Sacrifice In The Memory Keeper's Daughter By Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards is a novel centered on a sacrifice that was made, in which the character did not realize that it would affect him and everyone else in his life. What we value, often times, is determined by sacrifice, for better or for worse, for self benefit or for the benefit of others. Dr. David Henry, from this novel, made a split second decision giving up his newborn daughter, born with down syndrome, and who may potentially die due to health defects. At this moment, he sacrificed a life he and that child would never know, whether it be that she survived or not.

Dr. David Henry, when making this sacrifice, considered his own life, when he was a young boy. His sister, born with a heart defect, died at a young age, leaving the family shaken by the loss, which still haunted David to this day. Giving up his child, he believed, was better than the pain of another loss. He did not want his wife to have to grieve at the loss of this child when he could just send her away, as if she never existed, sparing he the pain. These values, helped david to make this sacrifice, based on the events in his childhood. …show more content…
She said to him, “You missed a lot of heartache, sure. But David, you missed a lot of joy” (Edwards 249). David didn’t realize this decision could alter everything, not knowing if the child would live or die, not giving a child a chance to prove herself , to potentially overcome her disabilities. Giving her away, he sacrificed memories good and bad as the nurse, Caroline Gill had told