Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Sister’s Keeper, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bodily Autonomy
Siblinghood
Parenthood
Control
Illness and Isolation
Summary
Analysis
Sunday morning, a woman in an octopus costume walks into the station holding a small dog. Brian recognizes her as Mrs. Zegna, whose house burned down a few days ago. She explains that her Ursula Halloween costume is the only clothing she has and that she needs help. Brian tells her that he can help her get into a station and contact her insurance company to expedite her reimbursement. Mrs. Zegna says that she doesn’t have insurance because she doesn’t live her life expecting the worst. Brian stares at her, trying to remember what it’s like to feel immune to disaster.
Mrs. Zegna’s interlude in the novel is darkly humorous, but it also serves to show how distanced some people are from catastrophe in comparison to the Fitzgeralds. Brian, who has learned to expect disaster around corner, cannot relate to someone who doesn’t even have home insurance because they feel they are invincible against senseless tragedies.
Themes
Brian goes to visit Kate at the hospital. She’s asleep, but Sara is there. Brian tells her that her call the night before meant a lot to Anna. He thinks back to a time when he and Sara went on a road trip when, after running out of gas, they walked and found a purported psychic. She told them that they would have three children and a long life, but it wouldn’t be good enough. Brian asks Sara if she remembers this, but she doesn’t. She asks to review Brian’s testimony, and he confesses that he wants to speak on Anna’s behalf. Sara says that this will cause the judge to rule in Anna’s favor. Brian replies that this is the point. He asks what Sara wants from him, and she asks for him to take him back. However, he thinks, they’ve both changed too much.
Brian and Sara’s reunion goes to show how emotionally estranged they are from each other. Brian, the more sentimental of the two, still remembers important memories of the two—but Sara, pragmatic and focused on their current predicament, has forgotten the emotional moments they’ve shared together. The rift between them increases when Brian confesses that he’s testifying for Anna, putting the two of them firmly on opposite sides of the lawsuit. As Brian points out, they are no longer alike at all despite being married.
Themes
