Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

The Tubman sisters face different battles with self-image. While Sheila struggles to believe people will like her despite her fearfulness, Libby faces the common teenage battle with her appearance. In both cases, a poor self-image hinders confidence and causes conflict.

Judy Blume describes Libby as being a stereotypical teenage girl: She loves music and dancing, and she dreams of being an actress. Sheila says Libby is eager to go to the beach and the swimming pool because she “has a new bikini and she wants to show it off” (10), but Libby becomes incredibly self-conscious when she sees her crush, a teenage lifeguard, with another girl, who “doesn’t look like a skeleton in her bikini” (49). Sheila calls her sister a “dancing skeleton,” making fun of her skinny body and lack of feminine curves, and although Libby tries to hide her hurt with insults of her own, she takes these comments to heart. When Maryann Markman gets the part of Wendy, Libby’s low self-esteem surfaces, and she is convinced she didn’t get the part because she is “so ugly it’s unbelievable!” (89). In a moment of anguish, Libby even warns that when Sheila turns 13, she’ll be “as ugly as [Libby], if not uglier!” (89).

Sheila’s struggles with self-image are more evident in her relationships with others. Though she constantly refers to herself as “Sheila the Great” and other equally self-aggrandizing titles, her inability to cope with anybody else’s success shows her deep insecurity. This is clearest when she tries to start the camp newspaper. She plans to “show the Tarrytown kids that [she] [is] an expert at something” (66) because she helped with the class newspaper during the previous schoolyear. Even though Mouse, Sondra, and Jane all repeatedly choose to hang out with her despite her bossier tendencies, she still feels the need to prove herself and her expertise. This is part of why she reacts so strongly when Mouse offers to help: The newspaper was supposed to be her way of feeling superior, and any help would mean she couldn’t claim all the credit. However, when the newspaper is a disaster and she pawns it off on two other campers who make it succeed through teamwork, she immediately becomes dismissive and cruel about Mouse’s involvement. The newspaper now represents a threat to her self-image, so she needs it to be meaningless and boring.

Mrs. Tubman offers her daughters some advice: “If you feel beautiful you are beautiful! It all comes from inside” (90). Sheila thinks about how she feels inside, and even though she knows she might have “weird eyebrows” and “funny toes” (114) like the Slam Book suggests, she also knows her friends in Tarrytown like her enough to spend time with her and come to her slumber party. They think she is overall an interesting person and a decent friend—and when Sheila realizes this, it strengthens her self-image, which builds up her confidence.

Libby, too, makes progress toward a healthier self-image. In the end, she finds companionship with Hank Crane, and although he’s not the best-looking boy in Tarrytown, Libby tells Sheila that Hank is a “very talented” aspiring filmmaker, “which is more important than being good-looking” (119). Libby learns to accept her mother’s wisdom—that beauty “comes from inside” (90)—and like Hank, she decides to focus on being her own person and surrounding herself with people who make her feel good in her own skin.