'Luna': A Literary Analysis

What I love about “Luna” is it's one of its first narratives of it’s time written for young adults. It includes in my opinion one of the best literary explanations of what it’s like to be transgender, (““It's horrible because you want to be this person you are in here, “ I pressed my heart, “and here”. I touched my temple. “But you can’t because you don’t look the way you should. You look like a guy. And that’s what people expect you to be. Every day you have to put on this act, play a role, and the only time you can ever be freeis when you’re alone, when nobody's watching and you can let yourself go”” (pg. 191-192)). It truly shows the evolution of queer literature over time because of relatable content yet outdated language.
In the LGBT
Many of the things Luna says in the novel such as “TG” to represent transgirl or transwomen, or “genetic girl” to mean ciswomen, would seem completely out of place in current trans language. Also I need to draw light to the casual transphobia that's thrown around throughout the novel. There is plenty of transphobia throughout “Luna”. For example, “The expression on his face- God. Disgust, loathing, I don’t know what it was but it made me cower in fear” (pg. 115), “I only wanted to try on a dress ”His voice went flat. “They didn’t need to call security” (pg 181), and “I cried for her. I cried for me. I cried for a world that wouldn’t let her be” (pg. 211). One of the most memorable moments occurs when Luna is about to meet up with a trans friend. Regan retorts, “I’m sure you two need to talk. Compare the size of your adam's apples or whatever it is trannies do when they get together. Liam laughed” (pg. 181) Some of what you would expect to be hurtful, Luna takes in stride and actually turns it into a joke. I feel that this is because in the early 2000’s when “Luna” was written transphobia was rampant. Trans people were always considered to
“Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan is unlike any novel I have ever read. It follows a variety of queer teens over a span of a weekend, which isn’t unusual. What makes the novel extraordinary is it is narrated in third person, by those who had passed away from the AIDS virus in the 80’s. This narration gives a perfect example of how LGBT history and literature has influence other works. Many of Levithan’s words closely mirror the theme of Monnette’s work “Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir”. At the novel’s beginning Levithan states “You can’t know what it is like for us now- you will always be one step behind. Be thankful for that. You can’t know what it was like for us then- you will always be one step ahead. Be thankful for that too. “ (pg. 1), symbolizing