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
Brian, Campbell’s key witness, is testifying today. He shows up early with Anna wearing his captain’s uniform. Campbell asks Anna to walk Judge—even though he told her she couldn’t the day before—but she sees through his ploy and insists on staying for their conversation. Campbell asks Brian if he’s all right just as Sara enters the building. She pauses when she sees Brian with Campbell, then keeps walking. Brian stiffly responds: “We’re fine.”
Brian is the most important witness for Campbell and Anna’s case, since a testimony from one of Anna’s parents agreeing to emancipation will essentially end any debate. However, Brian’s anxious response to Sara’s entrance suggests that he might be having doubts about his decision and how it could affect his marriage.
Themes
Brian takes the stand. Campbell leads him into discussing how he was not always comfortable with Anna’s donations, particularly how Anna was originally only supposed to donate cord blood but then this turned into more and more donations. Even so, Brian discusses how difficult of a decision it was given Kate’s condition. He recalls how, when Kate was hemorrhaging, he wanted to give up on her and Sara didn’t, and Sara was right—which makes him reluctant to give up on Kate now. Campbell redirects Brian to talking about how he moved Anna out of the house, then asks him the key question: Does Brian agree with Sara about Anna continuing to be a donor? To Campbell’s dismay, Brian says yes. He asks Campbell what the right answer is in this situation, because he hasn’t found a better solution. Then, he begins to cry.
Brian’s about-face on the stand is a massive disappointment to Campbell, but it also shows just how impossible Brian’s situation is. His testimony highlights the suffering Anna underwent during her donations, but his memory of Sara refusing to give up on Kate during her hemorrhaging raises the question of whether Kate could survive her liver transplant against all odds, too. With this in mind, Brian’s answer to Campbell’s last question is understandable and shows how he is constantly torn between both Kate and Anna when considering what the right thing to do is.
Themes
Judge DeSalvo calls for a 10-minute recess before Sara cross-examines Brian. Campbell and Anna go downstairs, where Anna says that she’s never seen her dad cry and worries that she did that to him. Campbell tells Anna that, since Brian wasn’t the breakout witness Campbell was hoping for, she will have to take the stand herself. Anna blanches at this, but Campbell tells her that now is the time to show everyone that she has the maturity to make difficult choices. Even so, Anna staunchly refuses. Campbell asks her why she’s so against testifying, and Anna refuses this as well. She says she’s not going to change her mind; in response, Campbell tells her not to expect him to change her life.
Although Anna and Campbell’s relationship has made significant progress, the two once again find themselves at odds due to Campbell’s dishonesty and Anna’s stonewalling. The latter is especially significant since Anna refuses to even state why she won’t testify. Her stubbornness and secretiveness serves as a reminder, both to Campbell and the reader, that her true motivations for the lawsuit have never been explicitly spelled out.
Themes
