Carmen Lowell

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Carmen Lucille Lowell

Born September
Bethesda, Maryland.
Education Williams College
Occupation Unknown
Spouse N/A
Children None
Relatives Christina (mother), Albert (father), David (step-father), Lydia (step-mother), Ryan (half-brother), Krista (step-sister), Paul (step-brother)

Carmen Lucille Lowell is a character in the book and film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She is sometimes called Carma and Carmabelle (her IM name), and is a sensitive and caring half-Puerto Rican with the bad temper. Her parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother, Christina. She is the organized one, but sometimes she thinks too much. She is the one most insistent on keeping the sisters together through the Traveling Pants, which were first found by her. She is the "glue" keeping the Sisterhood together.

Family

Christina -- Carmen has a close relationship to her mother Christina as she lived with her mother since her parents divorce. Carmen admits that she can be "bratty" with her mother, though Christina suggests that maybe this is because Carmen knows it is easier to get mad at people you love because you can trust them to still love you. Carmen can also be possessive of her mother and is worried both when Christina begins dating and gets pregnant.

Albert -- Carmen looks up to her father; she wanted to follow in his footsteps and go to Williams for college. However, her parents divorce hit her hard and she is initially concerning that his marrying Lydia was an attempt to replace her and Christina with a perfect, beautiful family. She resolves most of these issues in the first book and afterwards often calls her father for advice.

David -- Carmen's stepfather. She was originally hostile toward David when he began dating Christina because he thought that her mother was making a fool of herself and rushing into the relationship too quickly. Though she doesn't develop a very close relationship with him, she admits that he makes her mother happy and her only hostility toward him is because he is a workaholic.

Lydia -- Carmen's stepmother. Carmen got off on the wrong foot with her stepmother due to how different she was from Christina. Lydia is blonde, beautiful and a "Southern belle" who has a beautiful, perfectly neat house and is very religious; because of how different Lydia's lifestyle was from Carmen and her mother's she was angry with Lydia and her father because she felt like she was being replaced. Later, she obtains a more civil relationship with her stepmother, especially after realizing that Lydia and Christina actually get along.

Paul -- Carmen's older stepbrother. Carmen gets along very well with Paul and admires his honesty and the fact that he is not egotistical like some boys she's met. She e-mails and phones him regularly and it is mentioned that Paul regards Carmen and her temper with a sort of awe, and never understands the motivations behind her insane outbursts. Carmen is originally nervous that if Paul falls in love with Lena he will forget about her. However, after noticing how the two look at each other and how alike they are, she eventually encourages their relationship.

Krista -- Carmen's younger stepsister. They originally talked very little as Krista's preppy, flaky, superficial attitude was very different from Carmen's explosive, colorful personality. She felt that since Krista was such a direct opposite from Carmen that her father was "upgrading." After confronting her father about the issue, she and Krista get along much better. Krista grows to admire Carmen's independent attitude.

Ryan -- Carmen's younger half-brother; Carmen is slightly bad-tempered about his birth and jealous of her mother's attention to him. Later, she gets over this and enjoys being a big sister.

Friends Carmen is the youngest member of the sisterhood, so her best friends are Lena, Tibby, and Bee. She considers herself "the Puerto Rican with the bad temper" in the sisterhood. She also considers herself "the glue" that keeps the friends together. Ann Brashares says that she believes Carmen gets the bigger picture of their friendship, whereas the other girls are more "in the moment."

Romantic Relationships Winthrop "Win" Sawyer -- Carmen meets Win when at the hospital with Lena's grandmother. She is initially attracted to him, and the two have several other chance meetings. Win is a volunteer at the hospital and is two years older than she is. Carmen is initially worried that she is deceiving Win, as he keeps catching her doing charitable things and is scared that he won't like her as much when he learns about her bad temper. She tells him about her worries, but he resolves that he likes her anyway and the two kiss in the hospital. She lets the relationship drop off on purpose due to confidence issues.

Carmen also briefly dates a boy in the second book who had a massive crush on her, but she was too distracted by issues with her mother and the boy decided that he was tired of being led on. She also maintained a flirtatious relationship with one of the actors she worked with in the fourth book. Their relationship is not focused on in this book, though it mentions that he often played with her hair, flirted with her, and kissed her before the play's opening night.

Plotlines In book 1 Carmen spends the summer visiting her dad in South Carolina. She arrives to learn that he is in fact engaged. Angry that he seems to be replacing her family with a perfect, blonde, wealthy one, she spends the summer in an awful mood. After an incident where her stepmother purchased a dress much too small for Carmen's slightly chubby frame, thus humiliating Carmen completely, she ran away. Carmen threw a brick through the family's kitchen window while they had dinner and then went back to Maryland. After speaking with Tibby and her mother she phoned her father and confronted him about her feelings.

In book 2 Christina starts to date a young attractive man named David. Carmen is jealous of the time she spends with David and also humiliated because Christina's relationship with David is so passionate. She believes her mother is humiliating herself and falling in love too quickly. Carmen sabotages the relationship out of spite, but once she realizes how happy David makes Christina she helps the two get together. A subplot during this book is Carmen's relationship with a boy from her school. She goes on several dates with him but neglects him during each date due to her worries about her mother's relationship with David. Carmen is originally optimistic about the relationship because she had the Travelling Pants for their first date, but he becomes tired of Carmen "stringing him along" and stops dating her. On her final date with him she brings Paul and a heartbroken Lena along. She notices how attracted Paul is to Lena and gives Lena the travelling pants, encouraging her to go after Paul.

In book 3 Carmen learns that Chrstina is pregnant with David's child (the two were married between books 2 and 3). Carmen is originally hostile, believing that since the baby will be born just after Carmen leaves for college that she is being replaced. Carmen also gets a job looking after Valia and meets a boy named Win when at the hospital with Valia. She and Win maintain a flirtatious relationship, but she believes that she is deceiving him because he keeps catching her doing charitable things and will be disappointed when he learns about her arguments with her mother. Carmen eventually realizes that since David works so much Carmen will have to be there for the child and makes amends with Christina. At the end of the book Christina goes into labour two weeks early when David is away on business. Carmen and Win go hunting for David, to bring him to Christina. Meanwhile, Tibby helps Christina give birth. Carmen returns to the hospital where she meets her baby brother and tells Win that she doesn't think she deserves him. Win announces that it doesn't matter, and the two share a kiss.

In book 4 Carmen arrives at college where she falls into a sort of depression. She gains weight and shrinks away from not only making new friends, but from her old friends. She makes friends with a sophisticated and beautiful actress named Julia and together they go to a special acting class. On a whim, Carmen decides to audition for the plays (though she originally only tagged along to be with Julia and work on sets). She gets the very sought-after lead role in a play with several professional actors and Julia becomes bad-tempered and surly. Julia tries to "help" Carmen with the part, but actually gives her bad advice to sabotage an inexperienced Carmen and Carmen falls back into a depression. She finally realizes that Julia was not a friend to her because she fed off of Carmen's insecurities to boost her own confidence. Carmen stars in the play brilliantly and confronts Julia.