Stargirl who is archie

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Archie, the neighborhood wise man and resident cool old guy, is a retired paleontologist. For those not in the know, that means that he studies fossils. Well, no wonder his home is covered in bones. According to Leo, there are "bones in every room, every closet, on the back porch" 7.

They're all trinkets he has collected on his paleontological digs. Some of the bones belong to him, and others he meant to send to a museum but kept instead. He justifies this by saying the bones would have sat in the museum's basement and would be much better appreciated at his house. Apparently, Archie is not too worried about sacrificing the rules for the greater good.

One bone in particular stands out: a million-year-old rodent skull that Archie has named Barney. Barney acts as a bit of a teaching tool for Archie, and he uses it to explain concepts, ideas, and even life lessons to the many students that pay him visits. When the students are devastated by the basketball team's playoff loss, Archie uses Barney to show the kids that everyone loses in the end. It's just a part of life. To be fair, Archie is a paleontologist, so of course there are tons of bones lying around.

But there's a lot more to these bones than meets the eye, so head on over to our " Symbols " section for more. Not only is Archie a retired paleontologist, but also a retired college professor. While that technically means he doesn't have to teach anymore, he just can't resist the opportunity to impart some wisdom to his visitors. In fact, he even has a class that meets on Saturdays. Yep, these kids voluntarily go to class on the weekend, and they're not getting course credit for it either.

Go figure. Popularity, fitting in, and "sameness" are all key themes in Stargirl. Find places in the novel that reinforce these themes and discuss. Do you think Stargirl ever wanted to be popular? How might she define popularity?

After Stargirl changes back to "Susan," Leo says "she looked magnificently, wonderfully, gloriously ordinary. She looked just like a hundred other girls at Mica High--I had never been so happy and proud in my whole life. Author Jerry Spinelli plays two major events in the novel off of each other: the basketball championships and the oratorical contest.

After Stargirl wins the oratorical contest, Leo says that "the cheering is as wild as that of the crowd at a championship basketball game.

How is she rejected at one and accepted at the other? And how does this acceptance ultimately lead to rejection? The Ocotillo Ball at the end of the novel represents a turning point. Do you think Stargirl made a deliberate attempt to say good-bye at the ball?

What do you make of the students' behavior at the ball, and what does this tell you about the student body of Mica High as a whole? Archie says about Stargirl, "Star people are rare. I refused to choose. I pretended it would not always be like this. In the magical moonlight of my bed at night, I pretended she would become more like them and they would become more like her, and in the end I would have it all.

Susan looked out the window at the passing desert. And it made me think of something Archie said […] He said he believes mockingbirds may do more than imitate other birds.

I mean, other living birds. He thinks they may also imitate the sounds of birds that are no longer around. He says who knows what songs of ancient creatures we may be hearing out there. Plot Summary. All Symbols The Desert. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.

Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play. Sign Up. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Stargirl can help.

Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive.

Archie is a retired paleontologist and professor who moved to Mica after his wife, Ada Mae, died. He also has an especially close relationship with Leo.

For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:.