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
Julia asks Izzy if she thinks Julia likes Campbell “because he’s an asshole, or in spite of it.” Izzy is watching a movie and is initially annoyed at being interrupted, but she responds that maybe Julia just has an attraction to jerks, and it’s also difficult to get over the first person you have sex with. She warns Julia that Campbell might be handsome, but he’s rotten inside. Just then, Campbell himself arrives. He tells Julia about Sara’s bargain and invites her to dinner to talk about it. Julia refuses at first but ultimately relents.
Izzy once again provides sisterly support to Julia regarding Campbell by simultaneously validating and criticizing her: she acknowledges that Julia’s feelings are understandable, but also warns Julia against pursuing said feelings. Even so, Izzy’s advice is not enough for Julia to resist going along with Campbell.
Themes
Campbell drives Julia to the edge of the water, but Julia doesn’t see a restaurant. Julia tells him that her first rule is that they only talk about the trial. He tells her to take off her shoes and put her feet in the grass to relax; he does so himself. Julia, watching him, wonders if he took the case for PR or if he wants to help Anna; she can’t help but hope it’s the latter. She then relents, sitting on the grass with Campbell. He asks her what the second rule is, and Julia tells him that she makes all the rules. He smiles.
Julia continues to struggle with her feelings surrounding Campbell, particularly since she is unsure whether she can trust him or not. Because Campbell has refused to be forthright about his feelings, it has left Julia constantly seeing ulterior motives in everything he does.
Themes
The night before, Julia talks to Seven. He asks her what she’s hiding from, and he says she’s not hiding from anything. Seven points out that she’s hiding out in a gay bar during the evening while wearing a suit. Julia tells him that she won’t take fashion advice from him, and he bets her that he could get her to dye her hair again, since “you can take the pink hair dye out of the girl, but you never lose those roots.” Julia responds that he doesn’t know her, and he says that she doesn’t know herself, either.
Seven’s comment about Julia’s hair is a nod to the fact that, although Julia has fallen into a more conventional life, she still has the independent streak that guided her as an adolescent. Although Julia argues against this, Seven’s claim that she doesn’t even know herself reflects is hard for her to refute and reflects just how lost she really is.
Themes
Julia and Campbell have dinner on a sailboat, and it becomes clear to Julia that Campbell is stalling on giving her information. They drink some wine and discuss which animal they would be. Julia says goose because they mate for life, and while Campbell doesn’t answer directly, he says that Anna told him she’d be a phoenix. He then asks Julia what she thinks of Anna, causing her to stiffen as she realizes Campbell is trying to figure out what her decision for the hearing is. The two of them argue over Campbell’s unethical behavior, and Julia asks him if anything that comes out of his mouth is honest. Campbell claims that he never lied about anything, and she asks him what Judge is for. He kisses her, and the two begin to undress.
Although Julia and Campbell reconcile (at least physically) in this scene, it is clear from their argument beforehand that this has not solved the issues between them. Julia still distrusts him, especially once she realizes that he’s trying to glean her decision about Anna. However, the fact that she sleeps with him is evidence of how she struggles to disentangle her lingering feelings for him with her more pragmatic concerns about his ethics and morals.
Themes
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