Pages read: 143- 283
Question: What can bring you great sadness, pain and fear? What can give you an overpowering surge of determination and courage to fight a long, painful battle? What can bring a family closer? But more importantly, what can tear a family apart?
Answer: A malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division, otherwise known as cancer.
This cruel disease is at the centre of My Sister’s Keeper, and is ripping the Fitzgerald family in half. Since page 143, Kate has remained in the hospital and is described as a ghost waiting to happen.
All the main characters in My Sister’s Keeper are doing some soul searching. Jodi Picoult has allowed the reader to read the six main character’s thoughts and feelings about every situation and predicament that comes their way. It is interesting to read different chapters with unique perspectives from all the characters. It’s also interesting to see how these characters interact with each other. For example, a new romantic subplot between Julia and Campbell has been added to the storyline. Julia hasn’t been able to let Campbell go. She even thinks that he’s the reason all her previous relationships failed. She says one night to a bartender named Seven, “‘I blame Campbell Alexander entirely for my bad luck with relationships’” (Picoult 157). Julia mentions her three and a half failed relationships, which she think is because of Campbell. Although they argue all the time over the Fitzgerald case and how it should be solved, they end up spending the night together in Campbell’s boat. Julia doesn’t trust him 100% because of how he treated her 15 years back, but she finds him irresistible. Campbell absolutely adores Julia and never meant to hurt her when they went to Wheeler High, but he had reasons which aren’t exposed yet.
Another issue has been added to the original problem of Anna’s lawsuit against her parents; she’s not sure if she wants to go through with it. She’s starting to regret filing a lawsuit, because it’s ripping her family in half. “My eyes get glassy with tears. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to do this anymore. None of it.’ I concentrate on getting air into my lungs. There are so many things I have to work hard at now, that I used to be able to carry out instinctively- draw in oxygen, keep my silence, do the right thing” (Picoult 183).
Furthermore, Anna’s mother Sara is still very hurt and puzzled as to why her daughter filed the lawsuit. “‘My God Anna, what have we done to you to deserve this?’” (Picoult 180). However, she’s realizing for the first time that she’s been waiting for Kate to die all this time. Her chapters range from 1996 to 2001. In 1996, Sara describes her feelings of uselessness and exhaustion. “I’m sitting on the couch. I’ve been there for hours. I can’t seem to make myself get up and do any of the things I am supposed to, because what is the point of packing school lunches or hemming a pair of pants or even paying the heating bill?” (Picoult 165). Sara is also seeing that Brian and she don’t have much in common anymore except for their sick daughter.
“‘Did you hear the results of the last CBC?’ I ask.
‘I was sort of hoping that we could come here to get away from all that. You know. Just talk.’
‘I’d like to talk,’ I admit. But when I look at Brian, the information that leaps to my lips is about Kate, not us. We are connected by and through sickness. We fall back into silence. When the waiter arrives to take our order, we both turn eagerly, grateful for someone who keeps us from having to recognize the strangers we have become” (Picoult 235).
Also in 1996, after Sara and Jesse have an argument over going to get new cleats after going to an orthodontist appointment, Sara says, “‘your sister is incredibly sick. I’m sorry if that interferes with your dentist’s appointment or your plan to go buy a pair of cleats. But those don’t rate quite as high in the grand scheme of things right now. I’d think that since you’re ten, you might be able to grow up enough to realize that the whole world doesn’t always revolve around you.’ Jesse looks out the window, where Kate straddles the arm of an oak tree, coaching Anna in how to climb up. ‘Yeah right she’s sick,’ he says. ‘Why don’t you grow up? Why don’t you figure out that the world doesn’t revolve around her?’ With a sigh, I walk upstairs, knock on my son’s door. ‘I’d like to apologize.’ There is a scruffle on the other side of the door and then it swings open. Blood covers Jesse’s mouth, a vampire’s lipstick; bits of wire stick out like a seamstress’s pinks. I notice the fork he is holding, and realize this is what he has used to pull off his braces. ‘Now you never have to take me anywhere,’ he says” (Picoult 167). Through this quotation it has become evident that Sara is so focused on Kate’s leukemia that she isn’t a good mother to her other two children, Anna and Jesse.
Speaking of Jesse, he is realizing that he isn’t even on his parent’s radar because they’re both too concerned with Anna’s lawsuit and Kate’s failing health. However, since he was eleven, Jesse has been trying to prove to his parents that he isn’t invisible. “‘Dad?’ I repeated. My father looked right at me, but he didn’t answer. And his eyes were dazed and staring through me, like I was made out of smoke. That was the first time I thought that maybe I was’” (Picoult 245) Jesse also talks about one day when he was eleven, he walked to the downtown of Providence, which took him a few hours to get to from the Fitzgerald’s house in Upper Darby. He wound up in the middle of an intersection, starring up at the traffic light with cars honking all around him. “‘At the police station, when my dad came to get me, he asked what the hell I’d been thinking. I hadn’t been thinking, actually. I was just trying to get to a place where I’d be noticed’” (Picoult 247).
A captivating quotation from My Sister’s Keeper is found on page 238. After Brian lies to Sara that the firefighters at the station paid $100,000 for Kate’s transplant, Sara learns the truth. She finds a statement that says that $8,369.56 was taken out of Katherine S. Fitzgerald’s college fund.
“‘You lied to me?’
‘I didn’t…’
‘Zanne offered…’
‘I won’t let your sister take care of Kate,’ Brian says, ‘I’m supposed to take care of Kate.’ The fire hose falls to the ground, dribbles and spits at our feet. ‘Sara, she’s not going to live long enough to use that money for college.’ The sun is bright; the sprinkler twitches on the grass, spraying rainbows. It is far too beautiful a day for words like these. I turn and run into the house. I lock myself into the bathroom. A moment later, Brian bangs on the door. ‘Sara? Sara, I’m sorry.’ I pretend I can’t hear him. I pretend I haven’t heard anything he’s said” (Picoult 237-238). I find this be a significant quotation because it proves that Sara isn’t willing to acknowledge the truth. She knows that Kate will never be able to go to college, but she will not verbally talk about it. The fact that her baby is dying breaks Sara’s heart, combined with the knowledge that Kate will never be able to experience normal things every girl should.
The main theme in My Sister’s Keeper is appearance vs. reality because characters in this book keep secrets. For example, Campbell won’t tell anyone, even Julia, his real reason for having his dog, Judge. Throughout the book so far, Campbell has made several excuses as to why Judge is always by his side. “‘I have an irregular heartbeat and he’s CPR certified’” (Picoult 203). “‘Color-blind,’ I reply. ‘He tells me when the traffic light changes’” (Picoult 208). These are just a few examples of how Campbell isn’t telling the truth, and therefore helps develop the theme of appearance vs. reality.
Also Jesse helps to develop the theme of appearance vs. reality. He has lit numerous buildings on fire and Brian and Sara have no idea what their son is really up to. Sometimes Jesse has seen his own father come to put out the fire he created. Jesse knows perfectly well that he’s putting his own father’s life on the line by lighting a match, but he still takes that chance. Brian and Sara know their son isn’t up to good things, but never could imagine that he’s allowing Brian to be in dangerous situations.
Fire is a symbol in My Sister’s Keeper and is seen many times because Brian is a firefighter and Jesse lights abandoned buildings on fire. However, fire is also symbolic of Kate’s horrible leukemia because of the way it destroys everything in her body, much like fire destroys everything in the buildings that Jesse lights on fire.
My Sister’s Keeper continues to be a great read! I’m excited to see how it will end, because I know for a fact that it will be very surprising. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something exciting, romantic and heart breaking all at once to read.
