Comparing Elodie, Moe, and Tabitha’s Circumstances, Goals, and Conflicts

Hello again. In the last lesson, you built a timeline of Trinkets so that you can keep track of what happens as the narration moves among Elodie, Moe, and Tabitha. Now you will use that timeline to answer a more analytical question: How are these three girls alike in their need for connection, yet different in the situations and conflicts that shape them?

The cover’s slogan, “Friendship is priceless. Everything else you can steal,” points toward the novel’s central contrast between possessions and genuine connection. For an essay, though, do not treat the cover or the Netflix logo as evidence. Your evidence needs to come from Kirsten Smith’s novel—specific scenes, narration, and quotations.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to distinguish each protagonist’s circumstances, goals, and central conflict, using specific details from the book to support your ideas.

---

Three categories that prevent vague character analysis

When students write about characters, they sometimes combine everything into a general statement such as, “Tabitha is popular but unhappy.” That is a start, but an analytical paragraph needs to separate three things.

Category	What it means	A useful question
Circumstances	The character’s starting situation: family, school status, relationships, losses, and social position.	What pressures or conditions shape her life?
Goals	What the character wants, either openly or beneath the surface.	What does she try to gain, protect, escape, or change?
Central conflict	The obstacle or tension that prevents her from reaching that goal. It may be internal, external, or both.	What stands in her way, and how does she respond?

For example, shoplifting is not necessarily a character’s deepest goal. It is better understood as a choice or coping behavior. The more important question is what that behavior gives her temporarily: control, excitement, attention, escape, rebellion, or a sense of belonging.

A strong one-sentence character claim usually has this shape:

[Character] wants [goal], but [conflict or obstacle], so she [important behavior or response].

For instance:

Elodie wants to belong in her new life, but grief and insecurity make her feel invisible, so she watches others from a distance and experiments with stealing.

That claim can later become the topic sentence of an essay paragraph—but only after you attach evidence from the novel.

---

Start with the girls’ shared situation—and their crucial differences

All three protagonists attend the same school and are brought together through Shoplifters Anonymous. Yet the novel does not present them as identical “troubled girls.” Their shared behavior has different emotional contexts.

Read the following overview as a refresher. It is useful for organizing your notes, but treat it as an orientation tool rather than as evidence for an English essay. Return to your copy of the novel for the exact scenes and wording.

The girls’ labels at school initially make them appear completely separate:

• Tabitha is the popular, wealthy-looking girl whose life appears polished.
• Moe is treated as the rebellious “bad girl” or outsider.
• Elodie is the quiet new student, more likely to observe than to draw attention.

Smith uses these familiar social categories so that the reader can see how misleading they are. The friendship matters partly because it challenges the assumption that popularity equals security, rebellion equals confidence, or quietness equals harmlessness.

---

Elodie: belonging, grief, and the fear of being unseen

Elodie enters the novel with the least secure place in her social environment. She is new to the area after her mother’s death, and she lives with her father and his new wife. Her circumstances place her between old and new identities: her former life is gone, but her new household and school do not yet feel fully hers.

Elodie’s circumstances

Look for textual details showing that Elodie is isolated rather than simply shy:

• She has recently moved and lacks a stable friend group.
• She is grieving her mother.
• Her relationship with her father feels emotionally distant.
• Her stepmother’s attempts at connection do not erase Elodie’s feeling that she is out of place.
• She often watches, photographs, or records life rather than confidently joining it.

These details matter because they show why Elodie’s desire for belonging is powerful. She does not merely want to become popular. She wants proof that she can be seen, understood, and included after a life-changing loss.

Elodie’s goals

Elodie’s surface goal is to fit into her new school and household. Her deeper goal is more personal: she wants to build a self that is not defined only by grief, loneliness, or being “the new girl.”

Her interest in people and her observational style are important. Observing can protect her from embarrassment or rejection, but it also keeps her at a distance. In an essay, you might argue that Elodie initially confuses safety with invisibility.

Elodie’s central conflict

Elodie’s central conflict is between her desire to belong and her fear of exposing herself to rejection, disappointment, or more loss. This conflict has both sides:

• External pressure: a new school, an altered family life, and limited social connection.
• Internal pressure: grief, uncertainty, and reluctance to take emotional risks.

Her shoplifting can be read as a tentative attempt to cross a boundary—to become someone less passive, or to feel noticed. But it cannot truly solve the loneliness beneath that choice.

Evidence to locate in your book: Find one early scene involving Elodie’s home life and one scene where she feels outside a social group. Write the chapter and page number beside each. Those two scenes can support a claim about her isolation much better than a broad statement such as “Elodie is sad.”

---

Moe: self-protection, grief, and the risk of trusting others

Moe’s circumstances differ sharply from Elodie’s, but she is also shaped by loss. She has lost her parents and lives with her aunt and older brother. Her social reputation as tough, sarcastic, and rebellious gives her a role to perform—a role that helps protect her from pity and disappointment.

Moe’s circumstances

Moe is not presented as a conventional outsider only because of what she does; she is also an outsider because other people interpret her through her reputation. Look for details about:

• the death of her parents;
• her life with her aunt and brother;
• her independence and sense of instability;
• the way classmates label or judge her;
• her use of sarcasm, humor, and defiance.

These details make it inaccurate to describe Moe simply as a “bad influence.” Her behavior can be reckless, but Smith also shows it as a shield.

Moe’s goals

Moe wants control. She wants to avoid being vulnerable, dependent, or pitied. Shoplifting gives her an immediate sensation of agency and excitement: for a short time, she decides what she takes and what rules matter.

At a deeper level, though, Moe wants connection. This creates tension because her usual way of protecting herself—acting as though she needs no one—makes authentic friendship difficult.

Moe’s central conflict

Moe’s central conflict is between her need for closeness and her fear that closeness will lead to loss, judgment, or betrayal. Her toughness protects her, but it also isolates her.

A strong analytical sentence could be:

Moe’s sarcastic, rebellious identity gives her temporary control over how others see her, yet it prevents her from admitting how deeply she wants dependable friendship.

Notice that this is more specific than “Moe is tough but secretly sad.” It explains the function of her behavior.

Evidence to locate in your book: Find a moment when Moe uses sarcasm or defiance to avoid a serious feeling. Then find a later moment when she lets someone see a more vulnerable side. Together, those scenes show the gap between the image she performs and what she actually needs.

---

Tabitha: image, pressure, and the need to choose herself

Tabitha appears to have the life that the others might envy: money, popularity, friends, a boyfriend, and a carefully maintained appearance. But her circumstances show that privilege does not guarantee safety, freedom, or emotional security. Her family is fractured, and her relationship with Brady places pressure on her to maintain the version of herself others expect.

Tabitha’s circumstances

Tabitha’s life is shaped by appearance and performance. Locate scenes involving:

• the expectations attached to her popularity and beauty;
• pressure within her relationship with Brady;
• tension, dishonesty, or instability in her parents’ marriage;
• her mother’s concern with appearances;
• her awareness that her “perfect” image hides pain.

The phrase “Mirror Face” helps express Tabitha’s problem. It suggests that she presents a carefully controlled version of herself for others to see. The image may win approval, but it does not give her a secure sense of self.

Tabitha’s goals

Tabitha’s immediate goal is often to protect her image and avoid public humiliation. Beneath that, she wants freedom from controlling expectations and the ability to be valued for more than appearance, status, or compliance.

Her stealing works as rebellion: it is a private action that temporarily makes her feel less controlled by the materialistic world around her. Yet because it is secretive and risky, it does not truly give her independence.

Tabitha’s central conflict

Tabitha’s central conflict is between maintaining the identity that grants her social approval and acting on her growing need for honesty, independence, and self-respect.

That conflict is both:

• External: pressure from Brady, friends, and family expectations.
• Internal: fear of losing status or confronting the truth about people she depends on.

You could frame Tabitha’s conflict like this:

Although Tabitha’s popularity seems to give her power, it also traps her in a role that makes honesty and independence difficult.

This claim avoids a common mistake: assuming that Tabitha’s popularity means she has no real problems. The novel deliberately exposes the weakness of that assumption.

Evidence to locate in your book: Find one scene where Tabitha manages or protects her image, plus one scene where her home life or relationship reveals the cost of that performance. Record a page number for each scene.

---

Put the three characters into one comparison

The following chart gives you an essay-ready comparison. Use it to organize your evidence, but add page numbers and short quotations from your own edition of the novel.

Character	Circumstances	Deeper goal	Central conflict	Behavior connected to the conflict
Elodie	New student; grieving her mother; adjusting to her father’s remarriage and an unfamiliar social world.	To belong and feel seen without losing herself.	She wants connection but fears rejection, change, and further loss.	Observes from a distance; shoplifts tentatively; gradually risks friendship.
Moe	Orphaned; living with her aunt and brother; carries a rebellious reputation.	To feel secure and connected while remaining in control.	She craves dependable relationships but protects herself through toughness and distrust.	Uses sarcasm and bravado; steals impulsively; resists vulnerability.
Tabitha	Popular and affluent on the surface; pressured by family instability, social expectations, and Brady.	To gain independence and be valued honestly rather than for an image.	She wants to escape control but fears the social and personal cost of breaking her role.	Maintains a polished persona; steals as rebellion; struggles to act openly.

A useful comparative insight is that all three girls experience a gap between how others see them and what they need:

• Elodie is seen as quiet or “good,” yet she longs for attention and belonging.
• Moe is seen as tough or reckless, yet she needs security and trust.
• Tabitha is seen as perfect and powerful, yet she needs freedom from the image that confines her.

This shared gap makes their friendship believable. They begin by seeing one another through stereotypes, but their friendship develops when those stereotypes become harder to maintain.

---

Turn your notes into evidence instead of plot summary

For each protagonist, choose two moments from the novel:

1. a scene that establishes her circumstances;
2. a scene that reveals her goal or conflict through a choice, reaction, or conversation.

Create a small evidence bank in this format:

Character	Scene and page	What the detail shows	Possible essay wording
Elodie	Early scene at home or school, p. __	She feels displaced after her mother’s death and her father’s remarriage.	“Elodie’s isolation makes belonging feel urgent rather than superficial.”
Moe	Scene where she uses sarcasm or acts independently, p. __	Her tough persona protects her from exposing grief.	“Moe treats independence as protection, even when it increases her loneliness.”
Tabitha	Scene involving Brady, her parents, or her social image, p. __	Her apparent status cannot protect her from control and pressure.	“Tabitha’s polished image conceals how little freedom she feels.”

There are two important rules here:

• Do not use a plot event without explaining it. “Tabitha has trouble with Brady” is summary. Explain what that trouble reveals about power, fear, image, or self-worth.
• Do not make claims that the scene cannot support. If a passage shows that Moe makes a sarcastic joke, explain it as a possible defense only when the surrounding context supports that interpretation.

For your final essay, a short quotation is usually more useful than a long one. Choose language that reveals a character’s voice, self-image, or response to another person. Then spend more words explaining the quotation than copying it.

---

A paragraph model you can adapt later

Here is a model built from the character framework. Replace the bracketed areas with precise evidence from your copy of the book.

Although Moe appears to be the most openly rebellious of the three girls, her behavior often protects her from vulnerability rather than proving that she does not care about anyone. After [briefly identify the scene], Moe responds with “[short quotation]” (p. __). Her sarcastic response allows her to control the interaction and avoid admitting [fear, grief, or need]. However, the moment also reveals that her tough reputation is limiting: she wants connection, but she has learned to treat emotional honesty as dangerous. Through Moe, Smith suggests that a defensive identity can feel safer than friendship while also making friendship harder to accept.

This model does four jobs:

1. makes a claim;
2. provides a specific scene and quotation;
3. explains the quotation;
4. connects the detail to a larger idea about character.

---

Key takeaways

Elodie, Moe, and Tabitha are connected by shoplifting and Shoplifters Anonymous, but they do not steal for identical reasons or face identical struggles.

• Elodie is shaped by grief and displacement; she seeks belonging but fears being hurt or overlooked.
• Moe is shaped by loss and instability; she seeks control and connection but uses toughness to avoid vulnerability.
• Tabitha is shaped by social, family, and relationship pressure; she seeks independence but fears losing the identity that gives her status.

For every claim you make, attach a scene, page number, and—when possible—a short quotation from the novel. That is how you move from a character description to an argument an English teacher can assess.

Next, you will focus specifically on what motivates each girl to shoplift and on the consequences this behavior creates for them.