Carmen

Character Analysis

Readers, meet the Leader of the Pack. The self-appointed Leader of the Pack, that is. 

Carmen buys the Pants and says she's the one who cares the most that they stay together. And because Carmen opens and closes the book as a first person narrator—she's the only girl to do so—we feel like we know her way better than the other girls. After all, she lets us in her head. 

She's Got a Big Butt and She Cannot Lie

Carmen's the only Hispanic girl in the otherwise all-white Sisterhood, but more notably for the book, she's got a fuller figure and more, shall we say… booty, than her "little-assed" (1.90) friends. As she puts it, she's the "queen of the butts" (1.84). Even though Carmen worries the Pants won't fit over her large behind, though, they do. 

And not only that, but she rocks 'em. 

Even though she looks great in the Pants, Carmen's shapely figure is a sore subject. She gets her looks from her mother's side of the family, and she really doesn't look like her father at all, which puts her on the defensive. When Krista comments that Carmen doesn't look like she imagined, Carmen snaps, "My mother is Puerto Rican. As in Hispanic. My dad might not have mentioned that" (6.46). 

Ouch. 

This is one of the many reasons why Carmen feels estranged from Albert. 

So while her figure and her Hispanic heritage both make Carmen unique amongst her friends, they also remind her of how little she and her dad have in common.   

Don't Cross Her 

To say this girl has a temper is an understatement—Carmen hates change and gets really annoyed when life doesn't go as planned. It seems like these could be leftover feelings from her parents' divorce, but we're not certain. One thing's for sure, though: Carmen thrives on predictability, and she finds organization "reassuring" (2.66). So while anyone would be upset to discover their dad pretty much has a secret family, Carmen completely flips when she learns about her dad's. Carmen just can't get down with such a life changing surprise. 

Anger is fine when it is directed at the right person, but Carmen refuses to tell her father she is mad at him, so everyone else suffers her wrath instead. She tries to get her soon to be step-brother Paul's girlfriend jealous "just to be devious" (7.111), though Skeletor—as Carmen calls her—never does anything to her. Meanwhile, she tells her soon to be step-mother she "should wear long sleeves" (13.30) to hide her underarm fat, and for the grand finale to her rage-fueled run, Carmen throws two rocks through her father's dining room window. 

Sucks to be Paul's girlfriend… or Lydia… or the window panes while Carmen's mad at her dad. 

A Guilty Conscience 

Carmen feels guilty because she can't control her temper—it's a weird feeling and she doesn't like it. Her temper makes her act irrationally, like she is unconnected to her body, and it's almost as if she has two totally different personalities. There is the rational Carmen, and then there is the "evil twin, the bad Carmen" (15. 27). Carmen doesn't want to be so bitter and angry, and she feels awful about the pain she inflicts on others. 

You would think that Carmen's Catholic upbringing would help her through this—people often turn to God in their times of need, after all—but it actually makes her feel worse. Carmen doesn't practice her religion like her mother does, and she only prays to God when she needs something, a practice she's uncomfortable with and that compounds her guilt. Maybe if she prayed more often "God would like her again" (15.25). But God only likes good people, right? And according to Carmen, "she wasn't one of them" (15.25). Man, this girl is hard on herself. 

Even when Carmen is happy, she still hangs on to guilt. At her father's wedding, Carmen finds a moment of happiness with her father and his new family, but the taped broken window brings pangs of regret, so she feels "ashamed and happy at the same time" (23.22). We're all for developing a critical relationship with yourself in order to be the best person you can be, but Carmen needs to learn to practice a bit of forgiveness. After all, when it comes to the window, by the day of the wedding everyone else has moved on to better things… except for Carmen. 

Eureka Moment

Carmen is quite surprised when Paul tells her, "You antagonize people" (13.31). A little put off by this comment, Carmen is forced to take a hard look at herself—could she be partly to blame for the distance with her father? Huh. Go figure. 

A little while later, Bailey interviews Carmen at Tibby's house, and when she does, she asks a lot of questions about Carmen's family—and then she tells Carmen it's okay if she's mad at her father. Who wouldn't be, right? Instantly, Carmen feels a bit relieved—for once, she can actually tell the truth about her feelings. 

Interestingly, Paul and Bailey both don't know Carmen very well—yet they easily see that she is filled with tons of angst and, without knowing it, challenge her to reevaluate her actions and feelings. Help and guidance can come from the most unlikely places, which is good for Carmen since she definitely needs it, but her friends are away for the summer. 

Carmen and the Pants 

When Carmen first gets the Pants in South Carolina, she's not in a good spot—she's ticked off and downright nasty most of the time, and as she makes stupid mistakes, the Pants are right there with her. You know how the pants magically fit each of her and her friends so perfectly? Well, so much for magic—"even in the Pants she was invisible" (14.76). After breaking her father's window, she sends the Pants to Bridget along with this wish: "I hope they bring you good sense" (15.37). They didn't for Carmen, that's for sure. 

Though the Pants weren't magical during her first go-round with them, Carmen and the Pants get another shot to make magic happen together. And on this second turn with the Pants, Carmen gets the courage to attend her father's wedding. The Pants remind her that she is a good person, and it's like the Pants "loved her" (22.57). 

Feeling this love, Carmen is free from anger, and shares in her father's happiness. She becomes willing to accept her new family and "couldn't help feeling impressed by Lydia letting her fairy-tale wedding pictures be mucked up by a dark-skinned girl in a pair of blue jeans" (23.9). Hey, Carmen—stop projecting your self-loathing onto Lydia, okay? She's been nothing but nice to you all along, and the only thing different about the wedding day is that you let yourself feel it. 

When Carmen is done with the Pants, she sends them to Lena, and writes: "I hope these Pants bring you as much happiness as they brought me today" (23.23). To be clear, the Pants brought more happiness than Carmen thought possible. 

Carmen the Storyteller

Carmen, as the first person narrator, begins the book by stating, "Once upon a time there was a pair of pants" (Prologue.1). You think she is going to tell us a story but she doesn't—basically, Carmen just reflects on the Pants as a symbol in the girls' lives. She talks about the "beautiful complexity of the colors and seams" (Prologue.4). Say what? This prologue is pretty deep, and we definitely get the feeling that since Carmen begins the book as a narrator, she is the leader of the group, and a pretty bright leader at that. 

The book ends as it begins, with Carmen taking the narration reigns once more; again she reflects upon the significance of the Pants. She notices the girls feel "strange to one another" but they also find "comfort in the Pants" (Epilogue.8). The tone in Carmen's voice reveals wisdom and growth, and she assures us that despite the obstacles and changes, the Sisterhood remains intact. With Carmen leading the pack, we don't doubt the Sisterhood at all.