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
Kate muses about how grief should have a statute of limitation, so that after a certain point, the pain gets gradually less and less intense and it’s easier to move on without feeling guilty about it. She describes how, for some time after Anna’s death, Brian claimed he could see Anna in the sky, and Sara looked for signs that Anna would come back for her. Kate, on the other hand, hated herself, since she felt that, had Anna never filed her lawsuit, Anna never would have been at the intersection for that split-second moment.
The last chapter is the first one in Kate’s voice, as she describes the Fitzgeralds’ profound grief at losing Anna. Her guilt over Anna’s death happening because of the lawsuit is representative of her greater guilt surrounding how much of Anna’s life was given up for Kate—a major reason Kate asked Anna to file her lawsuit in the first place.
Themes
Kate explains how, after her kidney transplant nearly failed, she inexplicably recovered and has not been in relapse since. Dr. Chance thinks it’s an effect of the various treatments she’s had, but Kate believes that Anna had to take her place for her to survive. She recounts how her household was overcome with debilitating grief for a long time, then gradually began to reconstitute itself through small moments, such as Kate laughing at an episode of “I Love Lucy.” Kate felt embarrassed by this, but Jesse came up to hold her hand and told her that Anna would’ve laughed, too. Kate thinks about how, even when a loved one leaves the world, you still have to live in it, which eventually causes grief to fade.
Kate’s feeling that Anna has to die for her to survive reflects the dynamic that the two had for their entire sisterhood, and especially during Anna’s lawsuit: one sister would have to die for the other to live fully. In this way, the grief that the Fitzgeralds feel could be seen as grief that was meant for Kate—but instead, she is the one who has to undergo the never-ending and difficult process of living with grief.
Themes
Kate wonders if Anna watches over them. She wonders if she knows that the Fitzgeralds stayed close to Julia and Campbell and went to their wedding, but eventually had to drift apart due to the pain of their shared memories of Anna. She wonders if Anna knows that Jesse has become a police officer and that Brian struggled with alcoholism after her death but eventually recovered. She wonders if Anna knows that she’s now a ballerina teacher, who thinks of Anna every time she looks at her young students.
Although all of the surviving characters have relatively happy endings, Kate’s description of how everyone’s lives have turned out reflects just how deeply Anna’s death has affected them. In particular, Brian’s alcoholism and the Fitzgeralds’ inability to keep close to Julia and Campbell shows that Anna’s death has left permanent scars.
Themes
Almost a year after Anna’s death, Sara comes home with some film from Kate’s graduation. The two look at the photos, and when they reach the end, they find a photo of Anna at the beach, holding up her hand to avoid being photographed. The two of them stare at it for a long time. Sara lets Kate keep the photo, and she puts it in an envelope in her desk drawer so that she can look at it in case she starts to forget Anna’s face. Whenever she worries about this, she goes in front of a mirror and looks at the scar from her kidney transplant, reminding herself that Anna’s blood is running through her veins. She thinks about how she takes Anna with her wherever she goes.
Kate’s feeling that she carries Anna with her wherever she goes encapsulates the core of the sisters’ relationship. Although the lawsuit highlighted the ethical difficulties of Anna’s donations, the fact that the novel ends with narration from Kate’s perspective serves as a reminder that Kate is alive because of Anna. In this way, Anna’s blood and kidney become symbols of her love for Kate, which has outlasted her even after she’s died.
Themes
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