The Power of Sacrifice

Another article from the Symposium, written by Aaviola Pereira:

Lauren Oliver once said, “I guess that’s just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up.” Sacrifice is something which cannot be explained but only carried out.

The best example to understand sacrifice is the way it is displayed in the book ‘My Sister’s Keeper.’

My sister’s keeper is a book of immense sadness and puts before us the harsh and bitter truth about life. It is a book about sisterhood, choices and the sacrifices we have to make in our lives for our friends and family. But in this article we will focus upon the value of sacrifice and how it is displayed throughout the book. 

First let us get to know a gist of the story. The story is about Anna, a 13-year-old girl who is average in every way except for the circumstances of her life. Anna is a genetically engineered baby, designed to be a genetic match for her sister, Kate, who has acute leukaemia. Anna has spent her life giving blood and bone marrow to Kate and is now under pressure to give a kidney. Now Anna wants to sue her parents for the right to her body.  Throughout her life Anna has always had to go to extremes in helping her sister. Anna was not even a year old but just a month when the doctors had carried out an invasive procedure on her. Again, when she was 5, she had to give her bone marrow cells. We see that throughout the book and till the very end Anna had to make sacrifices. It isn’t just Anna who has made sacrifices but Anna’s mother Sara too. We see this in the selfless way Sara has devoted her life to helping Kate get better, in the way she determinately faces everyday with the new challenges it puts forward for Kate as well as her family. Brian, Anna’s dad also shows bravery and selflessness in the way he carries out his day to day activities .Both the parents display absolute love and devotion to the idea of Kate’s survival. Jesse, Anna’s brother is the one who I feel had to make as many sacrifices as Anna for Kate’s sake. Jesse as well as Anna had to sacrifice their childhood and happiness for Kate. 

The way the entire family makes sacrifices for Kate is something to be inspired by. Many families in today’s world fail to forget the essence and importance of family. Many forget that when the rest of the world turns their back on us it is our parents and our brothers and sisters who will always remain. People have forgotten that no matter how we are it will always be our family members who will accept the way we are. Through family alone can the value of sacrifice be learned. Families now fall apart with simple issues but Picoult’s book shows us that even through a horrifying disease like cancer family should always stick together. In the book we also see immense love binding the family. Finally in the end of the book during the trial Anna confesses that she only filed a suit because her sister Kate was ready to die and she did not want to be a burden to anyone. This action of Anna is according to me the biggest sacrifice she had ever made, this is simply because knowing that the whole world would think she filed the case for her selfish reasons and did not care about her sister. But the truth was she did love her sister and was ever willing to be her donor but Kate wanted one last thing out of Anna and Anna willingly accepted although it hurt her immensely to do so.

Finally at the end of the book when Anna dies, her kidney is given to Kate. Although Anna was dead her selfless and never ending love was the reason which kept her alive in everyone’s heart. This story was nothing about a child being forced to donate her kidney but about having choices and how morals are more important than ethics and how love is more important than law.

The point of this book is that the world isn't black or white and that is reflected in the characters. This book argues upon the quality of life versus the sanctity of life. Sacrifice is in the soul of this book and it is displayed in every act of every member of the family and thus we must be like them, selfless, loving and willing to sacrifice.