quiet of the night when his senses are limited, meaning it is dark and quiet, and he is aware of the moonlight that he gets some insights, right?
Quote #7
"The thing is, there's no difference anymore between me and the universe. The boundary is gone. I am it and it is me. I am a stone, a cactus thorn. I am rain." She smiled dreamily. "I like that most of all, being rain" (17.90).
Through her meditation, she does not just gain wisdom from what the earth tells her, she actually becomes other things. Cool, huh?
Quote #8
And I did have fun. Whether it came from the game or simply from being with her, I don't know. I do know I was surprised at how close I felt to Clarissa and Betty and Adam after watching them for only fifteen minutes (21.52).
Stargirl and Leo play what seems to be a simple game at the mall. They observe other people closely. They pay attention to someone for fifteen minutes and then they determine what kind of greeting card that person would most need to receive. This little game is not just a fun way to spend a couple hours. It is a way to become more connected to the feelings of others. Once they start paying attention, it seems to get easier and easier to observe how other people might be feeling, and to have some empathy for them, too.
Quote #9
"Look, even the desert is celebrating."
It seemed to be true. The normally dull cacti and scrub were splashed with April colors, as if a great painter had passed over the landscape with a brush, dabbing yellow here, red there… she skipped and whirled and cartwheeled among the prickly natives. She bowed to a yucca, waltzed with a saguaro… (27.53-56).
On the way to her competition, Stargirl pays attention to the natural world around her. Because she does this, and takes time out to celebrate with nature, she ends up with an idea for a fantastic speech, which will eventually win her a trophy. Because of this, we notice how spontaneous Stargirl is too – instead of planning a speech way ahead of time, she lives in the moment and finds inspiration all around her.
Quote #10
In bed that night, I became more and more uncomfortable as the moonlight crept up my sheet. I did something I had never done before. I pulled down the shade (30.25).
Have you ever hidden from a truth you didn't want to know, as Leo does here? Nature wants to show him what he did wrong, but Leo simply doesn't want to hear it. By shutting out nature, he's shutting out the truth.