Multimedia EssayBy Benjamin Lee

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the world there are many of those who are suffering from a type of illness or injury. This suffering does not only refer to a physical sense, but emotionally as well. One can only imagine how those around this person are feeling as well. Jodi Picoult and Kim Edwards demonstrate these feelings and relationships in their novels.

THESIS

The novels, My Sister’s Keeper and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, both show a theme of relationships that demonstrates how relationships change because of one’s medical health. Both novels have characters with poor health that eventually make others chaotic. From this, illness is shown to strengthen a relationship, but at the same time cause one’s destruction as well.

ILLNESS IN THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER

In the novel, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, the character of David is appalled to see that his daughter has Down Syndrome. Because of the illness, he begins to act irrationally and attempts to rid his family of the child.

ILLNESS IN MY SISTER’S KEEPER

Similarly, in the novel My Sister’s Keeper, the character of Kate has an illness, which is leukemia. As a result of this, her illness influences her mother to act irrationally as well. The mother, Sara, becomes too overprotective of her daughter.

STRENGTHENING OF RELATIONSHIPS

Anna’s death in My Sister’s Keeper, which resulted in a car crash leaving her in a vegetative state, brought her family closer together once again after their trial. More importantly, it is the relationship with her mother that appears to be fixed. Sara is “completely at a loss” (Picoult 417) as she describes it.

STRENGTHENING OF RELATIONSHIPS

At the same time, Kate seems to become even closer to Anna; “I take her with me, wherever I go,” (Picoult 423).

STRENGTHENING OF RELATIONSHIPS

David, in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, helps reunite his family with his daughter, Phoebe, through his hearth attack. The family finally meets each other after Caroline tells Norah the truth about Phoebe, telling her that, “Phoebe is alive. She’s very well,” (Edwards 368).

STRENGTHENING OF RELATIONSHIPS

Like Sara and David, Campbell acts irrationally, but to his own medical condition by ignoring Julia to protect her from the stress of living with an epileptic. However, “You don’t love someone because they’re perfect,” “You love them in spite of the fact that they’re not,” (Picoult 384).

STRENGTHENING OF RELATIONSHIPS

This comes to the understanding that the reason that relationships become stronger in the face of poor medical health because of the love for that one person. With the strengthening of relationships, there is also a result of destruction in a relationship as well.

DESTRUCTION OF RELATIONSHIPS

The major destructive relationship in My Sister’s Keeper is the mother-daughter relationship between Anna and Sara. This conflict builds up the main plot of the entire novel. As a result of Kate’s leukemia, Anna is forced to give parts of her body to her by Sara.

DESTRUCTION OF RELATIONSHIPS

It comes to a point where Anna approaches Campbell and says, “I want to sue them for the rights to my own body,” (Picoult 19).

DESTRUCTION OF RELATIONSHIPS

At the same time, there is the destruction of the relationship between Campbell and Julia in the plot as well. Because of the car accident that Campbell had experienced, he began to have seizures. Thinking that it would be a burden for Julia, the two grow apart and she begins to resent him.

DESTRUCTION OF RELATIONSHIPS

David in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter causes the destruction of his relationship with his son and wife. As a result of David’s actions, his family undergoes many emotional hardships and eventually ends in divorce.

CONCLUSION

Illness and injuries have a great impact on any relationship, whether it is between the one who is ill, or with those around them. The situation causes stress on those close to the individual and as a result creates a chaotic state for them. This chaos is then passed on through the relationships of many others. At times, these relationships, because of the stressful situation, become stronger because of the love they share for the ill. There is also the opposite effect in which relationships are destroyed because of the same stress. This stress causes blame towards others. Showing a theme of relationships, both My Sister’s Keeper and the Memory Keeper’s Daughter both demonstrate that the effect of a medical illness or injury have a great effect on relationships of not only the one who was the illness, but those around them as well. There could be an endless amount of reasons for why a relationship is affected so greatly.

WORKS CITED (IMAGES)http://jeanxbookreviews.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/my-sisters-keeper-9781741145052.jpg

http://www.gltech.org/library/Reading/Images/MemoryKeeper.jpg

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WORKS CITED (MUSIC)

“By My Side”Written and Performed by David Choi

Album: By My Side (2010)