"She's homeschooled, you know. Her mother brought her to me. I guess she wanted a break from playing teacher. One day a week. Four, five—yes, five years now."
Kevin pointed. "You created her!"
Archie smiled, puffed. "No, that was done long before me" (7.19-21).
By accusing Archie of creating Stargirl, Kevin clearly shows his beliefs about identity. He believes that people are a product of their environment; that they are made by the people around them. Archie, however, thinks otherwise. He thinks her identity was created long before he met her. How long before? Was Stargirl's identity created when, say, humans were made from stars?
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.
"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.