THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS: FREE ONLINE STUDY GUIDE


RISING ACTION

The rising action begins when Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena all swear an oath on the Traveling Pants to wear them with confidence and to never lose sight of the value of friendship. It continues as each girl has different, varied experiences from which they learn all about life and then are ready to bring home to their friends what they have learned. Each has a different climax to their experiences that lead up to the falling action: Carmen goes to her father’s wedding; Tibby faces the deaths of Bailey and Mimi; Bridget finds love and support from Lena; and Lena offers her heart to Kostos.

FALLING ACTION

The falling action involves their return to Gilda’s, the empty gym where they mothers had first met when they were all pregnant. There they bring back the Pants and all of them write their experiences on them to be remembered forever. Carmen says that there at Gilda’s they didn’t have time to relate the depth of their experiences, but that with time and the next school year, all the small, precious nuances of their time apart will come out and be explored together.

POINT OF VIEW

The point of view is first person in the Prologue and the Epilogue as Carmen introduces the reader to the events that are about to take place, speaking in flashback, and then summarizes what happened to them and the renewal of the friendship at Gilda’s. The remainder of the novel is told in the omniscient third person point of view. All parts are told in the past tense.

OTHER ELEMENTS

FORESHADOWING

There are several other literary devices that pop up at various times in the story. One of the most prevalent ones is foreshadowing which frequently presents clues of something that will happen later in the novel. Some examples of foreshadowing include:

1.) Carmen wrote Tibby a letter about how badly she felt that she was taking a trip that was so exciting and new, while Tibby was home in her same haunts. It foreshadows that her expectations won’t meet the reality she will face.

2.) Carmen began to receive clues that perhaps things weren’t as she expected with her. First, he had traded in his Saab for a station wagon, an odd vehicle for a single man, and then, he was reluctant to talk about his place. Finally, he pulled up in front of a large Victorian house in a suburban neighborhood and told her that it was home. He told her that he hadn’t mentioned he’d moved, because he wanted to explain all the big stuff in his life in persons

3.) Bridget is discouraged from falling in love with beautiful Eric, but is determined to have him. There is a sense of foreshadowing here that both are going to be disappointed at the outcome of their “romantic” summer.

4.) She spoke to Eric about her dad being from Amsterdam, but stopped short of saying much about her mother, something that had been true from the beginning of the story. She doesn’t want to admit that her mother committed suicide.

5.) Bridget exclaimed that she was in love and that Eric was 100% off limits. She admitted, though, that wouldn’t stop her.

6.) Bee told Eric that she didn’t care about the rules he was following, but he insisted that he didn’t have a choice about them. This foreshadows their coming intimacy.

7.) The psychiatrist had said that Bridget was single-minded in achieving her goals to the point of recklessness. This foreshadows how she will pursue Eric until he capitulates.

8.) Bridget called Tibby from Baja, but got the maid, Loretta, who couldn’t speak English very well. The conversation didn’t go very well and Bridget obviously had no one to help her work out her problem. This foreshadows that she will make choices without common sense advice.

9.) Bee wondered if she were a feral creature. This foreshadows how she “stalks” Eric.

10.) Lena had to turn over to hide her tears after her grandmother told her why Kostos had come to live with his grandparents. She realized how sad it was that people like Kostos and Bee, who had lost everything, were still open to love while she, who had lost nothing, was not. This foreshadows how Bee will continue to lose, but she will finally open herself to love.

11.) Carmen had told Bee that “Good sense rules!” It was advice that Carmen also needed to hear about herself. This foreshadows how Carmen will forget her own advice in how she handles her feelings about her father and his new family.

12.) Tibby thought the guinea pig’s life was progressing so much faster that her own. This foreshadows the animal’s death.

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