Theme and Summary: The Daughters Break the Rules

The theme of The Daughters Break the Rules is: Try putting yourself in the other person's shoes. " Then why don't you ever look at me?" she asked. Her father blinked at her. "What?" "You don't ever look at me. It's  like you forget I'm around. Or you don't even want to remember." His eyes got watery. "Oh honey," he said, his voice catching. "It's just that you look so much like her. You're the spitting image of your mother. It's just hard for me sometimes" (Philbin261-262). Carina's dad and her have a big fight where her dad was going to send her away but with the help of her friends she stays and after that fight she and her dad get into an even bigger fight that lasts for weeks. Carina is desperate with twenty dollars a week she has to live on. She tries to find a job and when she gets a job she isn't exactly going to be able to fulfill and everything turns into one giant mess. When Carina learns the truth of what caused her parents divorce. She sees how her dad feels. She finally makes up with her dad and she then knows it's time to tell her dad about the job she can't fulfill.