The Ambiguous Line Between Right and Wrong in My Sister's Keeperby Jodi Picoult

833 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Psychological themes in my sisters keeper jodi picoult

There is an ambiguous line between right and wrong that can cause difficulty when making decisions. Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper demonstrates the grey area between right and wrong through a family's struggle with ethics. First, Anna's character struggles to do what is right while keeping the consequences of her actions in mind. Second, Sara's conflict with society shows how problematic it can be to do what seems right for one's family. Finally, the symbolism of stars and dark matter depicts how natural it can be to overlook what is unjust and only see what is right. Through Anna's character, Sara's conflict with society, and the symbolism of stars and dark matter, Picoult's My Sister's Keeper suggests that in order to do what is right, one may have to do what is perceived as wrong.
First, Anna faces many challenges when making decisions that could have both positive and negative results surrounding her sister's acute promyelocytic leukemia. To begin with, Anna is a mature and independent teenager who is capable of making her own decisions. Anna does not want to involuntarily donate a kidney to her sister, Kate, so she sues her parents for medical emancipation. By wanting full rights to her own body, which she is entitled to, Anna's actions are perceived as selfish and morally wrong because she is risking Kate's life. Eventually, at the climax of the novel, Anna demonstrates that she is compassionate by disclosing her hidden motive. Anna admits that Kate “asked me to kill her” (Picoult 388), revealing her real reason for filing a lawsuit. Because Anna is doing this as the result of her sister's wish to die, she is doing the right thing for Kate, demonstrating that her “wrong” is really a “right”. Ironically by the end of th...

... middle of paper ...

...which is unfair for the overlooked star but good for its twin. Stars and dark matter symbolize the difficulty there is in understanding and making decisions based on both what is right and what is wrong.
In conclusion, Picoult's My Sister's Keeper suggests that there is an ambiguous line between doing what is right and what is wrong, as shown through Anna's character, Sara's conflict with society, and the symbolism of stars and dark matter. First, Anna struggles to balance her values and their repercussions. Second, Sara comes across many battles against society as she tries to do what is right for her family. Finally, the symbolism of stars and dark matter shows how what is right can outshine what is also wrong. The overlap of what is thought to be right and what is thought to be wrong makes the reader contemplate his or her own decisions, and judgements of others.

Show More
Related

  • Anna Seelfreud Grosz Analysis

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anna’s older sister Margaret had a baby girl. Anna’s father owned a vineyard and was a wine merchant, while Anna mother was a stay at home mother.

    Read More

  • Symbolism And Symbolism In 'Currents' By Hannah Vosckuil

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her story “Currents” Hannah Vosckuil uses symbolism, and a reverse narrative structure to show the story of how unnamed sympathetic and antagonistic characters react differently to a traumatic event. Symbolism can be found in this story in the way that Gary does not mind sitting in the dark alone at the end of the day as well as how both of his girls are affected by the symbolism of hands. One holding a boy’s hand for the first time and the other becoming sick after seeing the dead boy’s hand fall off the stretcher. The sympathetic and antagonistic manner of these characters is shown when both girls are told by their grandmother that they must return to the water to swim the next day. The grandmother sees this simply as a way of encouraging them and keeping them from becoming afraid of the water. However, the girls see this as a scary proposition because of what had happened, showing the grandmother as an antagonist character to the little girls.

    Read More

  • Frances as the Devil's Advocate in "Fall On Your Knees" by Ann-Marie MacDonald

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...d longs for her elder sister and mother. Frances is a good person – at heart – and is always looking out for her younger sister. Moreover, even though she has different views that her father and will always do the opposite of what is expected of her, it is seen that this insecurity is caused by James indeed. Frances feels that in order to gain security in her life, she must perform these actions. She feels compelled to live her life the way she does. Frances’s naughty and mischievous behaviour can be viewed as a weakness she possesses, and she longs to correct these weaknesses by her actions. She is not a role model by any means, but she is by no means the Devil’s advocate. A sincere heart – compelled by circumstances – does its best to make the situation turn out for the better than the worse, and Frances, through her love for her mother, inevitably does just that.

    Read More

  • frankenstein ethos

    479 Words  | 1 Pages

    The reader is forced into the role of a character that already has some developments. Walton’s sister is a character that exists prior to the story; this can be seen by the way Walton treats his subject. Because the reader is the audience with her, the reader is pushed into that role, but not to become a part of the story, only to develop the relationship with Walton.

    Read More

  • Peg Kehret

    410 Words  | 1 Pages

    The comparison between siblings has become a universal problem over the past several decades, as implied in Peg Kehret’s elementary monologue, I’m NOT My Brother; I’m Me. Through Jonathan, Kehret expresses the valuable message to never judge people based on the characteristics of their siblings. As the oldest child in my family, I support Kehret’s message and additionally believe that every individual is different and hence, should not be judged or compared with their siblings, family members or friends.

    Read More

  • Flannery O'Connor's Use of Religious Allegory

    2386 Words  | 5 Pages

    At the outset, an insightful reader needs to draft the general boundaries of allegory and symbolism in the story. To put it most simple, the problem of distinguishing between good and evil undergoes a discussion. It is not difficult to notice that the Grandmother stands for good and the Misfit for evil. But such a division would be a sweeping and superficial generalisation, for both the characters epitomize good and evil traits. Moral evaluation is a very complex process and it is not the human who is to decide on that. There are rather various degrees of goodness and evil, both interwoven, also in their religiousness. Th...

    Read More

  • Why I Live at the P.O.

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the story, it has been Sister who has tried to persuade the reader to take her side in the debacle with her family. The truth is that it was Sister who caused the entire dispute that is going on with her obsession to compete with her sister that goes back to her childhood where she feels that Stella-Rondo is spoiled and continues to be spoiled up to the end following Sister’s desperate need for attention.

    Read More

  • Conflict In The Rez Sisters

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sister's fights are usually underlined with their desires to make each other into better people. The sisters are connected by their pursuit a better life causing them to push each other towards their goals. When Emily gets herself

    Read More

  • Ethical Dilemma In The Memory Keeper's Daughter By Kim Edwards

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    For this paper I read the novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, this novel is told in the span of 25 years, it is told by two characters David and Caroline, who have different lives but are connect through one past decision. The story starts in 1964, when a blizzard happens causing the main character, Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. During the delivery the son named Paul is fine but the daughter named Phoebe has something wrong with her. The doctor realizes that the daughter has Down syndrome, he is shocked and age remembers his own childhood when his sister was always sick, her dyeing at an early and how that effected his mother. He didn’t want that to happen to his wife, so David told the nurse to bring Phoebe to an institution, so that his wife wouldn’t suffer. The nurse, Caroline didn’t think this was right, but brings Phoebe to the institution anyways. Once Caroline sees the institution in an awful state she leaves with the baby and

    Read More

  • Everyday Use by Alice Walker: A Look at Symbolism and Family Values

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...and how we perceive ideas about what writers are trying to get across. This story is a clear representation of family values and true inheritance.

    Read More

  • Ostracism In Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    As clever as human beings are, we still rely on social groups for survival. We evolved to live in cooperative societies, and for most of human history we depended on those groups for our lives. Like hunger or thirst, our need for acceptance emerged as a mechanism for survival. But when we don't have that, we tend to become disconnected from society, which ultimately leads to social rejection. Being socially rejected can also be the reason why people commit horrific acts. In the novel Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult shows that being socially ostracized can affect someone's life significantly.

    Read More

  • Dee, Dee And Dee's Personal Experiences

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Any story that begins with a mother fantasizing about reuniting with her daughter on T. V talk show is going to have something to tell us about their family. Probably a lot to tell us in fact. As the narrator herself points out, though, there’s a lot that television wouldn’t be able to show the family members and their complex relationships to one another in this story. The conflict, in fact, concerns competing ideas about what tradition (or heritage) even means. In a classic rock song, the Rolling Stones sing, “you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.” In this paper, I’m going to relate this quote to my own personal experiences. I’m going to closely analyze the two sisters, Maggie,

    Read More

  • The Awakening by Kate Chopin

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...that take a huge effect on Edna, the reaction being Edna taking her life. These ties in with the main theme that the characters ethical decisions create huge consequences and their actions and decisions are bigger than the plot.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    Awareness in “The Sister’s” becomes the main focus of the story as the boy begins to realize the truth behind his life. Before the priest dies the boy admires him as a father; but come to learn that he is not a respected as he thinks. After the priest passes on the people around him begin to talk. “-It’s bad for children, said old Cotter, because their minds are so impressionable. When children see things like that, you know it has an effect…-” (3) This shows the disgruntled attitude that most people in the story hold towards the priest. As the story goes on we learn that the boy was in the running for becoming a man of clergy not unlike the priest, even though Cotter still thought less of Father Flynn. “-The old chap had taught him a great deal, mind you; and they say he had a great wish for him-” (2) The boy was supposed to be a legacy for the position the priest held. But as we all do when people close to us die; you get hit hard with the true reality of what goes on around you, like the boy did.

    Read More

  • The Dysfunctional Family in Why I Live at the P.O.

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since Sister was affected the most by certain actions of the family, Welty narrated this short story through Sister’s point of view to show how the function of the family declined through these actions. Sister was greatly affected when her sister broke the bonds of sisterhood by stealing her boyfriend and marrying him. Secondly, Sister was affected by the favoritism shown by her family towards her younger sister. Since her sister was favored more than her, this caused her to be jealous of her sister. For example, Sister shows a lot of jealousy by the tone she uses when describing what Stella-Rondo did with the bracelet that their grandfather gave her. Sister’s description was, “She’d always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when sh...

    Read More

More about The Ambiguous Line Between Right and Wrong in My Sister's Keeperby Jodi Picoult

Open Document