Poem Analysis

One thing I found interesting in my book, My Sister's Keeper, was that the author chose to insert a poem, before each part, that relates to what's to come.

One example of this is at the very beginning:

"Brother, I am fire
Surging under the ocean floor.
I shall never meet you brother-
Not for years, anyhow;
Maybe thousands of years, brother.
Then I will warm you,
Hold you close, wrap you in circles,
Use you and change you-
Maybe thousands of years, brother."
-Carl Sandburg, "Kin"

This contributes to the story because the relationship between the brothers is similar to the one between Anna and Kate. Anna has to "warm" Kate in order for her to stay healthy. I really like that Jodi Picoult included these because they forshadow what is to come in the story. I believe it's nice to have hints about the future.

My Sister's Keeper Book Recommendation

I have recently finished My Sister's Keeper and I would highly recommend it to a friend. This book is a tragic novel so if you don't mind crying - definitely check this book out! I rate it five out of five stars!

My Sister's Keeper starts out with a young girl with a very big problem. Anna wants to be medically emancipated from her parents. This means that she wants to have the responsibility to make the decision to help her sister stay healthy, or not - all by herself. Throughout the entire book, Anna and her family struggle with the question of, "What is fair?" Her mom has completely focused on keeping Kate, Anna's sister, alive. But, is it fair to Anna to have to sacrifice her life outside of the hospital, for her sister?

The author does a great job keeping the reader interested. There are many characters including Campbell and Julia. They are two lawyers with a past who have to work together on Anna's case. So, not only does the author tell a story through Anna, she tells a parallel story through Campbell and Julia.

She flashbacks to the past as well, in order to thoroughly develop the plot.

Jodi Picoult also keeps the reader from getting bored by having lots of plot twists. In fact, there are several huge revelations in the resolution of the book and you'll have to read it to find out!

Book to Article Connections

I have found an article called, Cancer Survivor Passes on Lesson to her Students. I find that it is very similar to My Sister's Keeper.

One thing they have in common is they both have to struggle with a possibly fatal disease, APL leukemia. Kate and Casey both have to think about what most people can't even imagine.

Casey, in the article, wants to get back to her students - they motivate her to get better. Similarly, Kate has her family wanting her to get better. They both also deeply care about the people close to them.

Both Casey and Kate exceeded the time limit they were given to live. Casey was told she only had three days to live, but it has been four years since she has been diagnosed and she is doing well. Kate was told as a baby she would not live past her childhood, but shes a young adult when she makes the decision not to do the kidney transplant. 

Although Kate is in a story, she is very similar to life around us. I think that is a part of what makes this story so good; the readers can relate to it because nearly everyone has known someone who has had a life threatening disease.

Theme and Summary Video Analysis

My Sister's Keeper, the novel, is also a movie. In this movie, Cameron Diaz is the mom-Sara, Anna is Abigail Breslin,  and Kate is Sofia Vassilieva. Although there were several differences in the movie, this is video shows a summary, as well as an important quote that shows theme.

The beginning of the clip accurately describes how their families life is. Kate has leukemia and Anna was genetically engineered to be a donor. Fast forward a decade and Kate is lucky to be alive. Anna has done countless surgeries to ensure that. But, Kate is going into renal failure and needs a kidney. When Anna learns the effect of this surgery, she's knows she has a difficult decision to make. Then, she goes to a lawyer, Mr. Cambell, and asks him to medically emancipate her. This means that her parents will no longer be able to force her to donate to Kate, but she can still choose to. As they work as a team their characters develop and become friends. Her family also struggles to make decisions that are fair, and have trouble deciding what is. Is it fair for Anna to have to give a kidney? Is it fair to let Kate die? Read the book to find out how the family deals with this struggle, and if it will tear them apart, or make them grow closer. Also, in the trial, many revelations come out, and you will have to read the book to find out what those are!

Next, the interview discusses the theme. Jake Hamilton shares the quote, "There are stars in the night sky that look brighter than the others, and when you look at them through a telescope you realize you are looking at twins. The two starts rotate around each other, sometimes taking nearly a hundred years to do it. They create so much gravitational pull there's no room around for anything else. You might see a blue star, for example and realize only later that it has a white dwarf as a companion-that first one shines so bright, by the time you notice the second one, it's really too late." Finally, the actors discuss what the quote means.

This quote demonstrates theme of one should not take any moments for granted and love everyone for the time they are here. I know this because Kate is the star that shines brighter, at first, but she will turn into a white dwarf, eventually - she will die from leukemia and Anna will be the only one left. This is Brian's way of saying that by the time Anna's alone, it will be too late for her. She won't know who she is without Kate.

Connections and Questions

My Sister's Keeper is a novel in which there is lots of topics that are challenging, and also relateable.

On page 408 Cambell decides whether he should tell the truth about why he has a service dog. My question is, why does the author have him lie? Instead of saying the truth (he's epileptic and the dog is his seizure dog) he says, "I'm a layer... He chases ambulances for me." I don't understand why the author would write that when his and Julia's arguement about why he wouldn't tell anyone is resolved. I think it would make for a better story, and better plot, if Cambell told the truth.

One connection I  have about this novel is text to text. My Sister's Keeper is very similar to Six Months to Live. In both the main character is struggling with a life threatening illness, leukemia. Both stories are about the struggle of having someone endure the pain with you, as your friend - although the situation is more extreme in My Sister's Keeper. Anna not only supports Kate, but donates to her what she needs.

Cambell Alexander Character Analysis

In My Sister's Keeper, Cambell Alexander is a complex character. Anna describes the lawyer on page seventeen, "He's got black hair and he's at least as tall as my dad-six feet-with a right-angle jaw and eyes that look frozen over." (Picoult 17)

At the beginning of the book he doesn't take Anna seriously when she wants to hire him as her lawyer. In fact, it says (in Anna's point of view), "I'm here to retain you,' I say. The lawyer releases the intercom button. 'I don't think so." (Picoult 17) From this quote we can infer he is stubborn and unsympathetic.

This develops the plot because it adds conflict between Anna and Mr. Cambell. She had to convince him to be her lawyer.

But, by the end of the book the reader learns he does care. When Anna says she doesn't know who she really is he answers, "I know who you are. You're the premier doorknob caddy in all of Providence Plantations. You've got a wise mouth, and you pick the crackers out of Chex Mix and you hate math..." (Picoult 411-412). Here it shows he knows Anna well enough to tell her who she actually is.

Also, his relationship with Julia changes. Originally, they wanted nothing to do with another. In fact they agreed upon being only professional. But, in the epilogue,  they get married!

This is a part of the theme because one of My Sister's Keeper themes is never give up on the people you love. Mr. Cambell fell in love with Julia and they still had feeling for each other after not seeing the other for a decade. I know this is evidence of the theme because the author wouldn't include that detail in the story if she didn't want the reader to learn from it.

Both of these pieces of evidence show that Mr. Cambell changes throughout the course of the story. Since complex means "consisting of many different parts" we can infer that a complex character is someone who develops and has many different characteristics.. And he certainly did.

My Sister's Keeper Plot Twist (spoiler alert)

Recently, I have been reading My Sister's Keeper. It is about a girl named Anna who was born with the sole purpose of saving her sister's life. Anna decides in the beginning of the book that she wants to stop her parents from making her give bone marrow, blood transfusions, and more to her sister. As the story unfolds, it tells how Anna struggles with the decision of whether or not to give a kidney.

This novel has an extreme plot twist at the end of the book (spoiler alert) and it involves Anna's life being taken in a car crash, minutes after being medically emancipated. Instead of Anna being worried about Kate, her sister, dying from leukemia, Anna's the one who died. Kate then struggles with the guilt that had been harassing Anna for her whole life.

I think this impacts the story because it is the revolution. The conflict is solved because the decision of a kidney transplant was made. Granted, it was not decided by Anna but it was solved nevertheless. This plot twist definitely surprised and intrigued the reader because it was ironic; it was not what I was expecting at all.