Ramona the Brave

For most children, their siblings are their first friends, and they offer the first opportunity to learn about the nuances of navigating interpersonal relationships. Despite their considerable age gap, Ramona and Beezus live in close contact with each other emotionally and physically. Forced to share a room for their entire lives, the sisters’ divergent personalities conflict, causing all the usual sibling squabbles and resentment. However, the novel opens with a stark reversal of power, as Ramona finds herself coming to Beezus’s defense in what she thinks is an act of valor: “For the first time in her six years, Ramona had looked after Beezus, who was supposed to be the responsible one. Bossy was a better word, Ramona sometimes thought” (12). Beezus gives Ramona the walk home to bask in her bravery before crushing her spirit when they tell their mother the story, and Beezus proclaims Ramona’s invective an embarrassment instead of heroic. Beezus once again thrusts her sister back into her place as the youngest and, in Ramona’s eyes, most misunderstood family member. Although their relationship remains bumpy, as the story progresses, Cleary establishes a strong connection between the siblings and continues to expand the nature of the relationship throughout the narrative.

When Ramona was younger, Beezus often became a second caregiver, finding herself dealing with Ramona’s antics and outbursts and burdened with the responsibility of caring for a toddler. However, as she enters sixth grade and Ramona becomes more independent, the sisters find themselves on a more equal footing in the house. Though Ramona is still messy and clutters her side of the room, infuriating Beezus, she can read her book while Ramona quietly amuses herself with paper and crayons. Though the sisters hold different opinions on Mrs. Quimby’s new job, they are excited about their new room. On one of their last nights in the shared room, Cleary illustrates a touching moment between the two sisters as they giggle and gasp in the dark, telling their ghost stories. The separation ends up being traumatic for Ramona, and the reader feels the sting of the change as Ramona lies in bed, too terrified to sleep and listening to her older sister easily walk through her bedtime routine without prompting or hesitation. In these glimpses of life between two sisters, Cleary illustrates the ups and downs of sibling life amid significant changes within a family and the individual members of the household.

Ramona assumes being “grown up” means she must become like her older sister Beezus. Throughout the novel, Cleary develops the idea of emulation, or as the children call it, “copycatting,” and Ramona, who prizes her individuality, can think of no fouler sentence than the expectation to be like someone else. Weary of wearing her sister’s hand-me-down clothing and living in the shadow of Beezus’s perfect docile obedience, Ramona longs to exist as her unique self and gain acceptance from those around her. She tries to bend her will and control her impulses but finds it impossible to be someone else, and in her perceived failure to be like her sister, Ramona falsely assumes her parents cannot love her.

Beezus comes to Ramona’s defense several times in the narrative, but no moment is more poignant than when she validates Ramona’s hatred of having adults laugh at her. After the two sisters reveal their nightmares, Ramona learns that she and Beezus share some of the same insecurities, and as Beezus tells her mother how much her laughter hurt her, Ramona feels a kinship with her sibling that touches her deeply. Being at odds with her sister is no longer thrilling, as she thinks, “Ramona felt secure and happy. Agreeing was so pleasant she wished she and her sister could agree more often” (22). The sisters’ relationship comes full circle in the end, as Beezus defends her sister much like the playground scene, except this time, it ends happily with each sister having a deeper love and respect for the other. Ramona sees her sister with new eyes literally when she sneaks into Mr. Cardoza’s class the following day: “Beside her classmates Beezus did not look so big as Ramona has always thought her to be. Ramona was secretly pleased to discover her sister was a little less than medium-sized” (180). Ramona learns that she does not have to imitate or become her older sister to be loved and accepted by her family, and through the sisters’ evolving relationship, Cleary demonstrates how a close sibling attachment can become the most influential connection in a person’s life.