- Read the prompt carefully noticing all requirements for the entry.
- Plan your response in your journal first. Blog-only answers may not receive credit.
- Read existing posts before creating your own to avoid posting the same idea. If someone has already taken your idea, don't simply post it again. Instead, respond to the previous post, adding information, giving new examples, or expanding upon the idea.
Entry 19:
Write a blog entry for the novel on the school website. You may choose any topic that you are interested in, or respond to someone else’s blog. While blogs may seem informal, they require that you edit and revise before you PUBLISH. In your Journal, write a blog and revise it. Then, post the blog on the website -- http://crhs-summerreading.blogspot.com/
After reading and completing this novel, "My Sister's Keeper", by Jodi Picoult, I have realized one thing. Although appearance may not always be what it is, you can always fight for what you believe in. Anna Fitzgerald went all the way in protesting to donate her kidney and declaring legal emancipation from her parents. But what no one realized was that she was doing it all for her sick sister, Kate. Of course she would have some sort of benefit in the long run. But the sisterly bond between Anna and Kate was so strong that Anna began to believe in Kate's desires. Whether it was of the thought of not being able to live much longer under the same roof or growing up without the influence of an older sister or just out of love, no one knows exactly. Anna began fighting for herself to fight for Kate. Because what Anna wants is for Kate to be happy. And she has, for the most part, but those moments of anguish and pain that Kate has to endure does not make existing worthwhile. She is ready to move on. But then something unexpected happens that causes the book's contents to flip onto itself. Anna dies and Kate receives the organ that was so unwanted, but needed, from her. Kate lives on now with Anna inside her.
ReplyDeleteJenna Hagwood-
ReplyDeleteFor this blog I'm going to be reviewing my thoughts on the ending and why I think the author chose to end it this way. To start off with, I thought the ending was a bit strange considering throughout the whole book Picoult made it seem like Kate was going to be the one to die. I didn't really like the fact that it ends up being Anna, however I think I know why the author did this. I think that the author chose to do this because it was tracing back to something Anna said earlier in the book. She spoke briefly about how if a child is born with a specific purpose, it should be a good one because once that purpose is over they're not needed anymore. I think that when Anna died after the crash, Picoult had been reflecting back on that statement considering the fact that Anna had just declared medical emancipation and thus, stopped serving her purpose. In the epilogue, they had stated that all her organs had been removed and stored for Kate if she were to need them later. Because of that Kate lived much longer than expected and this too could have been tied back to that statement because then Anna's purpose had really ended after she died from the crash.
The novel "My Sister's Keeper" proposed many ethical issues. For instance, the fact that Anna was manufactured, in a way, to match her sister's DNA for what was originally a Cord Blood donation. It is unethical for a baby to be made to save someone else's life in the first place. Even if the parents only had the best in mind. Babies shouldn't be made in a container anyways. Babies were made to be spontaneous and joyful new family members with no expectations in mind about them doing anything special. Instead, Anna was conceived for what was intended to be good reasons but were nothing more than selfish. It would have been one thing if her parents had stopped at a Cord Blood donation, which Anna would never need nor know about, but her parents carried on. For years she donated everything Kate needed until she said enough. Her parents asking her to donate her kidney was a step to far. Its unfair to expect a child to donate something so vital to them. She would have had to be careful her whole entire life and that’s not fair to anybody. The decision to donate any organ is meant to be decided by the donator anyways. Sara tried to convince her though, even though it was clearly wrong for her to do so. Sara and Brian probably never realized that they were wrong for bringing Anna into the world the way they did until Anna sued them for medical emancipation and then died soon after. I’m sure they had their doubts about it occasionally, but I don’t believe they truly regretted anything until Anna died. Sara and Brian made a decision to bring Anna into the world, I believe they made the wrong one. They not only hurt her but they hurt the whole family for their selfish actions. They hurt Anna by making her go through procedures that did not benefit her directly. They hurt Kate by elongating an extremely painful life. Jesse, by making him feel like he wasn’t cared about and was unloved. Sara and Brian were affected by all this too, they lost a child and that’s probably the most pain any parent could ever go through. After all, if Anna hadn’t been put through all this she wouldn’t have gone to court and she wouldn’t have been in the car at that intersection. Sara and Brian had only the best planned but it turned into the worst. I wonder, if after it was all said and done, if they would do things differently. That’s something we’ll never know though.
ReplyDeleteJean Bellamy-
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be looking at how this book studies morals in human nature. Most of the book is based around Anna and her struggles with right and wrong, and, to a certain extent, selfishness and selflessness. Most of all, Anna wants to fight for her own rights and finally be free of having to sacrifice herself for her sister, but at times you can see her resolve falter. She wonders if what she is doing is right, and about what would be best for her sister, but ultimately chooses to help herself, as human nature tells us to. Another, though smaller, moral dispute is about Anna's parents creating her specifically for her sisters benefit. Some of the public are outraged at a 'designer' baby, and later, when they find out what she was born to do, are upset that Anna was born only to save her sister. These people are looking into the moral dispute of genetically engineering a human, something that, especially in this situation has a very clear list of pros and cons.
Matt Holzapfel-
ReplyDeleteI would like to talk about the events leading up to the unfortunate conclusion of "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. First of all, I believe that, to put all of this hard work and effort into creating and building up the story of Anna Fitzgerald, just to end it all in one foul swoop (a couple of pages) makes absolutely no sense to me. Yeah I'm sure Jodi Picoult had some good reason to write her book that way, like she was teaching us a valuable lesson or something, but I thought that the ending was totally pointless. maybe it is just me, but I seem to run into a lot of books that have a great plot, a great story line, and even a great moral, but I seem to keep running books that completely baffle me with confusing and disappointing endings. Back to "my Sister's Keeper", we finally realized that Anna was not being a selfish little kid who was getting tired of being poked and prodded every so often, but instead, a loving sister who respected Kate's decision to give up on saving her life, and let Anna live her's.
Brooke Graham-
ReplyDeleteFor this post I am going to talk about my feelings on the ironic ending to "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Although I really enjoyed the book as a whole I'm not quite sure what I think about the ending to it. It took the author over four hundred pages to elaborate on the story of Anna Fitzgerald and her family and then in three pages she completely destroyed Anna and changed the outcome, I don't feel this gives her character justice. Also though I feel that if the ending had been happy and both sisters had lived the book wouldn't carry as much meaning. This ending shows you that life is precious and unpredictable at the same time; it also shows you that the impossible can be made possible. The other thing I thought of because of this ending is that there may be outcomes that you hadn't even imagined or thought of yet. The author really evolved and molded the ida of life and it's value throughout the novel. The ending makes you really think- how much is a life worth? How much suffering can a family take before they have the right to give up? and is there really ever a time when it's okay to give up? It all depends on your beliefs, views, and values of life. The ironic ending really makes you think and puts a twist on the book as an entire work. It's an idea that I'm sure anyone could really expand upon because it's open to so many points of view.