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52. Thursday: Campbell
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Sister’s Keeper, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bodily Autonomy
Siblinghood
Parenthood
Control
Illness and Isolation
Summary
Analysis
Campbell drives Anna to the hospital. They had to stay after to fill out paperwork at the courthouse, so Sara and Brian left before them. The heavy rain is hampering visibility, and Anna imagines the raindrops crushing the car like a Coke can. She asks Campbell what she should do, but he refuses to answer—after all, he just fought for her to make that choice herself. Anna says she doesn’t even know who she is, so Campbell lists off some things about her, some of which are real and some that he’s making up. Anna asks him if he meant it when, during his closing statement, he said Anna was going to be amazing. Campbell teases her for “fishing for compliments,” but tells her that yes, he can imagine her doing all sorts of amazing things. Anna tells him that, in 10 years, she wants to be Kate’s sister.
Anna imagining the car getting crushed like a Coke can casts an ominous tone over this chapter given the heavy rain. However, in contrast to this, Anna and Campbell’s conversation is full of hope as they look forward to Anna’s future. Anna still struggles with the idea of making her own choices, but it’s clear that Campbell believes in her ability to forge her own path as she grows up. Notably, Anna’s comment that she wants to be Kate’s sister in 10 years shows that she still holds her identity as such close to her heart—but in contrast to previous chapters when she struggled to extricate herself from this identity, she now has room to grow outside of her relationship with Kate.
Themes
