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 gets paged about a two-car accident with injuries. He arrives at a dangerous intersection to find a T-bone, with a giant truck rammed into a tiny BMW, which has been crushed. The truck driver is on the way to the hospital, but Red is trying to use the jaws of life to rescue the two people in the BMW. Brian tries to climb in through the top of the truck, but as he begins to wiggle into the car, Red pries open the door, at which point Brian realizes a horrible truth: Anna is the passenger. He frantically extracts Campbell and reaches for Anna, punching Red when he tries to intervene. They get her into the ambulance. Anna has a pulse but is not moving.
In a tragically ironic twist from the last chapter in which Campbell and Anna were discussing Anna’s future, her future has now once again been jeopardized by a senseless tragedy. Her comment about Campbell’s car being crushed like a can is revealed to have been an example of foreshadowing, with both her and Campbell severely injured. The fact that Anna is not moving suggests that the situation is extremely grave.
Themes
At the hospital, Brian is not allowed into the trauma ward. Sara joins him, frantic, and he explains the basic facts, but is unsure how much he should tell her about Anna’s lack of responsiveness. Campbell emerges, beaten and bloodied, furiously asking where Anna is. He sees Brian, and Brian’s expression is enough for him to realize something terrible has happened to Anna. The doctor comes out and tells Brian that Anna’s not responding to noxious stimuli, causing Brian to scream. When Sara asks what’s going on, the doctor explains that Anna has received a fatal head injury and is brain-dead—then asks if they want to pursue organ donation. Brian thinks about stars that initially appear like single bright stars but turn out to be twin stars rotating around each other. Campbell pipes up and volunteers for Anna’s kidney to go to Kate.
In a twist of tragic irony, Anna ultimately loses control of her body after fighting so hard for her bodily autonomy. Although Campbell was her biggest advocate in her case, now that he has medical power of attorney over her, it would make no sense to waste the chance, however remote, to save Kate’s life. Thus, Anna’s story ends with her not only undergoing what she tried to avoid for the entire novel, but with her losing her life instead of Kate.
Themes
