Ramona the Brave

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1975

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary: “Alone in the Dark”

Ramona’s days become boring and monotonous, and she is always in a foul mood. The continuously rainy weather does not help, and Ramona even becomes dissatisfied with her daily lunch. She tries to make her schoolwork more interesting by imagining creative responses to the basic questions in her reader, but Mrs. Griggs marks her answers incorrect, even though Ramona reads the passages carefully. Ramona does not enjoy school because she believes Mrs. Griggs does not like her. Though she is bored and spiritless during the day, Ramona becomes frightened and anxious at night.

She fears sleeping in her new room in the dark, but she refuses to tell anyone, lest her family thinks she is a baby. Each night, she tries every tactic to delay bedtime, but her mother insists she goes to bed on time. She tries to get the cat to sleep with her, but he does not enjoy snuggling with Ramona. Ramona goes through a nightly ritual in her room to make her less frightened. First, she closes the curtains and checks the closet, and then she pushes her bed away from the wall so nothing can reach out and grab her. Next, she gathers all her stuffed animals into bed, pulls the sheets tight, and waits for her mother to come tell her goodnight. After Ramona stalls her mother with many questions, she says her prayers twice. She is most anxious on the nights her father is out bowling, and when he is gone, Ramona lies in bed, forcing herself to stay awake until he returns. She tries to think good thoughts to help ease her anxiety, like how her classmates have been nicer to her since Mrs. Griggs made her apologize in front of everyone and how much she enjoys learning to read. However, none of her strategies work, and when the house goes quiet, Ramona fights sleep as her fear overtakes her.

Every sound in the house scares her, and even the gorilla book on the shelf makes her uneasy. Ramona misses having a room with Beezus so they could share what scares them. When she hears her father arrive home, Ramona finally relaxes in mind and body, and “she went limp with relief” (132). She calls out to her father as he walks past her room and asks him to turn on the light and remove the gorilla book. Finally, after fighting sleep and longing for the end of her turn in the room, Ramona falls asleep.

The next morning, Mrs. Quimby notices Ramona is especially grumpy and asks if she is unwell. Ramona explains she had a bad dream overnight where something was chasing her, but she was stuck in the garden amid all the lovely flowers and could not run away. Beezus says she often has the same dream, which makes Ramona angry because she wants her dream to be unique. Beezus adds that she also has a recurring dream about arriving at school wearing only her underwear, and Ramona thinks to herself that she has also had the same dream. When Ramona arrives at school, she dreads going to her classroom and fantasizes about what it would be like to be in another grade and a different class. As she sits on the stairs and contemplates hiding in the bathroom all day, Mr. Cardoza walks by and stops to smile at her. He tells her he knows she is Ramona Q., and Ramona is delighted that he knows her by her name instead of just as Beezus’s little sister. Buoyed by Mr. Cardoza’s kindness and jovial mood, Ramona feels like she can walk into her classroom.

Chapter 8 Summary: “Ramona Says a Bad Word”

Beezus loves school and her teacher, Mr. Cardoza. Ramona is jealous because Mr. Cardoza lets his students illustrate their spelling words to help them learn. Beezus’s clever drawings earn her an A, and Ramona wishes she could enjoy her classwork just the same. She finds her language lessons boring and uses her extra time to help Davy. The students receive their progress reports, but Ramona has no intention of showing hers to her parents and hides the envelope in a drawer at home. While waiting for her parents to get home, Ramona uses her crayons and paper to make a coloring book. Ramona loves crafts and often uses paper and other supplies around the house to make all sorts of creative items. When Mrs. Quimby arrives home, she is pleased with Ramona’s endeavor though Ramona tells her she is making her coloring book because “you won’t buy me one” (144). Mrs. Quimby replies that it is good for children to be creative on their own and that Ramona takes after her father, who is also good at drawing. Ramona already knows this and knows she is better at drawing and writing than all her classmates.

Making the coloring book calms her nerves, and she forgets about the hidden progress report until Beezus proudly plops hers on the table after dinner. Mr. Quimby reads the report and is happy that Mr. Cardoza finds Beezus a model student. Ramona asks to leave the table, but Mr. Quimby demands she produces her progress report. Ramona says, “Oh…that old thing […]” (146). Ramona agrees to show them if Beezus leaves the room. Mrs. Griggs’s report states that Ramona is excelling in her language and mathematics, but she needs to make improvements in her behavior and self-control. Ramona angrily screams that she does not need to work on self-control. She feels like she is working very hard in class, and Mrs. Griggs does not understand her at all.

As she stomps away, Mr. Quimby asks her not to leave, and Ramona snaps back, proclaiming she will do whatever she wants. Just as her father is about to scold her, Ramona feels like she will explode under the pressure of everything and exclaims to everyone that she will say a bad word. Everyone is silent as Ramona shouts, “Guts!” repeatedly. Instead of being shocked, they all laugh, making Ramona even madder. She collapses on the couch and sobs, claiming that her parents do not love her as they do Beezus. Ramona’s mother assures her that they love them both the same, but Ramona argues that they would not make her return to school if they loved her. Beezus interjects that her parents laughed at funny things she did as a child. Mrs. Quimby explains she did not realize it upset Beezus that they laughed at concepts she did not understand.

Mrs. Cleary tells Ramona that everyone must go to school and that Mrs. Griggs does like her. Beezus says she did not love Mrs. Griggs because her classwork was boring, but she never got into trouble because she followed Mrs. Griggs’s rules. Mrs. Quimby explains that Ramona will not always get along with every teacher, but she must learn to respect their rules and work on controlling herself. Ramona pleads to her father for help, but he tells her to toughen up. Exhausted from her fit, Ramona prepares for bed. She asks her mother to stay with her in her room and asks if guts is a bad word. Mrs. Quimby explains it is not bad, but it is not good either. After her mother leaves, Ramona hears her father singing while he washes the dishes. He sings about his “spunky gal” (160), and Ramona is comforted knowing he is singing about her. Ramona decides not to be frightened by her room any longer and gets out of bed, grabs the gorilla book, tiptoes into the living room, and hides it under a cushion. When she returns to bed, she is not afraid of anything reaching out to grab her and falls peacefully asleep.

Chapter 9 Summary: “Mr. Quimby’s Spunky Gal”

Feeling emboldened by being her father’s “spunky gal” and after a good night’s rest, Ramona feels better about attending school. She is so happy that she decides to take a new route on her walk to school. Leaving Howie behind, Ramona skips off, singing a song and feeling proud of her new oxford shoes that are not hand-me-downs from Beezus. As she turns down a new street, Ramona sees a large dog approaching her. Remembering her dream, Ramona is frozen with fear. Instead of screaming and running away, Ramona sternly commands the dog to go away, but it keeps advancing towards her as it growls. Ramona sees its teeth and hears it snarling, and she thinks of the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

Thinking quickly, she flings her lunch box at the growling wolf-like dog and starts to run, but the dog follows her. Feeling like she is out of options, Ramona throws her shoe at the dog. The dog takes the shoe back to its yard, and Ramona runs to school in her sock, wondering how she will get through the day with one shoe. She worries about what Mrs. Griggs will say, but she is pleased with herself thinking, “I really am brave […]” (170). Ramona barely makes it to class on time and does her best to disguise that she is only wearing one shoe. Susan notices, but Ramona makes her swear not to tell the teacher. Mrs. Griggs says it is time for the pledge and calls on Ramona, who has not yet had a turn to serve as Pledge Leader. Still trying to hide her sock foot, Ramona stands on one leg, but Mrs. Griggs tells her to stand on both feet.

After the pledge, the teacher asks what happened to her shoe, and Ramona tells the harrowing tale of the snarling dog. The class does not laugh and instead listens, captivated as Ramona gives all the details. Mrs. Griggs is also sympathetic and sends a message to the office to call Ramona’s mother, but Ramona tells her she is at work. Mrs. Griggs instead offers to let Ramona borrow boots from the coat closet. Ramona becomes angry because she does not want to wear an old, discarded boot, so she begins formulating a plan.

Ramona uses paper and a stapler to make a slipper and uses the math lesson time to think carefully about how to enact her plan. Knowing Mrs. Griggs will not allow her to use the stapler without asking why, Ramona decides to skip recess and bravely venture up to the sixth-grade floor to ask Mr. Cardoza for his stapler. After collecting paper towels in the bathroom, she creeps up the stairs and opens Mr. Cardoza’s door. Ramona is surprised to see that sixth graders are not as big as she thought. Mr. Cardoza kindly agrees to lend her the stapler, and she works quietly in the hallway to fashion her slipper with the paper towels and staples. When she returns to class, Mrs. Griggs is upset that she skipped recess without telling her, but she is quite impressed with Ramona’s slipper saying, “You have made a very good slipper” (184).

Wearing the bulky paper slipper makes Ramona walk with a slight limp, and she enjoys the added attention from her classmates, but she is overjoyed to finally have a compliment from her teacher. Ramona asks if instead of making a Thanksgiving turkey, she can continue working on her slipper to make it look like a bunny. Mrs. Griggs agrees, and Ramona is so happy that she works extra hard during the math lesson and even raises her hand to participate. Ramona is still worried that her mother will be angry she lost her shoe, but the classroom phone rings, and the front office reports that the dog’s owner returned Ramona’s shoe to the school. In the office, Ramona tells Mrs. Miller, the school secretary, how she fended off the vicious dog with her shoe. Mrs. Miller tells her she is very brave, and Ramona beams as she inspects the teeth marks on her oxford. She hopes her mother will not rush to polish the marks away because she is certain her classmates will see them and think she is the bravest girl in the first grade.

Chapters 7-9 Analysis

Ramona spends her school days in a malaise of detached boredom, and her nights at home are full of unsettled tossing and turning in bed. Her complex bedtime ritual symbolizes Ramona’s attempt to control her environment and her desire to prove to herself and others that she is maturing. Ramona’s increased anxiety when her father is out of the house reveals the depths of her connection to him and how, despite her desire for autonomy, she is still dependent on her parents for physical and emotional safety and security. The terrifying dream represents Ramona’s subconscious fears, and though she still has not expressed her anxiety about sleeping alone, by sharing her dream with her mother and Beezus, Ramona allows herself to relieve some of her emotional burdens. The moment also allows Beezus to empathize with her sister, as she also endures anxious dreams. Ramona feels less alone as she hears her sister share about the underwear nightmare she has also experienced.

Mr. Cardoza symbolizes a child’s first impactful connection with a teacher. He is to Beezus what Miss Binney was for Ramona, and when he encounters her in the hall and calls her by the same name Miss Binney used, Ramona feels seen for the first time in a long while. Mr. Cardoza is a foil to Mrs. Griggs, as he is cheery and affable and actively looks for ways to make learning fun for his students. Later, when Ramona sneaks into his class to borrow the stapler, she overhears part of his language lesson where he uses wordplay to help the student remember how to spell secretary. His kindness to Ramona renews her faith in adults and the power of teachers to inspire. It gives her the courage to confidently walk back into her class and keep trying to succeed in first grade.

The report card incident represents Ramona’s emotional rock bottom because it is a visible representation of her perceived failure in Mrs. Griggs’s class. The narrative reaches its emotional climax as Ramona dissolves into one of her fits, reminiscent of earlier versions of her toddler self, and reveals her deepest fear to her parents. Being the youngest child comes with many annoyances, such as having to wear her sister’s hand-me-down clothes; however, Ramona’s greatest struggle has been worrying that her parents love Beezus more. The admission gives Mrs. Quimby a chance to lovingly reassure her daughter of the equality of their love for both their daughters. Moreover, the moment encourages Beezus to admit that she does not like when her parents laugh at her. Beezus’s mediation is a gesture to help Ramona, but in airing her grievance, she forces her mother to realize how they hurt their children by laughing at them. Cleary displays a moment where not only are children learning, but their parents are also learning and growing along with them. Beezus’s feelings about Mrs. Griggs are also telling, as they justify some of Ramona’s frustrations with her classroom experience. Through this poignant moment of familial love and attention, Cleary demonstrates the importance of acknowledging the painful experiences of children and validating their feelings, no matter how hyperbolic they may seem to adults.

After worrying throughout the entire narrative about whether she is brave or not, Ramona demonstrates immense bravery when faced with the ferocious dog. The previous night, Ramona bravely decides to release her fear of the dark, thus allowing her to sleep peacefully for the first time in a while. Fueled by renewed physical and emotional energy, Ramona can think quickly and clearly to fend off a possible attack from the menacing dog. Ironically, she barely recognizes her act as brave and is more concerned with trying to conceal her shoeless foot. The dog incident adds an element of suspense and adventure to the narrative but also serves as a turning point for the protagonist.

After spending weeks fearful of an image of a gorilla in a book, Ramon is faced with a real threat to which she responds with courage and the spunky nature with which her father imbued her. When Ramona shares the dog story with her class, the moment parallels the earlier Show and Tell incident; however, her classmates do not laugh at her this time. Instead, they rally around her, sympathetic to the universal fear of threatening dogs shared by many kids. Now faced with another predicament—her missing shoe—Ramona uses her creativity to solve her problem. Most importantly, Ramona receives validation from her teacher. Building the slipper gives Ramona a sense of pride but also represents her stubbornness and Cleary’s attention to leaving Ramona’s personality intact. Finally, when Ramona retrieves her lost shoe, she is given another opportunity to share the story with the secretary and receive praise from another adult. Cleary uses the word scars twice in the final scene, solidifying the teeth marks on the shoe as a symbol of all Ramona has endured. She emerges from her experiences bearing some emotional wounds from her trials but is better for it. Most importantly, Ramona emerges not braver but knowing she was brave all along.