Preview

My Sister's Keeper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1822 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
My Sister's Keeper
Richard Hooton
English 95
30 November 2012
Final Draft: My Sister’s Keeper My Sister’s Keeper is a novel written by Jodi Picoult. It is a heart wrenching story about a family torn apart due to the oldest daughter suffering from a rare form of leukemia, and the parents fight to keep the child alive at all costs including genetically conceiving a perfect donor match for her. As the parents continue to focus strictly on Kate’s health and well- being the two other children in the home fall by the wayside. Brian, the father is the fire captain and lives part time at the fire station. On his down time there he studies astrology on the roof top, a special place that he shares with his daughter Anna and is his escape from the realities of life that for him at times are almost too much to bear. He tries everything to hold his family together and to be the strong one for his family sometimes making decisions that he isn’t sure are right but that he feels has to be done. Sarah is the mother whose life revolves around saving her daughter no matter what the cost or whoever is hurt in the process. Sarah put her life on hold the day she found out Kate had Acute Promyleocytic leukemia, APL, and her main drive in life is to keep her daughter alive. When the oncologist suggested a donor for Kate and her older brother wasn’t a match he told them about genetically matching a donor just for the main purpose of saving her. When the child Anna was born, I do not think that Sarah ever bonded with Anna it was more like she was a job completed when they saved her umbilical cord for the stem cells to transplant into Kate. After Sarah delivered Anna, she was so consumed with how careful they were with the umbilical cord that she didn’t even ask if the baby was okay. Kate the oldest daughter was diagnosed with APL at the age of two. She has gone through so much since that time, but she has always had a positive outlook on life. It is when she is sixteen she decides she has

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    There are no other options available for Sarah and a transplant is her only means of survival so it is understandable that her parents will do anything for her to have a lung transplant but they shouldn’t have too much hope as things stand now Sarah is not going to survive this so instead of petitioning and such they should be with their daughter in her last moments and comfort…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kate has promyelocytic leukemia. Her sister Anna Fitzgerald, who is born to undergo numerous of surgeries, including blood withdraws, a painful bone marrow and even her kidney, to keep her sister Kate alive. The mother of these two daughters, Sara Fitzgerald describes Kate’s chemotherapy and the pain she endures in detail through her chapters. Sara and Brian's relationship goes to an extent where they begin to treat each other like…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gules and Genvieve kept Sarah safe for years, they changed her identity, and they made sure that she was raised well. They never gave up on her, they tried their best to make her life happy and make her forget about her past. They loved her like one of their own, they tried to give her love but she had a shield and she never fully accepted their love. She knew that they loved her, but her guilt caused her to shut them out at times. Gules and Genvieve knew that by keeping Sarah they were putting their lives in danger but they kept her anyway because they had a good heart and they knew that it was the right thing to do. If they weren’t loyal to Sarah she would’ve been back at the camp and dead. Gules and Genvieve saved Sarah’s life in…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to the National Cancer Institute, “In 2015, an estimated 1,658,370 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States” (“Cancer Statistics”). What if one of those cases was your mother? Husband? Grandson? What if more horrifically, it was all three? For Mary Kenyon, that devastating thought became a reality. In just three brief years, she lost her mother, husband, and grandson. All three of them battled cancer, and two of the three died from the disease. Through strength, resilience, and a whole lot of faith, Mary overcame grief and shows true heroism by inspiring people and helping them defeat the same obstacles she faced.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Did you know that over 40,000 children have to go through cancer treatments a year? Out of those 40,000, 12% of children with cancer will not make it. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, it affects many people who care about them and changes how they feel towards this child. This relates to Steven Alper, a character in the novel Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, whose brother is diagnosed with leukemia. Throughout the novel, Steven’s feelings toward his brother, Jeffrey, change over the course of time that his brother has cancer. Jeffrey has to go through chemotherapy and is at CHOP at least once a week for his treatments. Steven’s mom is not home a lot because she is with Jeffrey and making sure he is okay, while his dad is working and worrying…

    • 1650 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On Hatchet

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Brian is the main character in this whole story. the side characters are his mom, the pilot, and the dad. The mom is one of the most basic characters in the book, but she is the one who is hiding the "Secret" from Brian. His mom is married but cheated for another man who was thought to be just a friend. Brian was on his way to see his father in Canada when his plane crashed. Brian`s father and mother are separated but Brian never wanted to tell his dad about what…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story of "Who Has Seen The Wind", W.O. Mitchell attempts to explain the meaning of life to young readers. Brian O'Connal, the main character, is a young boy who develops an understanding of birth and death throughout the novel by observing numerous animals. The birth of Forbsie's pigeons and his rabbits help him to gain an understanding of birth. The death of Forbsie's pigeon, Brian's dog, and Brian's father play an important role in helping Brian understand birth, death and the true meaning of life. Brian's first encounter with birth is when he and…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The flashbacks in My Sister’s Keeper are a significant part of the story. Throughout the novel these flashbacks allow the reader to connect with character’s memories from the past. As readers learn these memories, they are able to interpret character’s emotions. By understanding a character’s personal experience, their actions and thoughts are better understood by the reader. After all, one’s past leads them to who they become. For example, Anna’s intentions are to stay calm and collective while filing for medical emancipation. When she remembers a good time she had with her sister in the hospital, she becomes emotional. Because of the flashback she has, readers can understand that she slightly loses her cool because the two of them are very close and she cannot bear the thought of losing her.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the movie, My Sister’s Keeper Conceived by means of in vitro fertilization, Anna Fitzgerald was brought into the world to be a genetic match for her older sister, Kate, who suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia. Because of her sister's dependency on her, Anna is unable to live the life she wants; in and out of the hospital constantly, she cannot take part in extracurricular activities such as cheerleading or soccer. When Kate turns 13 she goes into renal failure. Knowing that she will have to donate one of her kidneys to her sister. The film is interlaced with flashbacks that detail the strong relationship between Kate and Anna, as well as how Kate's illness has affected her siblings' lives. Before the result of the case is known, it is revealed that Kate had asked Anna to file for medical emancipation. Believing that she would not survive the surgery, Kate wants to die. Anna throughout the film has to face the changes that maturity brings by suing her parents so that she can fulfill her sisters needs. In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace, the prep school classmates Gene, Finny and Leper experience the loss of innocence through the harsh realties of leaving their childhood behind them and accepting the changes that maturity brings. 
 When Finny breaks his leg, Gene experiences a change within himself. “I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was you and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone . . .. I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all.”(53) Gene slowly becomes conscious of the tremendous resentment and envy that he feels toward Finny, who is a far superior athlete, a much stronger personality, and has the ability to talk his way out of any trouble. We witness Gene develop a strategy for coping with this…

    • 1461 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Outsiders Siblings

    • 140 Words
    • 1 Page

    My essay is about the power of siblings. Both in The outsiders and my essay Siblings bond over death or the thought of death. In The Outsiders Ponyboy and his brothers, including the greasers bonded over the death of his parents and Jonny, their good friend. It’s sad but true, people tend to get closer when they realize how short life is. My brother and I bonded over the fact that we would have to help my mom together. Being able to have someone there for you can give you a sense of safety because believe or not the closest person in your life should be your sibling. I feel bad for people who don’t have older siblings or lost them because they will never know what it’s like to have someone who already went through what you’re going through.…

    • 140 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Despite living a sheltered life with relatively low risk, Eudora Welty has experienced great loss and pain in her life. In 1931, leukemia claimed her father’s life. When her father lay there in pain and agony, she stood there watching, helpless to stop the pain. Welty watched as her mother tried to save her father’s life with a blood transfusion. She witnessed the blood transfusion go horribly wrong, and her father die before her very eyes. She lived through seeing her mother become frail and weak with age, “lying helpless and nearly blind” (52). In her long life, Welty has witnessed all of these tragic events happen to the people she loved and had to learn to cope.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yo Holla Monologue

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At the time, my family and I felt devastated; we were ill informed about the disease and as the youngest, I felt more lost and terrified than anyone about what would happen. Yet, I could only stare with awe at my mother who remained level-headed and even curious about the disease that she would share her…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Sister's Keeper

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Do you think it is ethical to design and conceive a child that meets specific genetic requirements?…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Commemorative Speech

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tall, luscious, long, brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, and has the maturity level of a five year old. Rachel Steele was a popular girl who loved volleyball as much as a fat kid loves chocolate cake. Kind, strong headed, sweet spirited, loving, strong in the gospel, and always wanting to make people laugh shaped Rachel into a true young woman. Never in a million years would you think a girl like this would have to deal with such a hard trial. Playing volleyball was the only thing Rachel loved to do. Two weeks before nationals headaches started to come that wouldn’t go away for days. Thinking it was mono Rachel went to the doctors to get the diagnoses. Doctors are always there to help inform you about your symptoms but at that moment Rachel Steele wished she could rewind and never hear those dreadful words that came out of the doctor’s mouth, you have cancer. “I wasn’t afraid to die at first. I was just thinking ‘what about volleyball?’ because volleyball was my life.” Throughout her treatments though, Rachel prayed for her life and became less focused on sports. All she wanted to do was get through this year alive. The only cure to her cancer was five rounds of chemo therapy, and staying in the hospital for a year. Many people would breakdown and cry, in fact that’s what I did when I found out the news. But not this girl. Rachel started a blog that she updated every couple days to keep her friends and family informed on how she was doing. Some days were better than others, but she always kept a good attitude. Worn down, exhausted, skin and bone, no hair, excruciating pain, and still a smile on her face. “Losing my hair was the worst. I would run my finger through my hair and big chunks would fall out, that’s when I decided to shave it off so I didn’t have to suffer anymore.”…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once upon a time their was a girl named Sarah she had a very complicated life. She went to numerous alleviator but, she was not going to communicate with another alleviator. When she was five years old she was adopted from Russia. She was always infuriated although, she did not fully comprehend why she was vexed. She went through many foster homes although, she was aggravated with all of them. Even though her parents idolized her so much they refused to give up on her. Sara could not comprehend that because, why would her parents put her in a hospital and would not let her go home? Her life has been impenetrable and she knew no one would understand what she went through. She knew that people cared about her but, she…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays