Amorette Beatty

12-1-04

Mary Warner

English 112B

 

Literature about Friendship:

Recognition of one of Life�s most Important Relationships

 

As children grow, develop, and move into early adolescence, involvement with one's peers and the attraction of peer identification increases. As adolescents begin rapid physical, emotional and social changes, they begin to question adult standards and the need for parental guidance. Young adults are more likely to be open with their friends, discussing such issues as dating, sexuality, personal experiences, and common interests (Cole and Cole). They find it reassuring to turn for advice to friends who understand and sympathize with their problems because their friends are in the same position and often dealing with similar quandaries.

At adolescence, peer relations expand to occupy a particularly central role in young people's lives. Peers typically replace the family as the center of a young person's socializing and leisure activities. There is an increase in distance in the parent child relationship, and although there is still affection in the family, adolescents form new relationships outside the family. These new interpersonal relationships are formed with peers. Adolescents have a tremendous influence on each other, spending most of their free time with peers. Peers replace parents by providing emotional support for their friends until they achieve greater autonomy. Adolescents spend an abundance of time together, socializing amidst leisure activities, because they understand one another and share similar beliefs and interests (Cole and Cole).

One of the most available resources regarding the various types of friendship that exist amongst adolescents is young adult literature. As friends become a primary source of information and an influential presence, literature can be used to help adolescence distinguish between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Through stories, teachers can explain different peer groups, such as cliques and gangs, and various roles, such as leaders and conformists. As teenagers attempt to find out which group they fit into and where they feel most comfortable, literature can reveal friendships that exist under many different circumstances and between varieties of diverse individuals. Young adult literature �extends the peer group, giving teenagers a chance to participate vicariously in many more personal relationships that are possible for most youngsters in the relatively short time that they spend in high school� (Donelson & Nilsen 123).

To encourage teenagers to think about their personal relationships with friends, I suggest a curriculum built on various types of young adult literature and popular media. These resources can be used to explore a range of different friendships that are present in the lives of young adults. The curriculum focus is designed to encourage student awareness of both positive and negative issues related to peer friendship. The resources used to demonstrate both sides of this spectrum are books, stories, poems, quotations, and movies.

This unit plan suggests ideas that best apply to the eighth and ninth grade levels. Students of this age are settling into peer groups and forming meaningful

friendships. The foundation novel is The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Anne Brashares. According to Random House, Inc., this novel has an eighth grade readability and appeals to the interest level of students in seventh to twelfth grade. The main characters in the story are 15 years old and accurately portray many issues that are common to this age group.

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants is a novel about four friends, Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bridget who are everything to one another. At times it seems that because they are so close, they form one complete person rather than four individuals. Carmen is the introspective one, who recognizes the importance of their friendship and cares the most about keeping them together. Tibby is the rebel, who does not respond well to authority figures. Lena is the beauty, who is artistic and soft spoken. Bridget is the athlete, who loves challenges and is single-minded when it comes to reaching her goals. The sisterhood is formed when a pair of old jeans that Carmen bought in a thrift shop resurfaces the day before they all go their separate ways for the summer. Even though the girls are shaped differently, the pants fit each of them perfectly. Together, they decide the pants are magical and declare that the pants belong to each of them equally. The girls spend the summer discovering things about themselves and overcoming personal struggles. The pants travel to all the places they are and keep them together even when they are far apart.

Brashares� novel is a depiction of enduring and strong friendship and will help

young adult readers to appreciate one of life�s most important relationships. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is filled with vibrant descriptions of love and

companionship. The characters will remind young adults that good friends are not only a strong support system, but are prominent influences in many important aspects of life.

Launching the Unit

            Before reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and discussing the novel with your students, use one or more of the following educational exercises to introduce the concept of friendship.

1. Make a list of quotations regarding friendship and have students choose their favorite one and write an explanation of its meaning. Use their analysis of the quotation to initiate discussion about the importance of friendship. Have students read the quote they selected aloud to the classmates and explain how they interpreted it, allowing other students to add their opinions.

Quotations (Applewhite, Evans & Frothingham):

 

"Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art."
- Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616) Spanish novelist.

 

"Have no friends not equal to yourself."
- Confucious (551 - 497 BC) Chinese philosopher.

 

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) US poet & essayist.

 

"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice."
- Samuel Johnston (1709 - 1784) British lexicographer

 

"I can never think of promoting my convenience at the expense of a friend's interest and inclination."
- George Washington (1732 - 1799) US Statesman

 

"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant."
- Socrates, Greek Philosopher

 

"Friendship with oneself is all-important because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

 

"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with."
- Mark Twain

 

"The best mirror is an old friend."
- George Herbert

 

"What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies."
- Aristotle

 

"My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."
- Henry Ford

 

"Friendship that flows from the heart cannot be frozen by adversity, as the water that flows from the spring cannot congeal in winter."
- James Fenimore Cooper

 

"Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed."
- Cicero

 

"All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand."
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

 

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
- Helen Keller

 

"Be slow in choosing your friends; slower in changing."
-Benjamin Franklin

 

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

 

2. Play the song �Friends� by Joe Aziz. After the song is finished discuss how the lyrics describe friendship. Visually display the lyrics and have students explain how friendship is portrayed in the different verses. Next, have students write their own verse about what friendship means to them personally, ending their verse like the original song, with �A friend to you I'll always be. A friend to you I'll always be.� Collect the verses and combine them to make a class song about friendship.  

Friends
� Joe Aziz

Verse 1:
What are friends,
I've often wondered.
Friends have come,
And Friends have gone.
Seldom do I hear their voices,
Like old forgotten songs.
I've walked a thousand lonely miles,
And often wondered, "What went wrong?"
But I've got to make you see;
A friend to you I'll always be.
A friend to you I'll always be.

Verse 3:
A friend is not the fancy car,
In which you ride around.
A friend is not the little pill,
That makes you head spin round and round.
A friend is not the needle,
That creates the clouds,
On which you fly.
It's not the smoke that makes you high,
But a hand that's always by,
To wipe the tears from your eyes,
Should the world make you cry.
And I've got to make you see,
Our friendship grows like a tree;
A friend to you I'll always be.
A friend to you I'll always be.

Verse 2:
A friend is not a thing to trade,
Not to be bought, nor to be sold;
Not the ring upon your fingers.
It's not the bills which you fold,
Not the coins your pocket holds.
A friend is young, A friend is old.
And I've got to make you see,
A friend is true, a friend is free;
A friend to you I'll always be.
A friend to you I'll always be.

Verse 4:
What are friends,
I've often wondered,
Now you've disappeared,
Fading into the collection,
Of songs I seldom hear,
I'll walk another lonely mile,
And let the tears fall like the rain,
Till another calls me friend,
Then I'll say these words again;
A friend to you, I'll always be.
A friend to you I'll always be.

 

This activity can help students think about their own personal relationships with their peers and determine if their friends fit the expectations the student has regarding what friendship is, as well as if the student himself is treating his friends according to his expectations.

3. Questions that can be discussed during class as a large group or in several smaller groups, or questions for students to write about in their journals.

            a. What makes a good friend? Do you consider yourself to be a good friend? Why or why not? How can you become a better friend?

 

            b. Write about your best friend. Explain why you are best friends, including your similarities and differences. When did you meet? How long have you been friends? What are some activities you participate in together?

 

            c. Do you think it is better to have one or two very treasured friends or a large group of satisfactory friends?

 

 

The Central Focus

 

            Read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as a class, allowing students to take turns reading aloud. The novel should be completed within a week, if three to four chapters are read each day. Teachers can also assign chapters to be read as homework. After the class has finished reading a portion of the novel each day, teachers might ask the students to write a short response to what they read, concerning a specific character or event. Also, epigraphs (short quotations) from a variety of sources; song lyrics, remarks by real-life personalities, fictitious sayings by the novel�s characters, are found at the beginning of each chapter. Call attention to the epigraphs that are read during each class and discuss how each relates to the individual chapter it introduced, and to the novel as a whole.

            After the novel is completed, break up the class into small reading groups and present each group with two or three discussion questions concerning different aspects of the book. When all the questions have been discussed in the small groups, ask if anyone would like to share their thoughts with the entire class.

 Sample discussion questions (www.randonhouse.com/teachers):

1. The novel opens and closes with a first-person narrative by Carmen. Why do you think the author selected this character to frame the story? If you could change it, would you select another character, and if so, what would he or she say? Or do you think Carmen�s is the best viewpoint to begin and end the novel?

2. �For some reason our lives were marked by summers. . . . Summer was the time when our lives joined completely, when we all had our birthdays, when really important things happened� (p. 5). What is the significance of the Sisterhood�s first summer apart? Why is it so important that the four friends have individual adventures? Do you think they would have remained close if the Pants had not been a part of their lives?

3. Carmen�s discovery of a new blond stepfamily comes as quite a shock. How could her father have better handled this news? Would it have made a difference to Carmen?

4. Lena is described as quite beautiful. How do you think this affects her friendships? Have you ever been friends with someone who is noticeably more or less attractive than you are? How did it make you feel?

5. Bridget feels powerful as she pursues Eric, but her actions leave her fragile and uncertain. Do you think that by the end of the story, Bridget is able to take back some of her power? Why or why not? What role do you think Bridget�s friends will play in her recovery?

6. In the novel, the Pants take on a life of their own. Each of the girls in turn feels loved and comforted by them, as if the Pants were a creature or a person. Do you believe that the Pants are really looking out for the girls? Or is what the girls sense a manifestation of their own emotions? Or is it some combination of the two?

7. Each of the girls is very different from her friends and has widely ranging talents: Lena is a painter, Tibby is a filmmaker, and Bridget is an athlete. But their talents don�t define them as much as send them off in different directions. Carmen is more of a mystery; what would you say her talents are and where do they take her in the novel?

8. If you were given the Pants, what rule governing their use would be the hardest for you to keep? Rule 10 is �Remember: Pants = love. Love your pals. Love yourself� (p. 25). How is this rule observed by each member of the Sisterhood in the story? How is it broken?

9. In the epilogue (p. 293), Carmen says, �What happened in front of my friends felt real. What happened to me by myself felt partly dreamed, partly imagined, definitely shifted and warped by my own fears and wants.� Have you ever felt that way? How does it feel to see yourself reflected in other people?

10. What does Carmen mean when she says that she, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget are the real Septembers (p. 7)? What is it about their friendship that convinces Carmen they won�t drift apart the way their mothers did? Fast-forward ten years . . . do you think the Sisterhood will still be inseparable? What are the bonds that will help their friendship endure? Will the Pants still fit them? If not, will it matter?

            After the discussion is finished, return to the questions the students were asked to answer before reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Relate the questions to the four friends in the novel and compare the students personal responses about friendship to the relationship Lena, Tibby, Carmen and Bridget have with each other. Do the students share similar ideas with the four characters about the qualities of a good friend? Are there examples of different types of friendship in the novel? Do any unlikely friendships surface throughout the novel?

Assign one or both of the following writing assignments to help students work with different aspects of the novel:

1.     Have students pick which of the four girls they are most similar to and explain why. Do you share similar personalities, appearances, likes and dislikes, family situations or is there some other way you can relate to a specific character? Then ask if students would rather be friends with someone who is similar to themselves or with someone who is different from them? What would be the positive and negative aspects of each situation?

2.     The novel takes place in four different settings; Baja California, Greece, South Carolina, and Maryland. By the end of the book, each of the girls has had a revelation that has a lot to do with where she has been. Have your students answer the following questions:

a.     If you could spend a summer in one of these places, which would you choose?

b.     If you could spend a summer anywhere in the world, where would you go?

c.     Would you want your friends with you or would you rather travel solo?

Another way to reinforce themes found in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, such as using ones friends as a support system, confronting friends about difficult topics and loving someone unconditionally, is to show the 1996 movie, Now and Then, starring Christina Ricci, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, and Thora Birch. This movie is about four childhood best friends who make a promise to always be there for one another. The friends are reunited as adults and reminisce about the summers they spent together. Have students compare the four friends in the movie to the four friends in the novel. Do the friends in the movie have similar experiences to those in the novel? Which character in the movie is most like Tibby? Bridget? Carmen? Lena? How are they similar? This activity will reinforce the importance of friendship by providing students with another example of a healthy relationship among a group of friends.

A movie that can be shown to students in addition to, or instead of Now and Then, is the 1946 movie It�s a Wonderful Life, which stars James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. In this movie the character George Bailey sees what the world would have been like had he not been born. Author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares has said that in her novel the character of Bailey was inspired by this film. Both George Bailey and Tibby experience life altering events. Have students discuss similarities between the two characters and the situations they were placed in. What lessons from the movie did Brashares incorporate into her novel? How would Tibby�s life have been different if she had not met Bailey? This movie also displays qualities that are often described as necessities to a good friendship. Have students recall different aspects of friendship seen throughout the film.

A final activity that coincides with Brashares novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is to bring a pair of old jeans to class and on them have students write what they feel is the most important aspect of friendship. Together the class can create their own pair of magical pants which can be displayed to remind every student to be a good friend.

Extending the Unit

In order to introduce many more Young Adult texts containing stories of friendship, present the following novels to the class and have each student present a booktalk. �A booktalk is a short introduction to a book, which usually includes one or two paragraphs read from the book� (Donelson and Nilsen 307). In order for students make a more informed decision on which novel they would like to read and present, you can have the class participate in a Book Pass Activity. �This involves providing copies of the novels and having students spend five minuets with a book before passing it on to the next reviewer� (Warner 12). The novel should be read at home and each should in some way encompass the theme of friendship.

 

Young Adult Literary Selection

1.     The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton: This is a gritty, poignant, and realistic look at slum life in the 1960's through the experiences of an intelligent, sensitive, impoverished teenager and his friends. Pony Boy endures painful trials, which threaten to harden him and strip him of his innocence. In the end, with the help of his friends his true, yet more mature, self emerges. (www.albany.edu/yabooks.html)

2.     Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli: When Stargirl arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and music, the student body is enchanted�at first. Then, suddenly, they shun her for everything that makes her different. In this celebration of nonconformity, Spinelli weaves an inspiration and emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of friendship. (www.sisterhoodcentral.com)

3.     Girls in Love by Jacqueline Wilson: Ellie�s starting ninth grade, and she�s got some very definite goals. She�ll stay best friends with Magda and Nadine. She�ll go on a diet and stick to it. She�ll get a glamorous hairstyle. And she�ll get a boyfriend. Even if she has to settle for one who likes her more than she likes him. (www.sisterhoodcentral.com)

4.     The Catalogue of the Universe by Margaret Mahy: Angela is determined to track down the father she never knew, and her best friend Tycho is just the guy to help her, but the search for Angela's father stretches and alters Angela and Tycho's friendship in surprising ways. (www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html)

5.     Darnell Rock Reporting by Walter Dean Myers: 13-year-old Darnell Rock always seems to get into trouble. When the principal offers Darnell a chance to write for the school newspaper, he wants to say no. Then Darnell writes his first article for the paper and suddenly other kids seem to care what he has to say. (www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html)

6.     I Hadn't Meant To Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson: Two girls: one white, one black; one abused, one protected, both missing their mothers. An unlikely friendship ignites between the two, and, in sharing their differences, both of their lives are transformed. Jacqueline Woodson won a Coretta Scott King Honor for this moving, tightly written tale of friendship, racism, and loss. (www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html)

7.     Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff: Seventeen-year-old Jolly is a single mom working a minimum-wage job to support her two kids. LaVaughn is a high school freshman determined to get into college and get a good job once she's through. To start earning money for college LaVaughn answers Jolly's ad: BABYSITTER NEEDED BAD. LaVaughn finds that what Jolly needs most is a friend. (www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html)

8.     Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep by Lurlene McDaniel: Carrie and Keith have a great friendship. They also have cancer, but Keith wants to live out the rest of his life at home, not in a hospital. (www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html)

9.     Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper: Andy was there. He had been driving the car. He had seen his best friend Robert's legs trapped in the burning vehicle and he had tried to pull Robert out of the wreckage. He had heard Robert's final screams. The other kids at school feel bad about Robert, but they weren't there and Andy doesn't believe they will ever understand. (www.randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/)

10.  What You Don't Know Can Kill You by Fran Arrick: When high school senior Ellen learns that she has AIDS, she finds out who her real friends are. (www.randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/)

11.  A Separate Peace by John Knowles: Sharing a room at Devon, an exclusive New England prep school, in the summer prior to World War II, Gene and Phineas form a complex bond of friendship that draws out both the best and worst characteristics of each boy and leads ultimately to violence, a confession, and the betrayal of trust. Narrator Scott Snively's ability to switch seamlessly from the perspective of a teenager tormented by feelings he doesn't want to understand to the reflective musing of a man looking back at the formative experience of his youth provide both the story and the setting with an immediacy that quickly engages listeners. Not only does Snively give a distinctive voice to each of the main characters, he also delineates the mannerisms and personalities of the other boys and the teachers surrounding them. (www.hplibrary.org/kids/booklists/gradelevel/youngadult.html)

12.  Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood: A Novel by Rebecca Wells: The Ya-Yas are the wild circle of girls who swirl around the narrator Siddalee's mama, Vivi, whose vivid voice is "part Scarlett, part Katharine Hepburn, part Tallulah." The Ya-Yas broke the no-booze rule at the cotillion, skinny-dipped their way to jail in the town water tower, disrupted the Shirley Temple look-alike contest, and bonded for life because, as one says, "It's so much fun being a bad girl!" Siddalee must repair her busted relationship with Vivi by reading a half-century's worth of letters and clippings contained in the Ya-Ya Sisterhood's packet of "Divine Secrets." (www.hplibrary.org/kids/booklists/gradelevel/youngadult.html)

 

Concluding Activity

            At the end of the unit, students should recognize the aspects of friendship that are most important to them personally, and gain a new understanding and acceptance for peer relationships that are different than their own. For a concluding activity, read the children�s picture book The Best Friends Book by Todd Parr, and have students create their own children�s book regarding the best things about their best friend. This activity will cause students to reflect on everything they have learned about friendship and reinforce the concept of a healthy relationship between friends.

Each resource used within this unit plan presents the concept of friendship in some form and allows students to learn that friendship can exist in many different situations and between diverse individuals. Literature allows people to explore relationships that are unfamiliar to them, which can decrease fear and bias towards people who are different than themselves. They are many more resources available about friendship than are included in this curriculum. With the abundance of texts written about young adult friendship, teachers can help their students gain an understanding about their personal relationships with friends and an acceptance of the friendships that exist among their peers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Applewhite, Ashton, William R. Evans, and Andrew Frothingham. And I Quote. New York: St. Martin�s Press, 1992.

Arrick, Fran. What You Don�t Know Can Kill You. New York: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1992.

Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. New York: Delacorte Press, 2001.

Cole, Michael, and Shelia R Cole. The Development of Children (2nd ed.). New York: Scientific American Books, 1993.

Donelson, Kenneth L., and Alleen P. Nilsen. Literature for Today�s Young Adults. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc, 2005.

Draper, Sharon. Tears of a Tiger. Simon Pulse, 1996.

Hinton S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Puffin Books, 1997.

It�s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946.

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Books for Young Readers, 1985.

Mayh, Margaret. The Catalogue of the Universe. Simon Pulse, 2002.

McDaniel, Lurlene. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. New York: Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Books for Young Readers, 1991.

Myers, Walter D. Darnell Rock Reporting. New York: Yearling Delacorte Dell, 1996.

Now and Then. Dir. Lesli Linka Glatter. Perf. Christina Ricci, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, and Thora Birch. New Line Home Entertainment, 1996.

Parr, Todd. The Best Friends Book. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2002.

Warner, Mary. �Stories Moving Readers from Fear and Bias to Tolerance and Acceptance: An Unfinished Curriculum� The Ohio Journal of the English Language Arts. (1999): 8-15.

Wells, Rebecca. Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood: A Novel. New York: Perennial, 1997.

Wilson, Jacqueline. Girls in Love. New York: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2002.

Wolff, Virginia E. Make Lemonade. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1994.

Woodson, Jacqueline. I Hadn�t Meant To Tell You This. New York: Laurel Leaf, 1995.