My Sister's Keeper And White Oleander: Character Analysis
Love and attention is sought after by all, it is human nature to want and thrive off of these attributes and the feeling of being wanted. A child is very honest; if they need love, their pain is heard until their needs are met. As a child grows older they sometimes become deprived of some of the basic fundamentals and emotional needs. As an older version of a child self those needs become suppressed when the person feels that their opinion is not being heard. When a developing child receives negative influences from the people around them it begins to affect them and their development into which they become as an adult. Negative role models in a child’s life truly does disturb the natural experience of being a child because the child is now
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lacking exceptionally important emotional needs in their life that they would normally get out of a positive relationship. In the book My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, and White Oleander by Janet Fitch it is shown that negative relationships affect the growing-up experience; this is shown by Astrid and Anna’s reactions to the stress in their lives, other significant relationships, and the negative mother-daughter relationships.
In the books My Sister’s Keeper and White Oleander it is clear that both Anna and Astrid have to deal with different stressors in their life on a daily basis; Anna with feeling alone and issues with her mother and sister, and Astrid with being left alone with no hope. As humans, we all react to certain events in our lives differently. For instance, in My Sister’s Keeper Anna’s life is engulfed in stresses not meant for a girl her age to be dealing with, but what is most surprising is that she handles herself and her emotions much better than expected. Anna is left wondering quite often, feeling like no one cares or even the fact that the only reason for her being alive is to save Kate’s life; "…if aliens landed on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they'd conclude that most people have children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or because birth control isn't one hundred percent, or for a thousand other reasons that aren't really flattering … I was born for a specific purpose… because I could save my sister, Kate… It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy … Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn't get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you" (Picoult 7). Anna is left feeling that she is being used and that depending on what happens to Kate is what is sealing Anna’s fate. When all of the attention and energy of her family is going towards her sister Kate, Anna tends to feel like she is invisible, hidden behind the reality that she is only here for the purpose of saving her sisters life. “As with many works of fiction, Picoult takes current science, imagines ‘what could be’, and explores some of the social, psychological, emotional and – in this case legal – consequences that might follow. As a work of fiction My Sister’s Keeper seems a scarily realistic, though also, moving picture of a normal family under extreme pressure” (Newhart, 2005). The novel takes the reader on a journey of Anna’s existence and essentially from the time she was thought of to the time when her life was taken from her and in that short amount of time we realize that the choices of Anna’s parents to genetically create her, will haunt her in every moment of her living life. Anna feels alone in herself and it is a sad realization for a child to know that they weren’t created out of love for them, but for someone else. In a similar way, the novel White Oleander is heavily weighted towards the negative side of things according to how Astrid feels about her importance in life. Being as young as she is, Astrid doesn’t know what to think when she becomes She finds herself being left alone more often than any child should ever be. After Astrid is left by people she entrusted time and time again, she finds it very difficult to find people who she can trust and understand her: “If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment” (Fitch, 200). Astrid is left feeling like there is no point in trying to be anything but lonely because every time she finds happiness, it is taken away from her in such unfair ways. Children are generally very forgiving people but when Astrid becomes accustomed to her trust being broken and her being left with no one in the end; it becomes extremely difficult for her to trust anyone anymore. Astrid is surrounded by negativity and an environment not suitable for a child of her age. Children thrive off of knowing that they are important and needed in the lives of the people around them and when Astrid becomes abandoned she sees that she is not wanted. This feeling of loneliness for Astrid is very unfortunate, it shows how strong of a character she is for how she handles herself but being a child in Astrid’s situation, there is almost nothing to do but feel like no one cares. When Astrid is left with repeated disappointment and the feeling that she will be let down every time she entrusts someone, it is hard for her to be positive about anything: “Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it” (Fitch, 124). The feelings built up by anger and abandonment felt by Astrid is clear in the novel, Astrid gives off a depressing feeling and it is evident to the reader that all of her hope and trust in the people in her life is gone. In contrast to White Oleander, Anna in My Sister’s Keeper faces contradictory stressors from the inseparable bond that she shares with Kate. In one perspective, Anna feels the moral obligation to help her sister in any way possible, even if that means risking her own life to save her sister’s. She feels this obligation due to the fact that the only reason why she was brought to this earth was to save her sisters life, therefore Anna feels as though taking care of Kate is her job and if Kate dies, it is all her fault. In another perspective, Anna and Kate understand each other, the sacrifices that Kate is willing to make for Anna to not have to undergo any more surgeries is selfless and wouldn’t be done for anyone but her little sister. These sisters are not just sisters to each other, they are best friends and life co-pilots ready to take on anything as a team: “‘You do realize, she says, 'that you're the only friend I've got?' "That's not true,' I immediately reply, but we both know I'm lying . . . 'I'm not your friend, I'm your sister' And doing a damn lousy job at that. 'That's what I wanted to talk about,' Kate says, 'If you don't want to be my sister anymore, that's one thing. But I don't think I could stand to lose you as a friend’" (Picoult, 56). Unlike the loneliness felt by Astrid in White Oleander, Anna and Kate come together in those times of trouble and their togetherness helps them through any situation that they may face. In My Sister’s Keeper, the help of Kate equally balances Anna’s stress out. Kate and Anna are each other’s other halves and despite the whirlwind of trauma that the girls entail, they always stick together no matter what. A child should not have the amount of stress and pressure that Anna holds upon her shoulders, but with the special bond between Anna and Kate, the two young girls tackle the most astounding obstacles in their life, together. In a comparison to My Sister’s Keeper, where Anna has her sister for support to lean on, in the novel White Oleander, Astrid is left alone, hopeless with nothing to look forward to because she has no one. To a child, hopelessness should never be felt; they should always feel as though they are wanted and loved, this is not how Astrid has lived her life. In Astrid’s life she has a reoccurring feeling of being hopeless with nothing bright in her future due to the fact that she has been let down so many time that she feels as though and being lonely is a pattern that she is stuck in. It is truly unfair the life that Astrid has lived thus far because feeling unwanted and never being good enough for anyone must be excruciatingly draining on the human mind. It becomes a mindset for Astrid that she is alone and no one wants her: “Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space” (Fitch, 419). Even though these two novels have different stressors for each of the main characters, it is not to be neglected that the pressure and negative emotion that is piled on top of each of these young girls is far too much than they should even be exposed to at their age. Stress is added on that much more from other significant relationships in the main characters lives that influence their actions and feelings strongly. Both Anna and Astrid share feelings of needlessness, hopelessness and being alone in themselves, and they are contrasted when it comes to their support systems, Anna has Kate but Astrid has only herself. These feelings that these young girls feel are often a consequence of poor supporting relationships with other significant people in their lives.
Significant relationships and people in our lives can effect who we grow up to be; in the novels My Sister’s Keeper and White Oleander, both Anna and Astrid are exposed to significant relationships that effect them both emotionally.
In everyone’s lives, there are usually significant people that are looked up to more than others, or those who are the first ones we go to and turn to for advice or a shoulder to lean on in times of trouble. In the novel My Sister’s Keeper, Anna’s life includes some relationships that should be more significant and involved than they appear to be in the novel. For example, Anna and her father Brian don’t really have a solid foundation of a relationship because her father always has to agree with her mother and he isn’t really hands on. Sara and her thoughts usually drown Brian’s opinion out. In the novel My Sister’s Keeper, Anna’s father does not seem to know when to step up and take charge and make sure his children are being looked after: "A fire's a beautiful thing, right? Something you can't take your eyes off, when it's burning. If you can keep it contained, it'll throw light and heat for you. It's only when it gets out of control that you have to go on the offensive” (Picoult, 41). This reference made by Brian in an internal monologue is a revelation for the father of three. Brian in this quote is believed to be comparing how if a situation, much like the situation his family is in, is not contained, feelings will be hurt and negative consequences will most likely be the outcome. Brian seems more timid than anything towards the action of taking charge because it seems to be that he is not intending to get in the cross fires of his wife’s opinions. In contrast to Anna in My Sister’s Keeper, Astrid in White Oleander, was left by her birth mother, and if being in the foster care system wasn’t hard enough on her as a young girl, having such horrid foster parents had to be the beginning of the end of Astrid’s sanity. Astrid is
introduced to Starr as her first foster parent. Starr, who is an ex-stripper and “recovering” alcoholic, would not be thought to be the most positive example for a young girl whatsoever. Starr treats Astrid with no respect and uses very harsh language towards her. Astrid is treated as though she is a meaningless, waste of life and that she is useless. Astrid really begins to lose hope in herself and everyone around her and when things could not get any worse for her Starr gives up on her: “I decided I’m calling Children’s Services, so whatever you were thinking, it’s all over now, Baby Blue. You’re history” (Fitch, 89). She begins dissolving into a depressed pit of self-loneliness and hopelessness. The relationship between Starr and Astrid is very unhealthy; no child should feel unsafe in their home, a place where they should be able to go to hide from the unsafe things in the world. Starr also goes as far not only verbally abuse Astrid but she is also physically abused and assaulted when Starr shoots her 3 times whilst on a drunk rampage. This assault was the end of Astrid's time with Starr, but Astrid was still in for more negative relationships in the future. However, in My Sister’s Keeper, along with Anna’s father being very held back by the family’s situation that they are in, Anna’s brother, and eldest sibling, Jesse, seems to be left out of the picture all together. Within the relationships and struggles in this novel, Jesse seems to be most forgotten out of anyone involved. All Jesse ever wanted was to just feel like he meant something to the family unit, to be noticed as a valuable piece to the Fitzgerald family: "I look for places like me: big, hollow, forgotten by most everyone" (Picoult, 95). After his whole life being a fight for the spotlight, Jesse began seeking attention even more, but using negative means to do so. He lashed out and disrespected his parents even going as far as setting fires on purpose, doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Jesse really does not play a significant part in Anna’s life because he is so secluded and keeps to himself so much. Jesse shows major signs of depression and over all, feels like he is alone in his life. Therefore, these were all cries for help from the young man that no one was able to see through all of the other issues that are faced in this novel. Unlike Jesse in My Sister’s Keeper, Marvel, Astrid’s second foster parent, is much more of a negative effect on Astrid than Jesse had on Anna. This relationship between Marvel and Astrid is just another relationship in Astrid’s life that is affecting her growing-up experience. This is a relationship that is blinded by the outer appearance of Marvel, but in reality she is just as manipulative and evil as any other of the negative influences in Astrid’s life thus far. Marvel is a racist and forbids Astrid to even look at this black neighbour Olivia: “’Don’t you ever let me catch you talking to her.’ She said to me. ‘Christ, I remember when this was a good neighbourhood. Now it’s the black and the whores, chinks and beaners with chickens in the yard. I mean, what next?’” (Fitch, 133). When Astrid comes to create a bond with Olivia this was just another example of how Astrid always gets the things she gets attached to taken away in her life. Marvel caught Astrid coming out of Olivia’s house and this was when the more physical abuse began. Marvel hits Astrid and to destroy her that much more, she calls children’s services while Astrid is at school so she wont have a chance to say goodbye to Olivia. Let down after let down Astrid and Anna are more and more reluctant to creating relationships due to the negative ones that they have experienced. However, in both of the novels, the most severe and negative relationships for both of the young girls lives are their relationships with their mothers.
Finally, in both My Sister’s Keeper and White Oleander, the reader experiences the emotional and physical pains that both Anna and Astrid endure due to their negative mother-daughter relationships. As a young girl, there is nothing more sought after than to have a good relationship with her mother. The novel My Sisters Keeper has not only one but two thorough examples of how mother-daughter relationships, when negative, can really effect how a child grows up. Firstly we have Anna and her mother Sara, they have a butting-relationship, countless times Sara has left Anna wondering if she is even worth anything more than to be a donor for her sister. This mother-daughter relationship is very argumentative and includes a lot of tension; especially when Sara is sued by her own daughter for the rights to her own body. This, to any other child would mean nothing, but to Anna taking this stand and risking what little relationship that she has with her mother already, is sending a substantial message. Anna is taking back her body and doing it not only for herself, but also for her sister. We see Sara in a light that accentuates her negative qualities more often than not and we hardly are given the chance to view her caring and soft side. Essentially, Sara has tunnel vision when it comes to her children. She is not intestinally going out of her way to neglect her other children, but helping and caring for Kate is all she has known as a mother thus far. Sarah is unable to see the full picture of the needs of all of her children: “ . . . you said none of us is obligated to go into a fire and save someone else from a burning building. But that all changes if you're a parent and the person in that burning building is your child. If that's the case, not only would everyone understand if you ran in to get your child-they'd practically expect it of you’" (Picoult, 406). This quote shows that Sara is not selfish; she just cannot see the bigger picture because she is so blinded by Kate’s situation. In this novel, Sara is often a criticised character by a reader, but when analyzed we begin to see the layers of Sara unfold. The other mother-daughter relationship that is shown in My Sister’s Keeper is the relationship between Kate and Sara. This relationship is much more complex than it appears to the readers eye. The sacrifices that Sara would make in her life just for Kate are remarkable. Sara quit her job as a lawyer to pursue a full time job revolving around taking care of Kate. The abounding amount of love that is shown for Kate is almost turned into a negative aspect of this story due to the fact that Kate is the main focus of Sara’s life and thus she tends to neglect the others in her life and still calls it love: "'When you care more if someone else lives than you do about yourself . . . is that what love's like?'" (Picoult, 310). This relationship between mother and daughter alone may be great but in a family setting, Sara is hurting more people than she is helping. She has overflowing amounts of worries, cares and loving attributes for Kate that she almost forgets to share some of that with her other children, leaving them feeling neglected and used. Sara shows that nothing is more of a price than saving Kate, and Sara being so centered on Kate was the beginning of all of the other negative relationships that are involved in this storyline. Although the relationships in Anna and Kate’s lives are negative they at least have the bond of sisterhood to hold themselves together. As for Astrid and her relationship with her mother, she is left to feel hopeless and abandoned by the one person who is supposed to stay by her through everything. In this novel we depict Ingrid to be a selfish person who only thinks about herself and her image. She is consumed in thoughts of appearance and being the ideal image of a mother that she initially forgets to actually be a mother. In all of the letters that she sends to Astrid they are all filled with disapproving messages and things pertaining to her self: “Ingrid assumes a kind of mythic stature in her daughter's imagination. Astrid will continually measure herself against the standards of her mother's beauty and fearlessness (and find herself lacking) while at the same time learning to hate her mother for her selfishness, her cruelty and her ability to manipulate and charm” (Smith, 2007). Ingrid takes an even worse path of destruction in Astrid’s life when she finds out that Astrid is finally happy and in a safe place. This provokes jealously in Ingrid and sets her on a mission to destroy the relationship that has been built: “It was only natural to want to destroy something you could never have” (Fitch, 117). Ingrid finds Claire and inserts negative messages and doubt about Claire’s husband and their relationship. This changes and essentially is the beginning of Claire’s inner torment. Ingrid is a self-centered person who used appearance and negative personalities to cover up her own insecurities and hide her true self: “But I knew one more thing. That people who denied who they were or where they had been were in the greatest danger” (Fitch, 99). Astrid is neglected that role model in her life and was set on a journey in search of the love that she never had. These two novels blend both neglect and abusive relationships involving young girls and their mothers. As humans we thrive off of knowing that we are appreciated and wanted and it would be quite a struggling childhood not feeling like you are wanted or even needed.
In conclusion, the novels My Sister’s Keeper By Jodi Picoult and White Oleander By Janet Fitch it is exemplified that negative relationships affect the growing-up experience by how stress is dealt with, other significant relationships, and negative mother-daughter relationships. Children have necessary needs in order to succeed and feel like a needed part of society and Anna and Astrid were neglected of all of those emotional connections. The novels depict the raw emotion of two young girls who both have been left behind when the world seems to keep on moving. In any life, you should feel as though you are worth something more and that you are appreciated. Sometimes true happiness and positivity comes from the relationships we build when we are younger.
lacking exceptionally important emotional needs in their life that they would normally get out of a positive relationship. In the book My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, and White Oleander by Janet Fitch it is shown that negative relationships affect the growing-up experience; this is shown by Astrid and Anna’s reactions to the stress in their lives, other significant relationships, and the negative mother-daughter relationships.
In the books My Sister’s Keeper and White Oleander it is clear that both Anna and Astrid have to deal with different stressors in their life on a daily basis; Anna with feeling alone and issues with her mother and sister, and Astrid with being left alone with no hope. As humans, we all react to certain events in our lives differently. For instance, in My Sister’s Keeper Anna’s life is engulfed in stresses not meant for a girl her age to be dealing with, but what is most surprising is that she handles herself and her emotions much better than expected. Anna is left wondering quite often, feeling like no one cares or even the fact that the only reason for her being alive is to save Kate’s life; "…if aliens landed on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they'd conclude that most people have children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or because birth control isn't one hundred percent, or for a thousand other reasons that aren't really flattering … I was born for a specific purpose… because I could save my sister, Kate… It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy … Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn't get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you" (Picoult 7). Anna is left feeling that she is being used and that depending on what happens to Kate is what is sealing Anna’s fate. When all of the attention and energy of her family is going towards her sister Kate, Anna tends to feel like she is invisible, hidden behind the reality that she is only here for the purpose of saving her sisters life. “As with many works of fiction, Picoult takes current science, imagines ‘what could be’, and explores some of the social, psychological, emotional and – in this case legal – consequences that might follow. As a work of fiction My Sister’s Keeper seems a scarily realistic, though also, moving picture of a normal family under extreme pressure” (Newhart, 2005). The novel takes the reader on a journey of Anna’s existence and essentially from the time she was thought of to the time when her life was taken from her and in that short amount of time we realize that the choices of Anna’s parents to genetically create her, will haunt her in every moment of her living life. Anna feels alone in herself and it is a sad realization for a child to know that they weren’t created out of love for them, but for someone else. In a similar way, the novel White Oleander is heavily weighted towards the negative side of things according to how Astrid feels about her importance in life. Being as young as she is, Astrid doesn’t know what to think when she becomes She finds herself being left alone more often than any child should ever be. After Astrid is left by people she entrusted time and time again, she finds it very difficult to find people who she can trust and understand her: “If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment” (Fitch, 200). Astrid is left feeling like there is no point in trying to be anything but lonely because every time she finds happiness, it is taken away from her in such unfair ways. Children are generally very forgiving people but when Astrid becomes accustomed to her trust being broken and her being left with no one in the end; it becomes extremely difficult for her to trust anyone anymore. Astrid is surrounded by negativity and an environment not suitable for a child of her age. Children thrive off of knowing that they are important and needed in the lives of the people around them and when Astrid becomes abandoned she sees that she is not wanted. This feeling of loneliness for Astrid is very unfortunate, it shows how strong of a character she is for how she handles herself but being a child in Astrid’s situation, there is almost nothing to do but feel like no one cares. When Astrid is left with repeated disappointment and the feeling that she will be let down every time she entrusts someone, it is hard for her to be positive about anything: “Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it” (Fitch, 124). The feelings built up by anger and abandonment felt by Astrid is clear in the novel, Astrid gives off a depressing feeling and it is evident to the reader that all of her hope and trust in the people in her life is gone. In contrast to White Oleander, Anna in My Sister’s Keeper faces contradictory stressors from the inseparable bond that she shares with Kate. In one perspective, Anna feels the moral obligation to help her sister in any way possible, even if that means risking her own life to save her sister’s. She feels this obligation due to the fact that the only reason why she was brought to this earth was to save her sisters life, therefore Anna feels as though taking care of Kate is her job and if Kate dies, it is all her fault. In another perspective, Anna and Kate understand each other, the sacrifices that Kate is willing to make for Anna to not have to undergo any more surgeries is selfless and wouldn’t be done for anyone but her little sister. These sisters are not just sisters to each other, they are best friends and life co-pilots ready to take on anything as a team: “‘You do realize, she says, 'that you're the only friend I've got?' "That's not true,' I immediately reply, but we both know I'm lying . . . 'I'm not your friend, I'm your sister' And doing a damn lousy job at that. 'That's what I wanted to talk about,' Kate says, 'If you don't want to be my sister anymore, that's one thing. But I don't think I could stand to lose you as a friend’" (Picoult, 56). Unlike the loneliness felt by Astrid in White Oleander, Anna and Kate come together in those times of trouble and their togetherness helps them through any situation that they may face. In My Sister’s Keeper, the help of Kate equally balances Anna’s stress out. Kate and Anna are each other’s other halves and despite the whirlwind of trauma that the girls entail, they always stick together no matter what. A child should not have the amount of stress and pressure that Anna holds upon her shoulders, but with the special bond between Anna and Kate, the two young girls tackle the most astounding obstacles in their life, together. In a comparison to My Sister’s Keeper, where Anna has her sister for support to lean on, in the novel White Oleander, Astrid is left alone, hopeless with nothing to look forward to because she has no one. To a child, hopelessness should never be felt; they should always feel as though they are wanted and loved, this is not how Astrid has lived her life. In Astrid’s life she has a reoccurring feeling of being hopeless with nothing bright in her future due to the fact that she has been let down so many time that she feels as though and being lonely is a pattern that she is stuck in. It is truly unfair the life that Astrid has lived thus far because feeling unwanted and never being good enough for anyone must be excruciatingly draining on the human mind. It becomes a mindset for Astrid that she is alone and no one wants her: “Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space” (Fitch, 419). Even though these two novels have different stressors for each of the main characters, it is not to be neglected that the pressure and negative emotion that is piled on top of each of these young girls is far too much than they should even be exposed to at their age. Stress is added on that much more from other significant relationships in the main characters lives that influence their actions and feelings strongly. Both Anna and Astrid share feelings of needlessness, hopelessness and being alone in themselves, and they are contrasted when it comes to their support systems, Anna has Kate but Astrid has only herself. These feelings that these young girls feel are often a consequence of poor supporting relationships with other significant people in their lives.
Significant relationships and people in our lives can effect who we grow up to be; in the novels My Sister’s Keeper and White Oleander, both Anna and Astrid are exposed to significant relationships that effect them both emotionally.
In everyone’s lives, there are usually significant people that are looked up to more than others, or those who are the first ones we go to and turn to for advice or a shoulder to lean on in times of trouble. In the novel My Sister’s Keeper, Anna’s life includes some relationships that should be more significant and involved than they appear to be in the novel. For example, Anna and her father Brian don’t really have a solid foundation of a relationship because her father always has to agree with her mother and he isn’t really hands on. Sara and her thoughts usually drown Brian’s opinion out. In the novel My Sister’s Keeper, Anna’s father does not seem to know when to step up and take charge and make sure his children are being looked after: "A fire's a beautiful thing, right? Something you can't take your eyes off, when it's burning. If you can keep it contained, it'll throw light and heat for you. It's only when it gets out of control that you have to go on the offensive” (Picoult, 41). This reference made by Brian in an internal monologue is a revelation for the father of three. Brian in this quote is believed to be comparing how if a situation, much like the situation his family is in, is not contained, feelings will be hurt and negative consequences will most likely be the outcome. Brian seems more timid than anything towards the action of taking charge because it seems to be that he is not intending to get in the cross fires of his wife’s opinions. In contrast to Anna in My Sister’s Keeper, Astrid in White Oleander, was left by her birth mother, and if being in the foster care system wasn’t hard enough on her as a young girl, having such horrid foster parents had to be the beginning of the end of Astrid’s sanity. Astrid is
introduced to Starr as her first foster parent. Starr, who is an ex-stripper and “recovering” alcoholic, would not be thought to be the most positive example for a young girl whatsoever. Starr treats Astrid with no respect and uses very harsh language towards her. Astrid is treated as though she is a meaningless, waste of life and that she is useless. Astrid really begins to lose hope in herself and everyone around her and when things could not get any worse for her Starr gives up on her: “I decided I’m calling Children’s Services, so whatever you were thinking, it’s all over now, Baby Blue. You’re history” (Fitch, 89). She begins dissolving into a depressed pit of self-loneliness and hopelessness. The relationship between Starr and Astrid is very unhealthy; no child should feel unsafe in their home, a place where they should be able to go to hide from the unsafe things in the world. Starr also goes as far not only verbally abuse Astrid but she is also physically abused and assaulted when Starr shoots her 3 times whilst on a drunk rampage. This assault was the end of Astrid's time with Starr, but Astrid was still in for more negative relationships in the future. However, in My Sister’s Keeper, along with Anna’s father being very held back by the family’s situation that they are in, Anna’s brother, and eldest sibling, Jesse, seems to be left out of the picture all together. Within the relationships and struggles in this novel, Jesse seems to be most forgotten out of anyone involved. All Jesse ever wanted was to just feel like he meant something to the family unit, to be noticed as a valuable piece to the Fitzgerald family: "I look for places like me: big, hollow, forgotten by most everyone" (Picoult, 95). After his whole life being a fight for the spotlight, Jesse began seeking attention even more, but using negative means to do so. He lashed out and disrespected his parents even going as far as setting fires on purpose, doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Jesse really does not play a significant part in Anna’s life because he is so secluded and keeps to himself so much. Jesse shows major signs of depression and over all, feels like he is alone in his life. Therefore, these were all cries for help from the young man that no one was able to see through all of the other issues that are faced in this novel. Unlike Jesse in My Sister’s Keeper, Marvel, Astrid’s second foster parent, is much more of a negative effect on Astrid than Jesse had on Anna. This relationship between Marvel and Astrid is just another relationship in Astrid’s life that is affecting her growing-up experience. This is a relationship that is blinded by the outer appearance of Marvel, but in reality she is just as manipulative and evil as any other of the negative influences in Astrid’s life thus far. Marvel is a racist and forbids Astrid to even look at this black neighbour Olivia: “’Don’t you ever let me catch you talking to her.’ She said to me. ‘Christ, I remember when this was a good neighbourhood. Now it’s the black and the whores, chinks and beaners with chickens in the yard. I mean, what next?’” (Fitch, 133). When Astrid comes to create a bond with Olivia this was just another example of how Astrid always gets the things she gets attached to taken away in her life. Marvel caught Astrid coming out of Olivia’s house and this was when the more physical abuse began. Marvel hits Astrid and to destroy her that much more, she calls children’s services while Astrid is at school so she wont have a chance to say goodbye to Olivia. Let down after let down Astrid and Anna are more and more reluctant to creating relationships due to the negative ones that they have experienced. However, in both of the novels, the most severe and negative relationships for both of the young girls lives are their relationships with their mothers.
Finally, in both My Sister’s Keeper and White Oleander, the reader experiences the emotional and physical pains that both Anna and Astrid endure due to their negative mother-daughter relationships. As a young girl, there is nothing more sought after than to have a good relationship with her mother. The novel My Sisters Keeper has not only one but two thorough examples of how mother-daughter relationships, when negative, can really effect how a child grows up. Firstly we have Anna and her mother Sara, they have a butting-relationship, countless times Sara has left Anna wondering if she is even worth anything more than to be a donor for her sister. This mother-daughter relationship is very argumentative and includes a lot of tension; especially when Sara is sued by her own daughter for the rights to her own body. This, to any other child would mean nothing, but to Anna taking this stand and risking what little relationship that she has with her mother already, is sending a substantial message. Anna is taking back her body and doing it not only for herself, but also for her sister. We see Sara in a light that accentuates her negative qualities more often than not and we hardly are given the chance to view her caring and soft side. Essentially, Sara has tunnel vision when it comes to her children. She is not intestinally going out of her way to neglect her other children, but helping and caring for Kate is all she has known as a mother thus far. Sarah is unable to see the full picture of the needs of all of her children: “ . . . you said none of us is obligated to go into a fire and save someone else from a burning building. But that all changes if you're a parent and the person in that burning building is your child. If that's the case, not only would everyone understand if you ran in to get your child-they'd practically expect it of you’" (Picoult, 406). This quote shows that Sara is not selfish; she just cannot see the bigger picture because she is so blinded by Kate’s situation. In this novel, Sara is often a criticised character by a reader, but when analyzed we begin to see the layers of Sara unfold. The other mother-daughter relationship that is shown in My Sister’s Keeper is the relationship between Kate and Sara. This relationship is much more complex than it appears to the readers eye. The sacrifices that Sara would make in her life just for Kate are remarkable. Sara quit her job as a lawyer to pursue a full time job revolving around taking care of Kate. The abounding amount of love that is shown for Kate is almost turned into a negative aspect of this story due to the fact that Kate is the main focus of Sara’s life and thus she tends to neglect the others in her life and still calls it love: "'When you care more if someone else lives than you do about yourself . . . is that what love's like?'" (Picoult, 310). This relationship between mother and daughter alone may be great but in a family setting, Sara is hurting more people than she is helping. She has overflowing amounts of worries, cares and loving attributes for Kate that she almost forgets to share some of that with her other children, leaving them feeling neglected and used. Sara shows that nothing is more of a price than saving Kate, and Sara being so centered on Kate was the beginning of all of the other negative relationships that are involved in this storyline. Although the relationships in Anna and Kate’s lives are negative they at least have the bond of sisterhood to hold themselves together. As for Astrid and her relationship with her mother, she is left to feel hopeless and abandoned by the one person who is supposed to stay by her through everything. In this novel we depict Ingrid to be a selfish person who only thinks about herself and her image. She is consumed in thoughts of appearance and being the ideal image of a mother that she initially forgets to actually be a mother. In all of the letters that she sends to Astrid they are all filled with disapproving messages and things pertaining to her self: “Ingrid assumes a kind of mythic stature in her daughter's imagination. Astrid will continually measure herself against the standards of her mother's beauty and fearlessness (and find herself lacking) while at the same time learning to hate her mother for her selfishness, her cruelty and her ability to manipulate and charm” (Smith, 2007). Ingrid takes an even worse path of destruction in Astrid’s life when she finds out that Astrid is finally happy and in a safe place. This provokes jealously in Ingrid and sets her on a mission to destroy the relationship that has been built: “It was only natural to want to destroy something you could never have” (Fitch, 117). Ingrid finds Claire and inserts negative messages and doubt about Claire’s husband and their relationship. This changes and essentially is the beginning of Claire’s inner torment. Ingrid is a self-centered person who used appearance and negative personalities to cover up her own insecurities and hide her true self: “But I knew one more thing. That people who denied who they were or where they had been were in the greatest danger” (Fitch, 99). Astrid is neglected that role model in her life and was set on a journey in search of the love that she never had. These two novels blend both neglect and abusive relationships involving young girls and their mothers. As humans we thrive off of knowing that we are appreciated and wanted and it would be quite a struggling childhood not feeling like you are wanted or even needed.
In conclusion, the novels My Sister’s Keeper By Jodi Picoult and White Oleander By Janet Fitch it is exemplified that negative relationships affect the growing-up experience by how stress is dealt with, other significant relationships, and negative mother-daughter relationships. Children have necessary needs in order to succeed and feel like a needed part of society and Anna and Astrid were neglected of all of those emotional connections. The novels depict the raw emotion of two young girls who both have been left behind when the world seems to keep on moving. In any life, you should feel as though you are worth something more and that you are appreciated. Sometimes true happiness and positivity comes from the relationships we build when we are younger.