In Luna it's super hard for Luna to come out because she's facing resistance on all fronts—the kids at school think she's a freak, strangers recoil when they see her at the mall, and her very own father refuses to accept that his perfect "son" could be trans. Regan has to watch helplessly as everyone judges Luna—even a seemingly wonderful family like the Materas doesn't accept Luna for who she is. When Regan starts dating Chris, she worries that he'll also be bigoted and closed-minded when it comes to Luna. It's not easy to figure out who will react with compassion and who will react with cruelty, which makes being a teenager just that much harder for Regan and Luna.
Questions About Prejudice
- Why does Regan hate Hoyt so much? What did he do to Luna that makes her angry?
- What kind of gender norms does Regan's dad subscribe to? How does he force them upon his children?
- How does the way that Regan views the Materas change over the course of the book?
- How does Aly react when Luna tells her that she's a girl?
Chew on This
The characters that grow the most in the novel are those that are able to confront their own prejudices and change them, like Aly and—to a degree—Luna's mother. Those who cannot confront their prejudices end up losing precious relationships in their lives.
Regan has to reframe her own prejudices about how other people will perceive Luna over the course of the novel.