The injustice in My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The book, My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult tells the story of thirteen year-old Anna Fitzgerald. Anna could be normal except for the fact that her sixteen year-old sister, Kate has leukemia. Anna is a genetic duplicate to Kate. Her parents had her so her blood marrow and cells could be given to Kate. Anna was okay with it until she turned thirteen. But Kate's kidneys are failing and Anna's parents want to give Kate one of Anna's healthy kidneys. Anna isn't okay with this. Anna wants the rights to her own body. That's why she goes to lawyer Campbell Alexander. She wants to sue her parents to rights over her own body. When she goes to Campbell Alexander's office, he treats like a little kid until Anna tells him what she needs and wants. Anna's situation isn't okay, nor is it fair. Anna should be able to have control over her body. She shouldn't to donate any part of her body if she isn't okay with it. The book, My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult talks about some important issues like body rights, and how teenagers are treated in the world. 

Anna had never questioned her role in keeping Kate alive. Since she learned Kate’s kidneys were failing, Anna realized that she didn’t want to give one of her healthy kidneys to Kate. It isn’t fair what Anna is going through. Her parents are forcing her to donate her kidney when she isn’t really comfortable doing that. She doesn’t want to go through life protecting the one kidney she would have. This is social injustice in a way. We have the right to our own bodies. What Anna’s parents are doing is unjust because they have taken away the right to her own body. It is a good thing that Anna went to a lawyer.  She deserves to have all the rights of and pertaining to her body. It’s not right in the world to have someone else making the decisions that the person whose body is being discussed should be making. To conclude, Anna should be making the decisions about her body; her parents should not be making these decisions.

Another social injustice I noticed in My Sister’s Keeper was that teenagers are often treated like children when they are actually more mature than they look. When Anna goes to talk to Campbell Alexander, he thinks she is pregnant. Anna wasn’t pregnant or anywhere close. She needed help with suing her parents for rights to her own body. This shows that people in general treat teenagers like little children. Some teenagers take on a lot of responsibility in their families. Anna is responsible for Kate’s health because she is a donor for Kate. Campbell Alexander treated Anna like a child when she actually takes on a lot of responsibility and is quite mature. Anna deserves to be treated like an adult in this situation because she is mature and she is responsible. In conclusion, teenagers shouldn’t be treated like children in real life situations.

All in all, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult brings up body rights and how teenagers are treated when they go out into the world. Anna deserves the rights to her own body. When she goes to Campbell Alexander, he unfairly treats her like a kid. We need to take a look at how we treat people who are younger than us. We need to think about the other person in the situation. We need to be considerate and consider that the other person might have stuff going on that we don’t know about.