Discussion Question

Discuss the differences between the four girls in the book and evaluate how the sorority has changed them.

     Four teenage girls decide to join a sorority to find a place to belong and to meet new people in their first couple of weeks at the University of Los Angeles.  Everyone joins a sorority for different reasons, but what most people realize is that their sorority ends up changing who they are.  Laurie joined the sorority because she was simply looking for a place to call home.  Karen is a rule follower.  She always tries to do what her mom asks so she does not get in trouble.  Ellen is the girl that is opposite of Karen.  Although they both wanted to make new friends, Ellen joins a sorority so her Dad has to pay for everything he has done to her.  Finally. Diane is a beautiful and confident girl that has guys constantly after her.  Karen at first does not think it is a good idea to join a sorority.  In order to join a sorority, you have to go through something called rush.  Karen was scared she was not good enough to join a sorority because of her looks but tries her hardest to do what her mom wants.  Throughout the book, all of the girls change who they are as a person.  Karen starts to love being in a sorority and begins to make lasting friendships.  Ellen is beginning to enjoy the college life and she feels grateful for her dad for paying for this.  Diane, constantly has problems.  While she was growing up she had always told herself to follow what her dad did.  Her dad was a pilot and that is exactly what she wanted to do until she got sick in flight and was asked to leave the flight program.  Diane also gets very attached to people.  One night she tells Doug that she loves him after obsessing over him for the longest time and he says he does not feel the same way.  "We're supposed to stand politely, not talking, not flinching in embarrassment when some guy looks you over like a suit he's buying, studying your name like it's a math problem he can't quite get" (4).  All girls go into college trying to act like their normal self but that never works out.  There is drama.  No one really ever leaves college acting like their old high school self.  They evolve during college.  Sometimes going through college and changing can be good but sometimes the sorority can change them as a person.  Everyone changes sooner or later and a sorority is where most of the change occurs.