Blog Post on "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

I am currently reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. This is a beautifully written tragic story about a young teenager battling cancer. This girls' name is Kate. Kate has been fighting this cancer since she turned 2. Due to Kate's constant need of surgery, bone marrow, and blood, Kate's parents decided to have another kid so Kate would have a bone marrow match. Then, they got Anna. In some way, Anna is in the world because of her sister's sickness. Throughout the book she is always talking about what if Kate never got sick. Where and who would she be? I think that Anna has not experienced true life to the fullest. She wasn't even brought here because her parents wanted a baby. She was here so she could help her sister. 

To start off, if I were Anna, I would feel really disconnected to my family because I was made just to help my sister. If wasn't made out of love and respect, I would kind of feel a little distant from my parents even if they loved me just the way as they would a "wanted kid." 

From day one, Anna has always gone to get surgeries, shots, bone marrow transplants and many other hard-core things just when Kate yelled out a scream. She was pretty much in the same position as Kate. She had to go to the hospital whenever Kate went to the hospital. This shows that she really does not have a fully-experienced life. She probably has been taken out of school, from after school programs or even hanging out with her friends. Anna can never be a regular teenager because she either has to worry about Kate when she isn't with her or pray for Kate when she is. This would be so hard to deal with at such a young age.

Lastly, what if Kate never even got sick? Would Anna be here? In someway it might be a privilege for Kate to be sick, because if she wasn't, Anna probably would have never been here. Another point of view to look at it is maybe Anna would rather be just "un-born." Maybe all these surgeries and painful emergency room visits have been so hard that maybe she would just be better off not here? Maybe as we continue reading the book and getting to know Anna as a character we can make a better inference to what she might think if we asked her this question.

In conclusion, Anna and Kate have been through a lot together. Sometimes though, I really see that Anna isn't getting a life like a normal teenager. Sometimes it might be worth it but other times maybe this isn't what you really wanted in your life.