Family
Christina: Carmen has a close relationship with her mother, Christina, whom she has lived with since her parents' divorce. Carmen admits that she can be bratty with her mother, though Christina suggests this may be because she 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 when she gets pregnant. She does not want her mother to leave her.
Albert: Carmen looks up to her father; she wanted to follow in his footsteps and go to Williams College. However, her parents' divorce hit her hard and she is initially concerned 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 or guidance.
David: Carmen's stepfather. She was originally hostile toward David when he began dating Christina because she thought 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; her only complaint about him is that he is a workaholic.
Lydia: Carmen's stepmother. Carmen does not know of her until she goes to stay with her dad during the first novel. She gets off on the wrong foot with her stepmother due to their many differences. Lydia is blonde, and a "Southern belle" who has a perfectly neat house and is very religious. Because of how different Lydia's lifestyle is from her mother's, Carmen is at first angry with Lydia and her father and feels she is being replaced. Later, she achieves 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 lack of egotism. She e-mails and phones him regularly. The books mention 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. She also keeps on talking to Lena about Paul.
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 the direct opposite of her 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; in the second book, she runs away from home and seeks sanctuary with Carmen and Christina.
Ryan: Carmen's younger half-brother. She is slightly bad-tempered about his birth and jealous of her mother's attention to him. Later, she gets over this, enjoys being a big sister and role model to him.
Read more about this topic: Carmen Lowell
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“There was books too.... One was “Pilgrim’s Progress,” about a man that left his family it didn’t say why. I read considerable in it now and then. The statements was interesting, but tough.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“In former times and in less complex societies, children could find their way into the adult world by watching workers and perhaps giving them a hand; by lingering at the general store long enough to chat with, and overhear conversations of, adults...; by sharing and participating in the tasks of family and community that were necessary to survival. They were in, and of, the adult world while yet sensing themselves apart as children.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“In the years of the Roman Republic, before the Christian era, Roman education was meant to produce those character traits that would make the ideal family man. Children were taught primarily to be good to their families. To revere gods, one’s parents, and the laws of the state were the primary lessons for Roman boys. Cicero described the goal of their child rearing as “self- control, combined with dutiful affection to parents, and kindliness to kindred.””
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)