Blog #2 Quarter 2

THIS BLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS

After I finished "My Sister's Keeper," and found out the big plot twist at the end where we find out that Kate had wanted to die so that Anna could live, I remembered a quote from earlier in the book. It was Kate talking to her mother concerning Taylor Ambrose, a boy at the hospital who she became infatuated with. Kate says, "When you care more if someone else lives than you do about yourself... is that what love's like?" (310). I thought this quote was extremely significant because in the end, we find out that Kate loved Anna so much that she was willing to sacrifice her own life for her sister's. Maybe a part of Kate was talking about Anna as she talked to her mother.

There's a big difference between caring if someone lives, and actually being willing to die for them. Without thinking about it, it's easy to think they go hand-in-hand but in reality, you can care about someone more than yourself but still not be willing to die for them. I think the sibling-love between Jesse, Anna, and Kate was very unique. All siblings love each other, even if they refuse to admit it, but most wouldn't be willing to give up their lives in exchange for their brother's or their sister's. During the book, Anna admits several times that she thinks her life might be easier if Kate just died. I believe that she might choose her sister over herself if it came down to who had to have Leukemia. Jesse, on the other hand, seems like he would do anything to save his sister. At one point in the book, he mentions that he just wanted to be useful. It is implied that the reason he has such destructive patterns is because he feels useless when it comes to helping his sister.

This book pushes the boundaries on what people like to think about. It asks the question, is there a limit to how far one would go to save a loved one?

Picoult, Jodi. My Sister's Keeper. New York: Washington Square Press, 2004.