Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

There were examples of both selfishness and unselfishness throughout the novel:

Effie stole the Traveling Pants out of her own selfish behavior. She wanted them and she was mad. I think Lena however, showed she was not selfish by simply forgiving Effie and making the best out of a bad situation.

When Tibby dumped Brian, I think she displayed selfish behavior because she acted irrationally and didn't think about him or his feelings during the whole pregnancy scare. Then, she was only thinking about herself when she went behind Effie's back to get Brian back.

Carmen's "friend" Tina was totally selfish when she tried to sabotage Carmen because she was jealous of the role Carmen recieved.

All four girls were unselfish when they immediately jumped on the plane to be with each other and help each other, in the same way that Lena was unselfish when she went to help Tibby durning her pregnancy scare.

Bee was pretty selfish when she hooked up with Peter because she was only thinking about herself instead of what would happen for Peter if his wife found out, or how it would destroy his family, or how her boyfriend Eric would feel.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Was Stephen selfish in renounching the Church and his parents' wishes or is it his right to follow his heart and search for happiness?

I don't think Stephen is selfish in renouncing the church because he tried to participate but it simply didn't work for him. It didn't make him happy, it didn't fill the space in his heart that he needed filled.... I don't think that's selfish at all. He finally found love and happiness in his poetry, when the Church failed to give it to him.

"I tried to love God. It seems now I've failed. It is very difficult. I tried to unite my will with the will of God instant by instant" (217).

"There's real poetry for you. That's real love" (221).