51 pages • 1 hour read
Ann BrasharesSisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
Tibby’s shift at Wallman’s is interrupted by a commotion; running over to investigate, she sees a young girl named Bailey Graffman lying unconscious on the floor. Tibby yells for someone to call an ambulance and checks Bailey’s wallet for further information. When EMTs arrive, Tibby surprises herself by asking if she can come along to the hospital. In the ambulance, she holds Bailey’s hand.
Over dinner with her family, Carmen struggles to suppress her anger. Krista says that Carmen looks different than she imagined, and Carmen snaps back, asking if Krista is surprised that she is Puerto Rican. She leaves the table to call her mother. On the phone, Carmen sobs, insisting that she hates her father’s new family, and they hate her. Carmen’s mother asks if she is mad at her father, but Carmen denies it.
Bridget joins a run led by Eric. She keeps pace with him throughout, and they flirt with each other until Eric asks about her parents. Bridget reluctantly tells him that her mother is dead. The two of them finish the run ahead of the group and end up alone together on a small beach, where they go swimming.
Chapter 7 Summary
Lena eats breakfast in silence with her grandfather. She frets over her awkwardness and her inability to speak to him in Greek, wondering if he is disappointed in her. Looking at him, she recognizes her own nose on his face.
Lena plans to head down to the harbor and paint the boathouse, but is intercepted by Kostos, who is also headed to the harbor. Lena changes her plan and heads uphill to avoid him.
At Wallman’s, Tibby realizes that she still has Bailey’s wallet. She finds the Graffmans’ address and bikes over to their house. Bailey’s mother answers the door and directs Tibby upstairs to Bailey’s room, where she’s lying in bed. Bailey accuses Tibby of stealing money out of the wallet. The two get into an argument that is interrupted by Mrs. Graffman telling Bailey it’s time to take her medicine. When Tibby goes downstairs to retrieve the pills, Mrs. Graffman tells her that Bailey has leukemia. Tibby returns to Bailey’s room, determined to be nicer to her. Bailey notices her change in attitude and guesses that Tibby knows about her illness. Upset, she sends Tibby away.
At her father’s request, Carmen attends a party with Krista and Paul. She stands by herself, feeling like “an unforgivable loser” (65) among the other teenagers. Paul introduces Carmen to his girlfriend, Kelly. Carmen can tell that Kelly is threatened by her and provokes her further by flirting with Paul.
Chapter 8 Summary
Over dinner, Tibby helps her mother feed her little siblings. Her father is staying late at work, a habit that’s become the norm since he was hired at a prestigious law firm. In his absence, Tibby’s mother expects her to co-parent her sister and brother. Tibby fondly recalls the days when her father worked a series of low-paying jobs that allowed him plenty of time to spend with his family. She wants to tell her mother about Bailey, but she is too distracted.
Over lunch in the camp canteen, Bridget spots Eric eating with his fellow coaches. Her friends tease her about her crush. Wanting to impress them, she walks over to Eric and leans in close to ask him about an upcoming scrimmage.
Determined to make her final day with the pants count, Lena wanders up a nearby cliff, where she finds an olive grove with a small pond in the middle. She sets up to paint, but when she grows overheated, she strips and wades into the pond. Hearing a rustle in the trees nearby, she jumps out of the water naked and finds herself face-to-face with Kostos. Lena furiously accuses Kostos of spying on her. She throws her clothes back on haphazardly and runs home. When her grandmother greets her at the door and asks what’s wrong, Lena shouts that Kostos “is not a nice boy” (72) before storming up to her room.
Chapter 9 Summary
Carmen prepares for a tennis game with her father, eager to finally spend some alone time with him. As she waits, she watches Krista struggling with her algebra homework. Carmen, who loves math, doesn’t offer assistance. She admits to herself that if Krista weren’t her new stepsister, she would have helped.
Bailey shows up during Tibby’s next shift at Wallman’s to thank her. She invites Tibby out for ice cream after her shift. Tibby reluctantly agrees but soon finds herself enjoying her conversation with Bailey. They discuss the “suckumentary,” and Bailey seems genuinely interested. When Tucker enters the ice cream parlor, Bailey quickly intuits that Tibby has a crush on him and asks what she likes about him beyond his looks. Tibby is unable to answer.
Bridget convinces Diana and Ollie to sneak into a bar in the nearby city of Mulegé, knowing that Eric will likely be there. At the bar, she and Eric dance together, growing closer until Eric abruptly pushes her away and says, “we can’t do this” (79).
From her room, Lena hears Bapi’s raised voice. Rushing downstairs, she witnesses him storming over to the Dounas house and demanding to see Kostos. When Kostos appears in the doorway, Bapi Kaligaris lunges at him, but is intercepted by Bapi Dounas. Bapi Kaligaris punches Bapi Dounas in the nose, and the two old men start fist fighting before Kostos forces them apart.
Chapter 10 Summary
On the way to tennis practice, Carmen and her father discuss the upcoming wedding. He tells her that Lydia’s dream wedding to her first husband never happened because her mother died suddenly before the ceremony. He also shares that Lydia’s first husband abuses alcohol and is currently in a rehab facility. Carmen feels guilty for her anger toward Lydia, Paul, and Krista, realizing how grateful they must be for her “solid, kind, functional dad” (83). She vows to be kinder to them, but when her father asks if they can stop in at Paul’s soccer game her anger returns.
At the scrimmage, Bridget shows off on the field, hoping to impress Eric. She hogs the ball and refuses to pass to her teammates, angering her coach, Molly. Afterward, she is ashamed and wonders why she can’t tone down her energy.
At Paul’s game, Carmen sulks while Al watches on with pride. As they prepare to leave for the tennis courts, Lydia shows up in tears: The wedding venue has overbooked, and they will need to find a new place. Apologizing to Carmen, Al reschedules their tennis game. Carmen plays with Paul instead.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
In this section of the novel, Brashares establishes the central challenge that each girl will face over the summer and explores how these challenges are exacerbated by their separation. Each character relies on the others for guidance and support. Without her friends there to listen to her, Carmen struggles to express her disappointment and frustration at her father in a productive way, furthering The Complexity of Familial Relationships. Her father is the one who blindsided Carmen by not telling her about his new relationship, but Lydia, Paul, and Krista bear the brunt of her anger. Carmen needs to be reassured that her father still loves and cares for her but worries that expressing any negativity toward him will jeopardize their relationship. Though she plainly loves her father and values his approval, she’s not comfortable enough in their relationship to speak up.
Lena faces a similar struggle to communicate with her family. Among her friends, Lena feels seen and loved for her whole self, beyond her physical appearance. Without them, she feels misunderstood and retreats further into herself. She feels ashamed of still being “her usual lame self” (70) in an exciting new place but continues her habit of avoiding risks at all costs.
Lena’s inability to express herself clearly leads to a serious misunderstanding between Kostos and her grandparents, and her reticence to do or say anything uncomfortable stops her from clarifying that Kostos did not assault her. Even when the situation spirals into violence, Lena can’t bring herself to clear up the misunderstanding. Her timidity, in this case, harms those around her as she finds herself voiceless to express the truth.
Conversely, Bridget makes increasingly reckless decisions without her friends around. She plays selfishly in scrimmages and escalates her flirtation with Eric to a physical level. She recognizes her own habit of taking things too far, but can’t suppress it, wondering, “why [it’s] so hard for her to make herself stop” (85). Bridget’s camp friends don’t know about her tendency to act without thinking of the consequences, so they encourage her connection with the handsome, off-limits Eric. The fact that she lies about her age shows that she understands that their flirtation is taboo, but she fails to anticipate the potential consequences of pushing it further.
It's important to note that it’s normal for adolescents like Bridget to explore love and sexuality. A crush on a handsome, older authority figure is nothing out of the ordinary for a 15-year-old. As the adult in the situation, Eric holds the responsibility of setting hard boundaries with Bridget. He fails to do so, instead sending her mixed signals that further encourage her pursuit.
Tibby’s blossoming friendship with Bailey reveals a gentler, more compassionate side of her character. Her decision to ride in the ambulance with Bailey is entirely selfless. Though Tibby initially dismisses Bailey as an annoying little kid, she’s surprised to find that they get along well and have a lot to talk about. Bailey encourages Tibby to question her surface-level judgements of others when she presses Tibby to explain why she likes Tucker Rowe. Tibby is unable to explain her attraction and second-guesses her appraisal of his character. This interaction foreshadows how Tibby’s friendship with Bailey will catalyze her growth into a less judgmental person.
