Ethical Dilemmas In My Sister's Keeper

One reason My Sister’s Keeper is on ALA’s Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 is because of the homosexuality that is in the novel. Anna Fitzgerald has Julia Romano as her guardian ad litem, someone who looks out for a child’s best interest, during the trial. The homosexuality in this novel appears with Julia’s sister, Izzy. Izzy is only in the novel for a very short amount of time, and her homosexuality isn’t necessarily a main point discussed while she is talked about in the novel. Another reason for My Sister’s Keeper being challenged is the offensive language Picoult uses throughout the novel. Although there is the use of unpleasant language it isn’t used excessively; in most cases Picoult only uses this in the intense situations presented. By reading those situations with the use of offensive

The Trolley Dilemma is a scenario where a train heading straight toward five men working on the tracks, have no idea the train is heading toward them, and nowhere to go. It would appear that death is inevitable. On another track, there is another worker all working alone. He too has no idea the train is coming. You are standing next to the lever that can switch the tracks. What would you do? Would you do nothing, resulting in killing five people, who might not know what hit them, or do you pull the lever, diverting the train, killing only one which allows the five to survive?

Jealousy between siblings materializes because one of them feels overshadowed by the other. For girls, this results in a lack of confidence. If a girl loses to her sister, younger or older, insecurity builds underneath often causing hostility between them. In Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Sister’s resentfulness towards her sister hinders her ability to become independent.

The Other Sister is about a family with a sibling that has a developmental disability also known as mildly mentally retardation (MMR), mild developmental disability, or mild intellectual disorder (MID). Carla Tate is our main character that has MMR as a disability. She is a young women, twenty-four years old, with a slender but beautiful appearance. Carla has just graduated from a special education boarding school and is returning home to her family. Carla’s mother (Elizabeth Tate) is overbearingly protective, does not appreciate all of the abilities that Carla has acquired. Her father (Bradley Tate) is a recovering alcoholic who is sympathetic and supportive of Carla, who at the same time has to deal with his domineering wife. Carla has

Firstly, Kate is noticeably affected almost immediately after the death of her mother and father. We see this by her descriptive quotes about how she was feeling and the observations she made about others in her life. Some instances include “I remember being rigid with fear, not daring to look at him” (19), “it was like being at the bottom of the sea” (53), and “...there was a whirlwind howling through me” (54). These quotes represent how Kate felt overwhelmed by unmanageable emotions; she felt almost numb and empty. She even ends up cutting her finger just to feel something and it hardly hurt at all. This is a confused, traumatized little girl. Next, Kate is affected by the basic principles her parents taught. The simple memory of her parents provoked thought of the Presbyterian Commandments they would follow. These principles shape who she is and represent a background where people do not talk about problems or share emotions. “No, you swallow your feelings, force them down inside yourself, where they feed and grow and swell and expand until you explode, unforgivably, to the utter bewilderment of whomever it was who upset you” (36). Lastly, the trauma she has endured has made her scared. Scared of sharing feelings, scared of commitment, scared of loving someone. Daniel, Kate’s boyfriend, feels he is in the dark when it comes to Kate’s past and her emotions. This is because Kate is simply scared to love him. She proves this and it’s connection to her past by saying, “people I love and need have a habit of disappearing from my life” (89). The death of her parents has definitely shaped who she is but some may say, it helped her show resilience and strength to embrace her past and move

Seeing that Kate has leukemia, the only way to save her is for her parents to have a genetically modified baby to be a perfect match donor for Kate. When Anna ponders about herself donating to Kate, she says, “It made me wonder, thought, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy? Certainly, I would not

How does the knowledge that Anna was conceived to save Kate affect Anna's and Kate's perceptions of themselves, and their relationship with each other? For instance, you might consider the following:

From the time Anna was born, whenever Kate fell ill and needed a donor, Kate and Anna’s parents did not hesitate to use Anna’s body without asking her. Parents should not harm one child to save another. Anna decides to go to a lawyer and sue her parents for the rights of her own body. The lawyer makes an ethical decision to be a

Coming of age is a process in which children gain independence and maturity. However, it also requests to accept and learn from mistakes, and if an individual never achieves this particular mindset, he or she never truly comes of age. In the book Sarah’s Key, the author, Tatiana de Rosnay, follows the story of a young and brave girl, Sarah Starzynski. In 1942, in Paris, the French police took the Jews families in the Vélodrome, in inhumane conditions, before deporting them by trains in concentration camps where men, women and children are separated to therefore be killed. When the police comes to take Sarah’s and her family, Sarah hides and locks her little brother, Michel, in their secret cardboard because she believes they will come back

In Peter Singer’s essay “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, published on September 5th, 1999 in The New York Times Magazine, Singer claims that the solution to world poverty is for Americans to donate excess income to aid organizations. His article consists of a gathering of exaggerated situations which he uses to engage readers, while also adequately supporting an argument of moral duty by comparing the hypothetical scenarios to Americans who do not donate. Singer exhibits an appeal to pathos to a substantial amount throughout his article. The provided situations set an outline for the reader to feel certain, appealing emotions.

In this scene where Kate is ready to die and relive every moment of your life and the beautiful moments that happened to his family. Also when she was counted as his love and Taylor as suffered by the death of his first love. Also explains that she is upset because her parents are using Anna trying to save her and that's what hurts most. However we parents are not ready to let go of Kate and feel the need to continue the fight against cancer. Anna who is helping her sister to survive no longer wants to continue grasping because she wants to live his life as everyone else. She wants to do things knowing if he donates his kidney to his sister will not be able to do to do such as pregnant in her entire

The story of two sisters, Melissa and Melinda, is one of deep philosophical analysis. The harsh scenario is of the two sisters’ brother, Matthew, who is involved in a horrific accident that essentially leaves him brain dead and only alive through a complex network of life support systems. According to Matthew’s last will and testament, he states specifically that if something of this sort ever happens to him, both sisters must mutually agree upon the ultimate decision of whether or not to proverbially “pull the plug.” This is a massive decision that will take great deliberation upon both parties to inevitably come to common terms with one another. Essentially, both sisters have their own aspect of what they should do regarding

All the people she met on her way came and went leaving Anna alone with her beloved Baby and sorrows. Baby was too small to understand her, he was childishly selfish and cruel but he was the only person who still needed her. There was no one she loved more than him, she lived for him. She wanted to share her thoughts with him and the only way for her was to write it, "My little sun! I have always been alone everywhere with you and I always will. A woman is weak and indecisive as far as she s concerned personally, but she is a beast when she has to defend her child. … Are there forces that can stop a woman who is

The character of Sara is most adamant that it is in Anna’s best interests to act as a donor for Kate. However I do not think she meant for Anna to be at the mercy of her sister. I think she was only intent on doing what had to be done to keep her family intact by preserving the life of Kate. Sara believes that the social, emotional and psychological best interests of a person depend upon the happiness in the family in which they grow up in. This gives the idea that Anna’s best interests and welfare are closely tied to those of her family, who

The Trolley Problem is a scenario possessing two similar versions that begs the question of whether or not it is ethical to kill a person in order to save five. In both versions of this problem, there is a trolley approaching a track with people tied down. In the first version there are two tracks; the first with five people tied down and the other with one person tied down, as the train is approaching the five people. Beside the track there is a switch