Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

At the heart of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the friendship between Carmen, Tibby, Lena, and Bridget. As they experience the highs and lows of growing up during their first summer apart, their friendship anchors them, providing a source of comfort and a catalyst for personal growth. Brashares explores the important role their bond plays in helping them to establish and develop their individual identities.

In the Prologue, Carmen says that the four friends sometimes feel like “one single complete person rather than four separate entities” (10). This speaks to the way in which friends, particularly in adolescence, sometimes feel bonded at the expense of their own individuality. Except for Carmen, each girl knows her role in the collective organism of their friendship: “Bridget the athlete, Lena the beauty, Tibby the rebel” (10). When they scatter to different parts of the world, they lose these easy identity markers. A major part of maturity involves the development of identity and individuality, as both are necessary to live in an adult world free of the structure of school and heavy familial influence.

Brashares does not suggest that this close of an adolescent friendship is something to grow out of or change, but rather with which to mature.