My Sisters Keeper Character Analysis

Among all the crucial events that humans experience through their lives, perhaps the most vital is discovering one’s self-identity and character. Every human being has a motive to achieve success in any form, and the only approach needed to reach this goal is to have a strong understanding of one’s individuality. An individual’s identity is based off of one’s self-acceptance as it allows one to discover new traits that have the power to shape their current values and self-image (The Need for a Sense of Identity). In the novel, My Sister’s Keeper, and the movie, Joy, the protagonists undergo the development of their identity as they journey on the pathway of self-realization of one’s true inner self. This is shown through their defiance to their …show more content…
In the novel, Anna is introduced as the younger sister of Kate, who has been suffering from leukemia since her childhood. Due to these circumstances, Anna became the product of a preimplantation, as she was conceived solely to be a bone marrow match for Kate. So, ever since her birth, Anna has given up so much for her sister, “the first time being giving up cord blood as a new born,” having “lymphocytes drawn from [her], and when that stopped working, [taking] bone marrow for a transplant” (Picoult, 21). She has always been willing to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive and healthy, however, this continual dependence others have on her has greatly impacted the way Anna perceives herself as an individual. Her existence has completely become revolved around Kate and her health conditions, that “[she] feels that if [she] really tried to figure out who [she] is without Kate in the equation, [she] wouldn’t like who [she] sees” (Picoult, 179). This shows that Anna has no self-confidence within herself, which can be considered one of the many barriers that prevent her from viewing herself in separation from her sister. Moreover, despite the numerous scarifies that Anna has made for the well-being of her sister, her actions oftentimes go unnoticed in the eyes of her family, most particularly her mom and dad. Whenever they’re having family meals, Anna’s mother often realizes after a great amount of time has passed that “Anna has already left the table and more importantly, that nobody noticed” (Picoult, 40). Anna seems to be neglected as she is not given attention by her family unless she is needed for the purpose of medical treatments. Due to these reasons mentioned above, Anna defies her family by deciding “to sue them for the rights to [her] own body” so that she