38 pages • 1 hour read
Angela DominguezStella Díaz Has Something to Say
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaThemes
The Challenges and Rewards of Cultural Hybridity
Stella was born Mexico and grows up in Chicago, and her bicultural background makes it more difficult for her to understand and accept her own identity than it is for most other children. Stella was a baby when she moved to Chicago, so she doesn’t have any personal memories of Mexico, nor does she speak Spanish perfectly like her family does. This makes it difficult for Stella to fully relate to some of her relatives, and sometimes she feels like an outsider among her own family. On the other hand, Stella doesn’t feel that she fits in at school, either. She has an accent in both English and Spanish, so she tends to keep quiet at school to avoid being embarrassed or criticized. Her classmates sometimes view her as an outsider because she wasn’t born in the US, and she sometimes sees herself as an outsider among her extended family because she doesn’t share the same language and culture as them. Even her older brother, Nick, fits in much better with their relatives, because he spent more time in Mexico when he was young.
Stella struggles with feeling torn between cultures, often wishing she had never left Mexico because “things would have been easier” if they had stayed (91). As Stella becomes more comfortable with herself, she learns that she does still have a strong connection to her relatives, even if there is a language barrier. She bonds with them through dancing, singing, and laughing, and she takes comfort in the fact that “giggling and smiling is something that doesn’t have to be translated” (93). At the same time, she finds new ways to build relationships with her classmates. Stella works on her social skills and improves at speaking in front of others at school, and she soon realizes that she has more in common with her classmates than she once thought.
Stella is horrified when she first learns that people (like herself) who were not born in the US and have not obtained citizenship are called “aliens”— the term makes her feel isolated and different. As she matures, though, she comes to understand that being an “alien” is not a bad thing and can even be valuable. Nick reminds Stella that if they were born in the US, they wouldn’t speak Spanish or eat the Mexican dishes their mom makes. In the end, Stella finds ways to make connections with her family and classmates despite their differences. Forming this support system ultimately helps her conceive of and take pride in her multifaceted identity.
Finding Self-Confidence and Overcoming Fear
In the beginning of the school year, Stella struggles with self-doubt, but she overcomes her fears by taking steps to embrace her passions and expand her social circle. Stella struggles with speaking in front of others, so she is devastated when she and her best friend Jenny are not placed in the same third grade class (Jenny—Stella feels—is one of the only people who understands her). Jenny easily makes friends with her new classmates, while Stella struggles even more severely with her speech in the absence of her friend, and consequently gets bullied and ostracized. When Stella’s mom and brother notice her difficulty, they provide extra love and support to remind Stella of her worth. After seeing a classmate bully Stella, Stella’s mom tells her, “You’re so much stronger than you realize. That’s why your full name is Estrella. You’re my star. You can light up the dark” (133). This goes a long way in boosting Stella’s confidence.
The support from her family and Jenny helps embolden Stella to persevere despite anxiety and shame. Stella loves writing, art, and reading about ocean life—passions which her family encourages. Jenny also advises Stella to speak openly and candidly with her new classmates. Though it’s challenging, Stella persists in pursuing her interests and trying to form new friendships. These pursuits lead Stella to become more comfortable with herself, which naturally leads her to form new friendships.
When Stella starts third grade, she wants to befriend Stanley, but she is held back by her fears that he is better than her and that she should hide her true self from him. Shortly after meeting Stanley, Stella is shocked at his social ease: “In just a couple weeks, he fits in already! I don’t get it. Stanley also has not once looked sad or scared” (29). Stella’s perception is clouded by her own self-doubt—later, she realizes that he was in fact scared and didn’t immediately feel as at-home as it seemed. She is only able to genuinely connect with Stanley once she realizes that he is not perfect, and that he shares her interests and likes her for who she is. Expanding her social circle has a compounding effect—the more friends Stella makes, the more she feels supported and valued, so the more confident she becomes in speaking to even more people. At the beginning of the novel, Stella viewed Jenny’s new friend Anna as a threat, fearing that Jenny would make new friends and leave her behind. By the end, she has befriended Anna herself and made several other new friends. The novel portrays self-confidence not as the absence of fear but as the ability to face it step by step, while also highlighting the importance of social support in building confidence and overcoming fear.
The Value of Family and Friendship
Stella’s family and friends offer support and a safety net when Stella is especially lacking in confidence, but this makes up only a fraction of the value they add to her life—what the novel highlights above all is the inherent value of family and friendship as sources of joy. In the novel’s opening scene, Stella’s mom excitedly welcomes Stella and Nick home by hugging and kissing them as she exclaims “¡Mis bebés!” (my babies) (1). Stella’s mom is exceptionally warm and dedicated to her children, providing a stable and nourishing home life for them both, regardless of what they deal with at school or with peers.
Nick, being more than five years older than Stella, is also a vital connection and source of guidance. Nick often teases Stella, but his protectiveness makes it clear how much he cares about her. When Stella grapples for the first time with what it means to be an “alien” in the US, Nick tries his best to quell her fears. He also helps Stella navigate their parents’ divorce and their strained but ongoing relationship with their father. (The novel implies that Nick and Stella’s dad cheated on their mom, which Nick knows but Stella is too young to understand.) Nick’s stability and guidance make it possible for Stella to maintain a somewhat healthy relationship with their father, despite difficult circumstances. Having healthy and supportive social connections allows Stella the emotional intelligence and empathy to see her father as someone who tries his best despite being deeply flawed.
Similarly, Stella’s friendship with Jenny offers a sense of unconditional love and acceptance. Stella relates to Jenny more than she does to most of the other kids at her school because Jenny’s mom is an immigrant like Stella’s. Stella’s extended family in Mexico also shows her love and acceptance despite culture and language barriers. Stella struggles to communicate verbally with some of her relatives, but she finds other ways to connect with them. Her aunt Juanis often cuts Stella off when she tries to speak Spanish, but Juanis admires Stella’s drawings, and they play music and dance together. Stella thinks, “Juanis might not always listen, but I know she loves me” (89). These relationships stand out in that they bring Stella fulfillment, independent of how they aid her in personal struggles. Whether it’s laughing with her relatives despite language barriers, sharing secrets with Jenny, or discovering common interests with Stanley, these connections highlight the profound value of being seen, understood, and cared for. Stella’s journey shows that family and friends are not just sources of support during difficult times but are also what make life rich and fulfilling.
