Q3 Outside Reading Week 6 Post B

Ever since the beginning of My Sister's Keeper, I had always known there was more to some of our characters than what is revealed. But for the past 350 pages or so, they've stuck to their stories, completely on track. And then it happened. The thing that stops everything, halts whatever process you've been making, and flips everything upside down, throwing you for a loop. But despite the disruption, I have been able to pick up from my initial reaction of complete and utter shock. Now, I write my reaction to this thing that halted everything and turned my world, or at least my outside reading world, upside down.

**WARNING: This next section contains spoilers from almost the end of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. If you don't want the book ruined for you, DO NOT read this section. I warned you...**

Campbell: His secret is finally revealed when he collapses onto the courtroom floor during Anna's questioning. He's an epileptic. That's why he has Judge. That's why he broke up with Julia. It happened when he was 18, a car accident. Campbell was mad at his parents for not being kinder to Julia, and wanting to sneak back to her house, he wasn't paying attention. He crashed. He was fine. Or so he thought. "I came through with a few bruises, and that night, I had my first seizure. Thirty CT scans later, the doctors still couldn't really tell me why, but they made it pretty clear I'd have to live with it forever"(384). It wasn't Julia who made Campbell end their relationship. It was his fear of his imperfections, of his freak-ness, of his need for dependence. He didn't want to be a burden, and so because he thought he was doing the right thing, he did the wrong thing. It's something that happens to all of us, and I don't think of Campbell as less of a person. He's learned to live with it and he's done just fine. Although he could've told Julia, admitting he was wrong is the first step of acceptance.

Anna: She's a complex character to understand. When away from her family, she's free-spirited, independent, and confident. From the beginning of the book, I always had the notion that Anna wanted her own life. She stands up for her ideas...when her parents aren't there. I thought her fear was of her parents, but it resulted to be more than that. Her fear of saying too much was because she didn't want anyone, not just her parents, to think of her as a horrible person. And most of all, she kept her sister's secret, something no one knew. "'Fine.' The truth bursts out of me; a raging river, now that the dam's washed away. 'She asked me to kill her.'"(388). Having to keep Kate's secret, and hers, "Inside me, something breaks. 'It was...it was what I wanted, too.'"(390). After this confession, there are so many different ways you could think of Anna's character. Me? I think of her as how I thought of her in the beginning. You can't blame her for wanting her own life, one not defined by Kate. Yes, it will be traumatic for Anna if Kate dies, but if she's always expecting it, if a part of her wishes it would happen, I don't really think Anna would receive psychological damage. She would be sad, devastated maybe, but she would also know that this is what Kate had wanted. And she would know that it was her who could give her sister what she wanted, cause she always does. Sometimes, when you love someone so much, you actually put them through more pain that what you intended for in the first place. And in a way, this case, from Sara to Kate, from Anna to Kate, it's like Campbell: sometimes when you try to do the right thing, you do the wrong thing.

Kate: Kate is the last character I want to talk about. For so many pages, so many years that have passed within these pages, I always thought Kate was the good daughter, the one who wanted to live. I thought she was fine with all of this because we've never heard from her. And maybe Picoult made it like this on purpose, so that when we did learn of Kate's secret, it would seem that much more shocking. If we were able to read and hear Kate's thoughts, this blow wouldn't have been so hard. Yet when you think about it, wouldn't this all make sense? Her life hasn't been easy and the one good thing, the one good person outside her family, has died. She's gone through so many traumatic events, fought so hard, lived way past her life expectancy, that I think enough is enough. Sometimes, you just can't fight anymore. And despite everyone's concern, everyone's love for Kate, sometimes when you love someone this much, you have to let them go. And the same fear that Anna felt towards her parents has probably grown in Kate because she can't tell them she doesn't want to go through this. Kate isn't that different from Anna. They both want certain things, but neither can have what they want because of their parents. So in the end, it's not a case of Anna vs. her parents or Anna vs. Kate. It's Kate and Anna vs. Sara. Anna was trying to help Kate. And because of how long Sara's lived with her daughter's illness, she just assumes that everything she wants for Kate is what Kate wants for herself. She's never thought to ask. And because of this, Kate can't tell her what's important. Kate loves her family, and maybe this is why she didn't tell them. She was trying to do the right thing, when she did what was wrong.