Literary Analysis of Half a Moon by Renee Watson Essay Sample

As of today, in 18.3 million children about 1 in 4, live without a father in their household. In these statistics, there is Raven. In the story Half A Moon, the protagonist Raven is living with her mother as her father has left and now has a family of his own. To help out with the expenses in her home, Raven takes on a job taking care of campers. Raven’s half-sister, Brooke happens to be one of those children along with, in Raven’s eyes, the person who broke apart her family. Although, Raven has rather bitter feelings and memories associated with Brooke she watches her undergo body-shaming comments which reveal the unrealistic standards society has set for the female body. 

Society has set invisible standards for how the female body should appear. In the short story, Half a Moon, the main deuteragonist, Brooke undergoes hurtful comments about her body from other campers. As Brooke goes to get a second helping of food she is not able to since she is told she is “too fat to be getting seconds”(8) by Mercy, one of the other campers. This contributes to the point that a girl should be petite and feminine. This mindset classifies a whole gender under one tiny box without much room for movement. Also, Half a Moon, shows us how our class can be used to define our entire character. For example, in the text, Brooke is judged not just because of her size but also because of her financial status. It states, “you think just because you got long hair and expensive things you’re all that.” (8). This illustrates the idea that being of a certain class automatically makes you ungrateful or arrogant. However, in the short story, Brooke does not have any moments where she seems to be like this. Another example of when the story tells the readers about the concealed qualities society looks for in a girl is when one of the Green Campers is introduced. She tells Brooke that she needs to go on a diet. This use of the word need shows how Brooke is advised to lose weight because her size is not accepted as the “normal body type”. Raven sees Brooke get judged and although she does not stand up for her as her older sister, she can discern that Brooke does not have as perfect of a lifestyle as Raven believed. 

Despite the fact that forgiving someone can be difficult, Raven can overcome her feelings for Brooke and build a bond with her. After, watching Brooke be dogmatized for simply being different than the rest of the campers. However, in the end, she changes her actions toward Brooke which is seen when instead of ignoring Brooke who can’t keep up like before, she decides to “slow down, take Brooke’s hand.” (18). Ultimately, Raven realizes that forgiveness couldn’t change the past but it was holding her back from her future.