Friendship

Of all the themes inherent in the book, the theme of Friendship is the overriding theme. Though they value their friendship at the beginning of the novel, a more mature outlook towards it begins to develop when they spend their first summer apart since their birth. Their understanding of how powerful true friendship can be emerges throughout the entirety of the novel.

Carmen, when she arrives in South Carolina, to find that her father has adopted an entirely new family, immediately reaches out to her friends. She also finds that it is difficult being without them, and for the first time realizes how much all of them leaned on each other. The girls provide a sounding board for Carmen, who is the deep thinker of the group. Without them around, she bottles up her feelings which leads to the volatile confrontation and the breaking of the...