S

ummative Essay

uki Wang

r. Kemp
 E

NG3UI

uly 23, 2010

It is in our nature to crave power. With power, you can rise while others around

you Youcrumble. You have influence over what matters to you. To have power,

however, another person needs to give it up. Relationships often have an underlying

power structure, as illustrated in Jodi Picoult’s book My Sister’s Keeper, where one

person will make decisions to both of their benefits and sometimes unintentionally

hurt people outside of this relationship. Ultimately, this will reveal the qualities traits

that the people in the relationship may have hidden, as it takes another person to bring

out your true personality.

eople who are outgoing and impulsive are often the ones who are the ones in

chargetake charge in a relationship. Picoult demonstrates this with the characters Sara

and Brian, the parents of the Fitzgerald family. In this relationship, Sara is the more

impulsive one, portrayed when they ran out of gas on a highway with only ten dollars,

Sara told Brian, instead of spending all the money on gas, which was Brian’s idea,

“we’ll get half the gas, and ask the psychic when we can expect to run out the next

time.” (pg. 258, line 26-27) And as always, Sara convinced Brian. After Kate was

diagnosed with leukemia, Sara was given power to makemade all the important

decisions, such as when Dr. Chance, Kate’s doctor, tells Sara and Brian that Anna
needs to donate white blood cells to help Kate. Sara, seeing an opportunity to keep

Kate alive longer, jumps on the chance. Brian, however, is reluctant because it would

be unfair to Anna, and tells Sara, “I don’t think you should take Anna in to donate

blood.” (pg. 168, line 5-6) Hearing this, she immediately tries to make Brian feel

guilty by asking him “Would you give blood for Kate? … You do whatever you have

to, when it comes to people you love, right?” (pg. 168, line 14, 17-18) It is obvious

that Sara has more influence in their relationship, but her decisions are not always

ones that will benefit everyone involved. Sara was blinded by her fear of losing Kate

that she forgot about Anna’s welfare, and this makes her decision biased.Sara was so

scared for Kate’s welfare that she forgot about Anna’s. Since she has more control in

the relationship, however, she can make that biased decision, because Brian will not

tell her that she is wrong. When this decision was made, the readers are shown that

Sara, regardless of her trying to deny it, she favours Kate, the dying child. Brian does

not cross Sara; he tries to suppress Sara as much as he can. Coincidentally, Brian is

also a firefighter, but he has no control over large fires, and no matter what he does to

stop the fire, he needs to let it burn itself out. This is symbolized by his love of

constellations, because constellations are very similar to their family; a group of stars

that burn themselves out. He uses astrology to explain his theory on families, such as

“Dark matter has a gravitational effect on other objects. You can’t see it, you can’t feel

it, but you can watch something being pulled in its direction.” (pg. 149, line 7-9)

Although Brian has less influence in this relationship, his abilities to curb chaos in his

family are exposed as he tries to please everyone.

 S

ometimes the person with more authority in a relationship is not obvious. Maybe it’s

even the opposite of what it seems. Picoult’s This book portrays with the sisters Anna

and Kate. Anna is the healthy one of the two, and it seems like she has a clear

advantage over Kate, because she is keeping Kate alive with her blood and bone

marrow. What is not that obvious is that Anna is only required when Kate has an

incident. When this happens, Anna has to drop everything she was doing and rush to

the hospital, indicating that Anna has no control of when she helps Kate. Another

event that is misleading in regards to who has more control in the relationship is the

lawsuit. When Anna says to Campbell, a lawyer, “I want to sue them for the rights to

my own body” (pg. 19, line 6-7), the readers automatically assume that this is Anna’s

decision. However, a huge turning point occurs when she testifies that “she (Kate)

asked me to kill her.” (pg. 388, line 4) The readers find out that the person behind the

entire lawsuit was not Anna, but Kate using Anna as a puppet for both their benefits.

Anna was not the one behind the lawsuit, it was Kate. Although this decision is what

both of the sisters want, it will ultimately hurt the people around them, such as their

parents, who have worked so hard to care for Kate. This shows her parents that they

do not have as much control over Kate as they thought. Picoult also uses actions to

show where the power lies in the relationship. For example, When Anna and Kate are

doing dishes, Kate washes the dishes, and Anna dries them. Kate has the option of

which dish to wash, and Anna dries whatever Kate hands to her. This is representative

of Kate’s control over Anna in real life. Even though Kate is confined to her bed most
of the time, she has more control over the family than anyone else. The relationship of

Anna and Kate is representative of society’s constant need to judge a person based on

appearance, or first impression. Readers assumed Kate was weak because she has

cancer, and Anna was strong because she is doing an honourable thing for Kate, when

in fact, it was the opposite. From this, we find out that Kate is the stronger one of the

two sisters, even though she is crippled with cancer. This trait has shown itself

because of Anna. Anna’s actions are a manifestation of Kate’s if she was physically

strong enough to do them. After all, the author chose to have Kate to survive and

Anna die to show Kate’s strength.

he client-lawyer relationship between Anna and Campbell Alexander is also an

example of the power distribution in a relationship. Since Campbell is a successful

lawyer and Anna is only a thirteen year old girl, we assume that Campbell has more

control in their relationship because he is like Anna’s caretaker – he makes the legal

decisions, and advises Anna on what to say. It is Anna, however, who has the power to

decide if the lawsuit will take place, and she has shown that power by changing her

mind about the lawsuit multiple times. She has the power to ignore the advice and

change the direction of where the lawsuit is going, shown when Anna says that Kate

was the one who wanted the lawsuit, not her. Campbell is merely a chess piece on the

board of the sisters’ plan. It is interesting that that Picoult has created a character like

Campbell to be Anna’s lawyer. The two are alike in the fact that they are both

cowards. Anna gave in to Kate’s plead for death instead of talking her out of it.
Campbell does not want anyone knowing that he has epilepsy, which is why he gives

excuses such as to why he has a service dog for his seizures. Anna does not have the

strength to face her mom, and Campbell cannot face himself. Because of their

similarities, they can lean on each other while battling with Anna’s parents, which

helped them win the lawsuit. The same applies to the real world outside of the novel,

sometimes one person needs someone else’s support in order to get through a tough

situation. Anna and Campbell were both afraid to overcome their fears before they

met each other. As their relationship grew stronger, they grew stronger as well and

succeeded in achieving what they want.

Often, only one person in a relationship makes decisions according to what they

feel is best for both of them, as the book My Sister’s Keeper demonstrates. These

decisions may affect only the people in the relationship, or cause a ripple effect to

people outside of the relationship. A relationship brings out individuals’ true

personality by the support of the other person. Leaders are often discovered in this

way: through being around other people. This shows how people cannot find success

alone; they need the influence of the people around them.

 Bibliography

Picoult, Jodi. My Sister's Keeper: a Novel. New York: Atria, 2004. Print.