THE MEANINGS OF A MOTHER’S LOVE TO HER DYING DAUGHTER AS SEEN IN JODI PICOULT’S MY SISTER’S KEEPER
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Bekti Kristiani
Student Number: 041214125
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
THE MEANINGS OF A MOTHER’S LOVE TO HER DYING DAUGHTER AS SEEN IN JODI PICOULT’S MY SISTER’S KEEPER
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Bekti Kristiani
Student Number: 041214125
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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I dedicate this thesis to:
My Savior, Jesus Christ
and
vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my Savior,
Jesus Christ, who always grants me His blessing and guidance throughout my whole life. I thank Him for the unlimited love and strength whenever I fell down
in a troublesome life. He has always given me the best and made all the things
right on time, although it was hard at the beginning. I realize that without His
endless mercy, assistance, and miracle, I cannot accomplish writing this thesis.
My deepest appreciation goes to my major sponsor, Drs. L. Bambang
Hendarto Y., M. Hum. who has given his precious time to guide and to revise this thesis. I thank him for his guidance, patience, suggestion, and kindness during
my thesis writing process. All his encouragements and contributions mean a lot to
me in finishing this work. My sincere gratitude also goes to all PBI lecturers who
have taught me valuable knowledge patiently. I am thankful to have their
guidance and support my study in Sanata Dharma University. My special thanks
also go to all secretariat staffs of PBI and all the librarians for their best
service.
I also express my gratitude to Patricia Angelina Lasut, S.Pd for checking
my lesson plan and material for Public Speaking 1. My next great gratitude goes
to Muhamad Nur Hidayat, S.Pd and Vensiana Parnika, S.Pd, who are willing
to be my proofreader. I thank them for their suggestions and for correcting
viii
I grant my sincere dedication to my beloved parents, Bapak Suharlan and
Ibu Sriwidayati for their endless love and support that have strengthened me to fight against this hard life. I am thankful for their prayer, attention, and motivation
so that I could finish my thesis. I am so grateful especially to my dear mother due
to her patience in preserving me and her sacrifices without expecting anything in
return except my success. It is a great blessing to have them in my life.
I would like to present my gratitude to my first brother, Hanang
Nuswantoro, S.E. and his wife, Henny Ristiana, S.Kom, who encourage me to complete this thesis. I thank them for their willingness to be a place for me to
share especially when I got miserable affliction in my life and for their help to
cope with the problems. My great gratitude also goes to my second brother,
Prasetiaji Krisnantoro, S.E. for his support, attention, and affection. I thank him for his wise words that lead me to see everything goes on this life from many
sides and to teach me how a mature person is.
Further, my warmest gratitude goes to Bambz ndut, who always gives me
his love and never ending support. I thank him for allowing me to fill in a space of
his heart through the years. I am also thankful for his prayer, care, and patience as
well as his willingness to be with me whenever I am in sorrow and need his help.
I would like to express my appreciation to my classmates Alit, Ayu, Sigit,
Hebi, Roni, Riko, Dika, Seno, Oki, Dita, Valen, Agnes, Esti, Linda, Mayora, and Pebni for the unforgettable moment we have shared during this study. My
special thanks go to Susan, Shanty, and Febri for being good friends. I thank
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are nice and loyal friends who have always given me place to release my burden. I
thank them for the laughter and tears.
My sincere gratitude also goes to my beloved friend Rita who has
faithfully reminded and encouraged me to accomplish my thesis. I thank her for
the bright ideas and suggestions that are useful. I also thank for her spare time to
accompany me to refresh my mind whenever I was under the pressure. I would
also express my gratitude to Erlian, Etza, Yuni, Dudung, Dhee, and Anik for
their support and thank my partners in conducting PPL II, KKN, and SPD project
for teaching me about friendship and cooperation in team work.
I would like to present a bunch of thanks to my boarding house friends
specifically Ita, mbak Thiur, Ida, Taju, Reta, Redy, Nata and Tanti. I thank
them for supporting me to work on this thesis and for coloring my days.
Last but not least, I thank everyone who I cannot mention one by one. I am
thankful for their support and assistance so that I can accomplish this thesis. God
bless us all.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGES ... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... v
DEDICATION PAGE ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x
ABSTRACT ... xiv
ABSTRAK ... xv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 5
C. Objectives of the Study ... 6
D. Benefits of the Study ... 6
E. Definition of Terms ... 7
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 9
A. Review of Related Theories ... 9
1. Character ... 9
xi
b. Types of Character ... 10
2. The Critical Approach ... 11
3. Love ... 13
a. Meaning of Love ... 13
b. Kinds of Love ... 14
c. The Expression of Love ... 17
4. Motherhood ... 17
5. The Mother-Children Relationship ... 19
a. The Mother-Daughter Relationship ... 19
b. Types of Mother-Daughter Relationship ... 22
6. Conflict ... 24
a. The Meaning of Conflict ... 24
b. Model of Conflict Resolution ... 25
B. Theoretical Framework ... 26
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 28
A. Object of the Study ... 28
B. Approach of the Study ... 30
C. Method of the Study ... 31
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 33
A. The Description of Main and Minor Characters ... 33
xii
1. The Relationship Between Sara and Her Dying Daughter ... 37
a. The Relationship ... 37
b. The Conflicts ... 40
2. The Relationship Between Sara and Anna ... 44
a. The Relationship ... 44
b. The Conflict ... 47
3. The Relationship Between Sara and Jesse ... 52
a. The Relationship ... 52
b. The Conflicts ... 53
C. The Meanings of Love to Her Dying Daughter for Sara ... 56
a. Sacrifice ... 56
b. Care and Responsibility ... 63
c. Struggle ... 68
d. Support ... 71
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 74
A. Conclusions ... 74
B. Suggestions ... 78
1. Suggestions for Future Researchers ... 78
2. Suggestions for The Implementation of Teaching English ... 78
xiii
APPENDICES ... 84
1. The Cover of My Sister’s Keeper ... 85
2. Summary of the Novel ... 86
3. Biography of the Author ... 88
4. Syllabus of Public Speaking 1 ... 91
5. Lesson Plan for Teaching Public Speaking 1 ... 93
xiv ABSTRACT
Kristiani, Bekti. 2010. The Meanings of a Mother’s Love to Her Dying
Daughter as seen in Jodi Picoult’s My Sister Keeper. Yogyakarta: English
Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study analyzes a novel written by Jodi Picoult entitled My Sister’s
Keeper. It is an interesting novel since it pictures about love within family as
reflected through the love of a mother named Sara struggling to save her dying daughter named Kate and to do the best for her health and happiness. It also shows a conflicting relationship between a mother and all her children because of mother’s excessive attention to the helpless daughter.
This study analyzes the meanings of a mother’s love, Sara, to her dying daughter, Kate. For that purpose, one problem formulated is “What does love mean for Sara as a mother to her dying daughter?” It covers two parts. They are the description of main and minor characters and the description of mother-children relationship as portrayed in the novel.
A library study was applied to gather the data. The primary source was gained from the novel. The secondary sources were taken from the books of psychology and literature, and the internet sources that were related to the analysis. Theories of character were used to get the description of main and minor characters. Meanwhile, theories of motherhood, mother-daughter relationship, and conflicts were employed to know how their relationships are. Theories of love and the expression of love were applied to find out the meanings of Sara’s love to Kate. The psychological approach was employed in this study because mother’s love and mother-children relationship were parts of psychological aspect.
From the analysis, it can be seen that Sara, Kate, and Anna, Kate’s sister, are considered as the main characters. On the contrary, Jesse, Kate’s brother, is the minor character. The relationship between Sara and Kate is close and warm. In contrast, the relationship between Sara and other children are inharmonious. Further, the analysis shows that for Sara, love means sacrifice, care and responsibility, struggle, and support. To show her love, Sara gives much of her attention to the beloved daughter by sacrificing her precious time, her feeling and her own life for the sake of Kate’s health and happiness. She takes care and is responsible to protect Kate from relapses. She struggles to get a kidney although she has to fight against her other daughter, Anna. Sara always supports her dying daughter.
xv ABSTRAK
Kristiani, Bekti. 2010. The Meanings of a Mother’s Love to Her Dying
Daughter as seen in Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. Yogyakarta: Program
Studi Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini menganalisa sebuah novel karya Jodi Picoult yang berjudul My
Sister’s Keeper. Novel ini menarik karena menggambarkan cinta dalam keluarga
seperti tercermin melalui cinta seorang ibu bernama Sara yang berjuang untuk menyelamatkan anaknya bernama Kate yang sedang sekarat dan melakukan yang terbaik untuk kesehatan dan kebahagiannya. Novel ini juga menunjukan adanya suatu konflik dalam hubungan antara seorang ibu dan semua anaknya yang disebabkan oleh perhatian ibu yang berlebihan terhadap anaknya yang tak berdaya.
Skripsi ini menganalisa arti cinta seorang ibu, Sara, kepada anaknya yang sekarat, Kate. Untuk tujuan tersebut, sebuah permasalahan yang dibahas adalah “ Apa arti cinta Sara sebagai seorang ibu kepada anaknya yang sakit?” Permasalahan ini mencakup tiga bagian. Bagian-bagian itu adalah deskripsi tentang tokoh utama dan tokoh pembantu, deskripsi tentang hubungan ibu dan anak, dan apa arti cinta kepada anaknya yang sekarat bagi Sara seperti tergambar di dalam novel.
Penelitian perpustakaan diterapkan untuk mengumpulkan data. Sumber utama didapatkan dari novel itu sendiri. Sumber tambahan didapatkan dari buku-buku psikologi dan literature, dan sumber-sumber dari internet yang berhubungan dengan analisa ini. Teori karakter digunakan untuk memperoleh deskripsi tentang tokoh-tokoh utama dan pembantu. Sementara itu, teori keibuan, hubungan ibu dan anak, dan konflik-konflik digunakan untuk mengetahui bagaimana hubungan mereka. Teori cinta dan ekspressi cinta diterapkan untuk menemukan arti cinta Sara kepada Kate. Pendekatan psikologi digunakan dalam skripsi ini karena cinta ibu dan hubungan ibu-anak merupakan bagian dari aspek psikologi.
Dari analisis, dapat dilihat bahwa Sara, Kate, dan Anna dianggap sebagai tokoh utama. Sebaliknya, Jesse sebagai tokoh pembantu. Hubungan antara Sara dan Kate dekat dan hangat. Sebaliknya, hubungan antara Sara dan anak-anaknya yang lain tidak harmonis. Selanjutnya, analisis menunjukan bahwa bagi Sara, cinta berarti pengorbanan, kepedulian and tanggung jawab, perjuangan, dan dukungan. Untuk menunjukan cintanya, Sara memberikan banyak perhatian kepada anak tercintanya dengan mengorbankan waktunya yang berharga, perasaan dan hidupnya sendiri demi kesehatan dan kebahagiaan Kate.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This study intends to analyze the meanings of a mother’s love to her dying
daughter. To illustrate what the study is about, this chapter consists of five parts.
They are background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study,
benefits of the study, and definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
According to Hudson (10), literature is an expression of life through the
medium of language. The source of literature lies on what men have seen in life,
what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those
aspects of it and their imagination. Literature is one of several means of
communication where we can share our experiences with other people. It reflects
and expresses life.
Marjourie Boulton (72) in The Anatomy of the Novel states that characters’
life experiences educate people to be wiser, humbler, more perspective or how it
may break their problems. Through reading a literary work, we can learn many
things and make it as our reflection to face the real world. Literature enriches
human’s knowledge since human beings can communicate their experiences,
ideas, hopes and point of view of their life through it.
One of the interesting topics which are portrayed in the works of literature
separated from love because everyone experiences this feeling. We might sacrifice
everything as well as our life to the one we love. Fromm in his book The Art of
Loving (18) defines that “love is an activity, not a passive affect; it is a standing in
and not a falling for.” Love is a primary activity of giving, not receiving. It does
not mean giving in the sense of reflecting it back, but giving of oneself in order to
show what are alive in him or her to others such as strength, wealth, power, and
humor. One enhances the other’s sense of aliveness by enhancing his or her own
sense of aliveness.
Love gives us strength to face unexpected things which happen in this life.
Others’ love will support and give us courage to pass this life. It never lets us give
up in everything we do. Love leads us to do and to give the best for people we
love especially in getting happiness. It raises people’s awareness to help each
other, to understand each other, to care each other and to do the best each other.
Everyone has the feeling of love for others. It can be love of parents,
love of children, love of siblings, love of friends, and love of boy or girlfriend.
That love implies care is most evident in a mother’s love for her children. As
described above, the mother will do everything to make her children’s life better.
Fromm writes that love is the active concern for the life and the growth of the
person we love (22). The more our love is the more our effort and struggle will be.
This will make people mend their sorrow without considering what will happen to
them and people around them. When it is about the active concern for saving
one’s soul, it is the greatest thing we do because it will involve the biggest choice
Fromm defines that mother’s love to her child is the highest kind of love
and the most sacred of all emotional bonds (42). There is inequality between a
mother and a child because one needs all the help, and the other gives it without
getting anything in return from the child. True motherly love lies on caring for the
child’s growth. Since love is the power to raise and to maintain relationship with
others, love of mother will influence her relationships with the children.
Noller and Fitzpatrick (267) state that the strongest parent-child
relationship seems to be between mother and her daughter. Every mother and
daughter has a relationship that leads them so close to each other. Without this
relationship, the mother cannot share anything to her daughter and the daughter
cannot share hers to the mother. Mother is the one who has the most intimate
contact with her child.
A work of literature such as novel can portray such life experiences as
mentioned above. A novel is a beautiful art that has a power to arouse our feelings
and emotions because it trains us to explore the senses of life, such as happiness,
sadness, goodness, badness, victory and failure. We can obtain many lessons
through reading a novel.
My Sister’s Keeper, a novel written by Jodi Picoult, is an example of the
novels which portrays love within family. It tells about the Fitzgerald family who
has a dying daughter, named Kate. She is diagnosed with acute promyelocytic
leukemia at age two. Sara, the mother, is a strong character trying to do everything
possible to save her dying daughter even if it means risking the happiness of
to save Kate from her illness. Knowing that Jesse, the oldest child, does not have
genetics matched with Kate, Sara and her husband, Brian, decide to have another
baby with a perfect combination of genetic elements matched with the genetics of
Kate. This is the best way to keep her dying daughter alive.
Sara’s love to her dying daughter is proved by her care of Kate’s life and
her struggle to provide a bodily organ even if it endangers her youngest daughter.
All her decision lies on saving Kate. She uses Anna’s body to serve as spare parts
to keep her dying daughter alive. She asks Anna to donate her blood, bone
marrow, kidneys, and other bodily parts through medical procedure. As she
devotes most of her attention to the suffering daughter, her other children feel
envious and left out. This inequality leads their relationship to friction especially
with Anna.
Sara’s excessive love to her dying daughter leads her to struggle against
her youngest daughter who hires an attorney to get the rights to her own body.
Sara decides to be an attorney again for herself when Anna sues her in the court. It
is clearly described that motherly love means loving for the growth of child
without expecting anything return to herself. Sara always takes a purposeful
action which lies on Kate’s side. She loves all her children but she pays more
attention to her dying daughter.
At the end, the court adjudges that Sara has no power to totally intervene
Anna’s decision to donate her organ. She needs to make a compromise with Anna
and her medical attorney. The adjudication is that the decision whether to donate
her brain die and she has no expectation to live again. Conducting with this
situation, Alexander, Anna’s medical attorney, has the doctor take her kidney.
Then Sara gives her husband a command to turn off the respiratory. Finally, Anna
dies and Kate lives. However, Kate’s life cannot be separated from Sara’s
sacrifice, care and responsibility, support and struggle to fulfill her health needs
even if those things involve Anna’s bodily organ donor.
This novel is interesting for me to analyze because it gives so many
lessons about life. It is related to love, one’s existence and also a struggle of a
mother who wants to give the best to the beloved child. As a woman who will be a
mother, I am interested in mother’s love. A mother will always love her child
through many impediments in life. Thus, she will do anything to ensure her
child’s safety and happiness. In this study, Sara never gives up in trying to save
her dying daughter although she has to battle against her youngest daughter. Her
love to the helpless daughter makes her do everything possible to her dying
daughter. That is why I will focus on analyzing the meanings of a mother’s love to
her dying daughter.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background of the study as explained above, this study
would like to answer the question of “What does love mean for Sara as a mother
to her dying daughter?” To answer this formulated problem, this study would like
description of Sara and her children relationship. Based on their relationship, we
can also know the meaning of Sara’s love.
C. Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are to analyze and to find out the meanings of
love to her dying daughter for Sara, as a mother. Related to this problem
formulation, the description of main characters and mother-children relationship
are important to be analyzed. By analyzing their relationship, we can know the
meanings of Sara’s love to Kate, her dying daughter.
D. Benefits of the Study
This study deals with Sara’s love to her dying daughter as seen in Jodi
Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. We can gain a lot of lessons from reading the novel
because it presents a mother’s struggle and love and the values of morality.
Firstly, this study is expected to give benefits for the readers, especially
the students and the lecturers of English Education Study Program of Sanata
Dharma University. For the students, this study helps them to gain more
understanding about life through literary work. They can grasp and implement
important values portrayed in this novel into their life. For female students, this
study can be used as reflection of their own life. They can learn how a good
mother should act out to her family especially in giving love to her children.
Hopefully, the teachers can also use this study as a reference to teach Public
Secondly, for future researchers, I hope that this study provides important
information about the novel. Besides, it also presents beneficial information about
the relationship between Sara and her children and the meanings of her love to
Kate, her dying daughter.
Finally, for the writer, analyzing a novel can help me reinforce my skills in
interpreting a literary work. It enlarges my literary knowledge and vocabularies.
As a woman who wants to be a mother, I can take a lesson on how a good mother
should be. I can grasp important values from Sara’s struggle to care her oldest
daughter. It teaches me that life is a complicated matter and it is full of choices. It
is not easy to take a decision because there are so many considerations that should
be noticed.
E. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misunderstanding and to give clear explanation to the
readers, there are some terms that might need to be defined. Those terms are:
1. Character
Abrams defines character as the person in a dramatic or narrative work,
who is interpreted by the readers from their say and action. What they say and do
show their moral, dispositional and emotional qualities (23). In this novel, the
character is a person presented by the author to create story through his speech
2. Love
According to Hauck (16) in How to Love and be Loved, love is a powerful
feeling one has for another person, animals, or things that has satisfied, is
satisfying, or will satisfy our desires and needs. Thus love is a constellation of
emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound
oneness. In this study, the term love refers to motherly love. That is love of a
mother for caring and giving preservation of the child’s life and her growth.
3. Mother - Daughter Relationship
According to Webster’s New World Dictionary (630), the word relationship
has two meanings: “the state or an instance of being related” or “the connection
by blood or marriage; kinship”. This study focuses on a mother-daughter
relationship. It means that the relationship is connected by blood.
4. Care and Responsibility
Fromm states that “caring involves concern about the loved one’s health,
growth, stability, and welfare. It is sharing the loved one’s feeling; joy in the
loved one’s joy; pain when the loved one feels hurt.” While responsibility means
responding to the loved one’s need (qtd. in Warga 314). In this study, care refers
to anxious feeling the mother has and her concern for Kate’s health and happiness.
Meanwhile, responsibility puts Sara in an action to give response for fulfilling
9 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of two sections, namely review of related theories and
theoretical framework. The review of related theories consists of character, critical
approach, love, motherhood, and mother-daughter relationships. Meanwhile, the
theoretical framework explains the contribution of theories in the review of related
theories in solving the problems of this study.
A. Review of Related Theories
This section deals with suitable theories used to analyze the work. The
theories that will be presented in this study are theory of character, critical
approach, love, motherhood, and mother-daughter relationships. These theories
are very useful to find out the description of the main characters, their
relationships and the meanings of Sara’s love toward her dying daughter.
1. Character
a. Definition of Character
Character is an important element which plays a crucial role in reciting the
story. In literary work, such as novel, the author creates characters whose feelings
and actions are similar to people in real life. These characters are the reflection of
human being’s characteristics, which can be seen from their dialogues, thoughts,
and actions. Abrams (23) in his book Glossary of Literary Terms states that
moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in the dialogues
and the action in the story.
Meanwhile, Rohberger and Woods Jr. (20-21) define character as a person
who involves and acts out in a story in a particular time and place. It means that a
character in a story is a person who thinks, feels, does, acts in a certain time and
place and has some characteristics like real human being.
b. Types of Character
In a novel, there is more than one character created with the conflicts like
real human beings facing their life. Not all the characters play important roles in
the story, but at least one character holds the most important role. Some characters
might be the center persons who have complicated problems in the story than
others.
Henkle (88-97) differentiates characters into two categories. They are major
characters and secondary characters. The major characters are the central and the
most important characters in the story. The major characters can be identified
from their complexity; their intensity appeared in the story and the amount
attention given to them by the other characters and the readers. They become the
fullest attention because of the dramatizations of the human issues of the book lay
on them. While, secondary characters are characters who have limited functions in
the novel. Their function is to populate the world in the novel as in the real life.
Abrams (50-56) has similar ideas with Henkle in categorizing the characters.
He adds that the major (main) characters become the focus of the story events
appear in a certain setting and become the background for the major characters.
Their actions are less important because they are not fully developed characters
and their roles in a story are just to support the development of the main character.
2. The Critical Approach
According to Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. (3) in their book, Reading and
Writing about Literature, every literary work has an aesthetic value. After reading
a literary work, the readers will be able to respond to its aesthetic values. The
response to literature as an art form is called as esthetic response. To find out the
aesthetic value, a critical approach has role to help the reader understand the
nature, function, and positive values of the literary work. It facilitates the readers
to give reasonable judgment of the literary work.
Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. (6-13) propose five critical approaches. They are
formalist approach, biographical approach, sociocultural-historical approach,
mythopoeic approach, and psychological approach. The first approach is the
formalist approach. It focuses on the total integrity of the literary piece itself and
its esthetic value. This approach also concerns with the harmonious involvement
of all the parts to the whole and pointing out the derivation of the meaning from
its structure and the determination techniques of the structure.
The second approach is the biographical approach. In this approach, the
author’s personality, life, and development have influence on his writing. It means
that the work of art is the reflection of author’s ideas and personalities. The
readers can gain more understanding on the literary work by learning about the
The third approach is the sociocultural-historical approach. In this approach,
social, cultural, and historical aspect have contributions to the author in producing
the work. By using this approach, we will know the social condition and historical
background at that time.
The fourth approach is the mythopoeic approach. It emphasizes on
discovering certain universally recurrent patterns of human thoughts in the work
of art. They often concern about death and rebirth, guilt and sacrifices, primitive
rites, and theological aspect of Christian doctrine, which are found in the ancient
myth and folk rites. Through this approach, the mystical relationship in a story
can be explained.
The fifth approach is the psychological approach. This approach focuses on
the human psychology. It is used to identify any aspects of psychology underlying
a certain element of a literary work. It involves efforts to locate and to
demonstrate certain recurring patterns drawn from psychological knowledge.
Therefore, this approach gives a deeper understanding in analyzing character’s
thought and how it influences the behavior pattern.
Not all the approaches will be applied in this study. In order to find out the
description of the characters, the mother-children relationship and the motherly
love, this study will use the psychological approach. The problem formulation
3. Love
The term of love has important roles in this study because it is used as a
means to discuss the formulated problem. This is used to find out the meanings
and kind of love performed by Sara to her dying daughter.
a. Meaning of love
Love is very important in our life. We need to love and to be loved in
order to make our life complete and to raise our spirit in bringing out the best in
each of us. There are many possibilities in giving the meaning of love in this
world. Every one has different interpretation and expression of love. According
to Pieper (19-21) in his book About Love, the basis of love signifies approval. This
approval refers to one’s existence that it is good that you exist in this world. It
also deals with the expression of will in which loving means a mode of willing. In
this theory then, a lover is willing to do action on the basis of motives and
inspires. Marcel as quoted by Pieper (23) states that “To love a person means to
say: You will not die. This is the partisanship for the existence of the beloved.”
Thus, a lover concerns on one beloved’s life and happiness.
Fromm (18) says that “love is an activity, not a passive affect: it is
standing in, not a falling for.” Here the active character of love can be described
by stating that love is primarily giving, not receiving. It is the effortful to care and
to give the best for the beloved one. In motherly love, love is the active concern
for the life and the growth of her child. A mother will struggle and sacrifice her
b. Kinds of Love
Fromm in The Art of Loving (6-69) categories love into three parts. They
are:
1) Love as the answer to the problem of human existence
The existence of human life is based on love. Since their first existence,
human beings want to overcome the term of separateness. One way they do to
avoid this separateness is by gaining union. However love becomes the way to
create the experience of union. Without love human are meaningless.
2) Love between parents and child
They are two kinds of love between parents and children. They are
fatherly love and motherly love. Mother is the home a child comes from and
therefore there is a special relationship between a mother and her child. This
relationship starts at the child’s earliest age and it will continue along the child’s
development. Motherly love is unconditional. It means that mother loves the
newborn infant because it is her child. Thus, the experience of being loved by
mother is a passive one. The child has nothing to do to get his or her mother’s
love (Fromm 35).
Furthermore, Fromm explains that mother has the function of making the
child secure in life and giving her child happiness. However, a mother should not
be overanxious. She has to treat her child to be independent. A
mother-centeredness stimulate her child to be dependent on her and being a passive one
The second type is fatherly love. It is the opposite of motherly love. It
can be categorized as conditional love. To get father’s love, we have to do our
duty and fulfill his expectation (Fromm 36). He has the function to teach, to guide
the child in coping with the society, and to lead the child to be disciplined.
3) Love based on the object of love
There are various types of love based on the kind of object which is loved.
They are brotherly love, motherly love, erotic love, self-love and love of God.
Brotherly love is the most fundamental kind of love that underlies all types of
love. It is love for all human beings which has the principal that we all are one
with responsibility, caring, and respecting each other. In brotherly love, human
beings are in need of help. Thus we must have the experience of union with all
people to help each other (Fromm 39-41).
Motherly love is the love of the mother for her child. Motherly love is
unconditional affirmation of the child’s life and his needs. There are two aspects
in the affirmations of child’s life. Firstly, the care and responsibility are necessary
for the preservation of the child’s life and his or her growth. Secondly, the attitude
which instills in the child a love for living, which gives him the feeling of good to
be alive, good to be a little boy or a girl, and good to be on earth. It requires
unselfishness because one gives everything and expecting nothing but the
happiness of the loved one. It can be summed up that motherly love is the highest
kind of love and the most sacred of all emotional bonds (Fromm 41-43).
Furthermore, Fromm as quoted in Warga states that motherly love is love for the
one’s health, growth, stability, and welfare. It is like sharing the beloved one’s
feeling. We feel joy in the loved one’s joy and pain when the loved one feels hurt.
Meanwhile, responsibility means responding to the beloved one’s need (qtd. in
Warga 314).
Erotic love deals with physical desires which inspire the wish for sexual
attraction or union. Meanwhile, self-love has several considerations based on
one’s conception. It will be considered as selfishness when a person is interested
only in himself. Freud as quoted by Fromm (48) says that self love is the same as
narcissism which wants everything for oneself, feels no pleasure in giving, but
only in taking. On the contrary, self love is love for and understanding of one’s
own life and others. It means that when we love our self, we also love other
persons as well as we love our self. Last is love of God. It is the religious form of
love.
Another type of love proposed by Warga is Agape. He defines that Agape
is love of God for a man that signifies a selfless love for one person without
expectation in return. To respond God’s love, human being loves each other which
can involve a sacrifice by the individual for the sake of other (315-316). Rob in
his article A Mother’s love says that a mother love reveals God’s love toward
human that their love is unconditional and involves nurturing, protecting,
comforting, and providing. It is love which desires only the best for the child
(http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=410242242
c. The Expression of Love
True love does not merely lay on nice words of the lover but it needs one’s
approval. To prove his or her love, the lover needs some expressions. Thus, the
expression of love plays important role as a means to show how the lover loves
the beloved one.
Davieslove in his article Time: The Best Expression of Love defines that the
essence of love lays on how much one gives herself to the beloved one. Love is
focused on attention that the lover forgets his or her own life because the lover
concentrates so intently on the loved one. To prove lover’s attention, the lover
gives most of his or her precious time. Whenever the lover gives it, she or he
makes a sacrifice and sacrifice is the essence of love. Thus, love means giving up,
yielding the lover’s preference, comfort, goal, security, money, energy or time for
the benefit of one loved
(http://gleez.com/articles/relationship/love-harmony/time-the-best-expression-of-love).
4. Motherhood
A woman has a desire to be a mother either of her own or foster child. As a
good mother, a woman will be responsible for the children’s life. She actively
fulfills the need of her children, preserves them and sacrifices herself for the sake
of her children. The time and experience of doing those are called motherhood.
Becoming a mother provides new opportunities for presentation of self which
involves an embodied experience of responsibility and being able to meet a
According to Deutsch (18-19), motherhood refers to the relationship of the
mother to her child as a sociologic, physiologic, and emotional whole which
extends throughout the physiologic processes of pregnancy, birth, feeding and
care. While the motherliness is the quality of character that stamps the women’s
whole personality. It is the emotional phenomena which is conducted with the
child’s helplessness and need for care. The motherliness of women divides into
two elements. They are narcissistic tendencies and masochistic. A narcissistic
motherly woman wishes to be loved and considers herself absolutely and
exclusively indispensable to her child. A narcissistic mother demands her child’s
kind fate and refuses normal human frustration in child’s case. The masochistic of
motherliness reveals the mother’s readiness for self-sacrifice without asking for
return from the child. Deutsch states that the masochistic mother is willing to
undergo pain for the sake of her child as well as to renounce the child’s
dependence upon her when the child’s liberation comes (19).
Moreover, an excess motherliness of masochistic mother has an influence
that can disturb her relationship with her child. Deutsch (22) defines that
excessive motherliness can have a disturbing or furthering influence in the
practice of motherly task such as in teaching and nursing. This excessive nursing,
which outlast in the period of the child’s helplessness and need for the mother’s
care, will leads to the child’s rivalry. As the mother accompanies and nurses
without loosing her intensity over her child’s life, the child’s emotion is strongly
5. The Mother-Children Relationship
According to Allers (245), the most intimate all of forms association
between two people is found in the relationship between mother and children. A
mother is the one who has the most intimate contact with the children. The
closeness of their relationship can not be compared even with the greatest love
between a man and a woman. The unique nature of mother-child relationship is
reflected in the fact that the term “mother-love” is commonly known better than
“fatherly love” which sounds uncommon.
a. The Mother – Daughter Relationship
Noller and Fitzpatrick in their book, Communication in Family
Relationship propose that the strongest parent-child relationship seems to be
between mothers and their daughters. Their bond tends to be more involved in
maintaining family relationship because much of the intergenerational contact is
initiated by woman to woman. Daughters communicate more with their mother
than sons. It can be the discussion about sexual attitudes, interest, and relationship
with others.
“In one study, daughters reported more frequent discussions between themselves and their mother about sexual attitudes and relationship than did sons, and more disclosure to her about interest, family sex roles, relationship with others, sexual information, sexual problems, and general problems” (Noller and Fitzpatrick, 209)
Moreover Troll, Miller and Atchley as quoted by Noller and Fitzpatrick
(267) state that the mother-daughter relationship is more ambivalent, complex,
appreciation, and high stresses and strains. However, a daughter still seems to be
involved with her mother and concerned about them even when their relationship
is not close and warm (Troll and Bengsten in Noller and Fitzpatrick 267).
The relationship between a mother and a daughter can be positive and
negative depends on the mother’s nurturing role. The positive relationship refers
to close, warm, happy and comfortable relationship. Mother does not interfere her
daughter’s life too much but supports and gives rights to be an independent person
who can leads her own life when she is adult. The negative relationship directs
them to inharmonious and rival relation. In this case, the mother treats her
daughter as a dependent child who needs mother’s help and protection in her
whole life time.
Baumrind as quoted by Noller and Fitzpatrick (135) identifies three styles
of parenting which can influence parent – children relationship. They are
authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. In the authoritarian, parents attempt to
shape, control, and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of the child. The
authoritarian parents do not give encouragement of take and give with the child.
For them, obedience is absolute virtue and punishment is a way to control the
child’s self-will. The child should accept parents’ word for what is right.
Therefore, the relationship with the child is low in warmth. In contrast,
authoritative parents strongly support the child without heeding their control. The
parents behave in non punitive, apply verbal give-and–take, and demonstrate
self-respect without ignoring the child’s interest. Children who live in this family tend
in control. Parents accept and allow children to regulate own activities and to take
their own decision.
Besides parenting styles, communication also influences parent – children
relationship. According to Gouran in his book’s Mastering Comunication (259),
he states that in communication, parents give messages in the sense of support and
control. Supportive messages include praising, approving, encouraging,
displaying affection, and giving help. These messages lead to positive relationship
and lessen the existence of conflict between them. It is so because the child feels
more comfortable with their parents. In this positive interaction, the child will feel
secure with the caregiver. On the other hand, control messages include the threats
of punishment, revoking privileges, lecturing on consequences action, love
withdrawal, and generally showing love disapproval of the child’s behavior. Thus,
control behavior leads to the negative relationship and increases conflicts between
them. In this negative interaction creates insecure individuals. Noller and
Fitapatrick(199) state that secure individuals are able to trust others, in this case is
their mother. Meanwhile, insecure individuals lead them to mistrust and to avoid
their caregiver. They also tend to have negative view of themselves, others or
both.
Roolins and Thomas as quoted in Noller and Fitzpatrick (201-202) explain
that support messages increase self-esteem in children and their conformity to the
wishes of the parents, and lessen the aggression and antisocial behavior. In
contrast, control messages increase aggression and behavior problems and
academic achievement. The more parents control their children, the more they get
rebellion from them.
However, poor communication between parents and children brings
negative effect on their relationship. This makes the child feel uncomfortable and
rejected in the family. Norem Heisen, Johnson, and Anderson say “Increasing use
of drugs by adolescents in grade 9 and 11 seems to be related to perception of
disapproval and rejection from parents” (qtd. In Noller and Fitzpatrik 208). It
means that for adolescents who have poor communication with their parents and
feel rejected and uncertain about their love and support, tend to involve
themselves in the behaviors prohibited by their parents (Noller and Fitzpatrick
208).
b. Types of Mother-Daughter Relationship
Mark in his article, Mother Daughter Relationship – Reaping Its Positive
Benefits, divides five types of mother-daughter relationship based on the kind and
form of their interactions. They are friendship, sisterhood, diverging personalities
and characters, the mother’s role changing and total independence on each other.
Firstly is friendship. Such friendship based on interaction between a mother and
her daughter is the best and most valued relationship. In a friendship, they can
open their communication and share their secrets freely. This open communication
makes their relationship less susceptible to tension and misunderstanding between
them. Besides, the daughter tends to grow up to be confident and strong willed.
The weakness of this type is that as the daughter is growing up to be adult, she
mother should be balance in being a friend and a parent.
Secondly is sisterhood. The bond between a mother and a daughter in this
relationship is not as strong as in the friendship. The sisterhood involves the
warmth of love to each other and competitiveness. This relationship is also
characterized by rivalry and competitiveness. The competition can be positive
since the mother and daughter are idolizing each other and dealt with delicately.
On the other side, it can create frictions between them but it can be solved by
trying to be helpful and respecting each other than fanning the competition further.
Thirdly is diverging personalities and characters. The personality of the
mother and daughter is not complementary. What the daughter sees on her
mother’s control and protection are different from mother’s perspective. As the
mother employs to fulfill her responsibility of helping her siblings survive, the
daughter sees it from different angle. She thinks her mother is all too harsh and
always contrary to her while the mother believes her daughter is disrespectful and
totally out of control. It leads their relationship to the conflicts.
Fourthly is the mother’s role changing interactions. In this relationship,
the daughter takes up the role of the mother. Such a relationship creates the perfect
environment for them by making the daughter feel needed while mothers will
have the sense of being loved and cared by her daughter.
Lastly is total dependence on each other. This interaction makes the
mother and the daughter depend on each other’s opinion before doing anything.
Without her daughter’s consent, she will do nothing. The daughter also does the
same.
6. Conflict
a. The Meaning of Conflict
According to Noller and Fitzpatrick in their book Communication in
Family Relationship, conflict occurs in a family because family members hold a
difference between them. They do not agree with the events and situations in their
lives, such as one’s behavior, one’s opinion, and one’s decision. They differ about
what is appropriate behavior in a given situation, who take family tasks, how
resources should be managed, and how decision should be made (Noller and
Fitzpatrick 99). Thus, a conflict is a situation when one has his or her own
behavior, opinion, and decision. Based on Baron and Byrne (276), when the child
turns into adult, the parent-child relationship will be less pleasant and more
conflicts in their interaction. The parents can fully control their child. But, when
the child is growing to be adult, parents can not exercise dominance because they
will get rebellion from their child. Thus, the quarrel happens because parents
control their child too much.
In Psychology of Women, Helena Deutsch (322) proposes the causes of
conflicts in mother-daughter relationship. Firstly, the daughter considers her
mother as a rival in getting her father’s attention and love. Secondly, the daughter
does not accept her mother’s authoritarian power over her life. When her daughter
daughter. Thus, the mother uses authoritarian power over her daughter’s life and
becomes over protective. Thirdly is the influence of mother’s bad memory in her
own youth. The mother tries to protect her daughter from repeating the same fate.
Her over protection usually leads to the rebellion and conflict in their relationship.
b. Model of Conflict Resolution
Noller and Fitzpatrick present three models of conflict resolutions which
are proposed by Blake and Mouton, Pruitt and Rubbin, and Rusbult. This study
only concerns on the model of conflict resolution proposed by Blake and Mouton.
Blake and Mouton present five types of approaches in resolving the
conflict. They are avoidance, competition, soothing, solving and compromise.
Avoidance refers to the physical and emotional avoiding the situation and
unwillingness to talk about it. Competition or pushing aggression shows no care
for others’ feeling. It is seen as putting one’s own concern than in relationship.
Soothing is a way people use to show their interest in relationship. They tend to
ignore own feeling in order to prevent an open conflict. In solving, people
concerns on the interest in both of relationship and their selves. It involves
expressing feeling openly and directly, exploring the cause of the conflicts,
clarifying misunderstanding and looking for a solution. The last is compromise. In
this model, people also concern for self and some for relationship. It is less
satisfactory than problem solving. In resolving the problem, compromise tends to
gain something of one’s want and give something of other’s want (qtd. in Noller
B. Theoretical Framework
There are some theories applied in order to answer the problem formulated
in this study. In this part, I would like to explain which theories used and how they
are applied in the analysis.
The main aim of this study is to find out the meanings of love to Kate for
Sara. However, analyzing the main and minor characters and analyzing the
relationship between Sara and her children are necessary as means to look into the
deep meaning of Sara’s love to her dying daughter. To find out the main (major)
and minor (secondary) characters, I use the theory of character proposed by
Abram and Henkle. The two proponents have same idea of the character types. As
their theories are correlated, those are useful to analyze the character.
In analyzing the relationship between Sara and her children, it is better to
know whether Sara is a masochistic or a narcissistic mother. Since the types of
motherliness have influences on a mother – children relationship, I use theory of
motherhood proposed by Helena Deutsch. To analyze the relationship between
Sara and her children, I also use some theories from Noller and Fitzpatrick,
Gouran, and Mark. I include Gouran’s Mastering Communication because
relationship is closed to the interaction within the family. Thus, it facilitates to
describe their relationship. Mark’s Mother Daughter Relationship – Reaping Its
Positive Benefits is used to find out the types of Sara and her daughters’
relationship.
theories of conflict in relationship from Noller and Fitzpatrick. Since this study
includes the cause and model resolution of the conflict, I apply Blake and
Mouton’s conflict resolutions as quoted by Noller and Fitzpatrick. The theories
proposed by Baron and Byrne, and Helena Deutsch also help me to dig out the
causes of the conflict in Sara and her children relationship.
Finally, I employ some theories of love to analyze the meanings of Sara’s
love to Kate. These theories are proposed by Fromm, Pieper, Warga and Rob.
Fromm’s theory helps me to dig out Sara’s motherly love that makes her doing
everything to save Kate’s life without expecting anything in return. Meanwhile,
theories proposed by Warga and by Rob are used to show that Sara’s love is also
considered as agape that reveals God’s love. I also apply Davieslove’s Time: The
Best Expression of Love from Davieslove to analyze how Sara proves her love and
28 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is object of the study. It
describes the novel, My Sister’s Keeper, as the focus of the study. The second part
is approach of the study. It explains the approach applied in this study. The third
part discusses the method of the study which tells the steps in doing this study.
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is My Sister’s Keeper, a novel by Jodi Picoult, an
American writer. She has written sixteen novels dealing with family tragedy and
the tangle of relationships. My Sister’s Keeper is her eleventh novel. The political
and scientific discussions over cloning and DNA became the inspiration for My
Sister’s Keeper. The setting of time portrays the time when stem cell research and
designer babies were the current issues in the medical and political community in
United States. This novel was published twice, firstly in 2004 by Atria Books.
Secondly, it was published in 2005 by Washington Square Press. This study uses
the first novel published by Atria Books. My Sister’s Keeper contains 500 pages
and was awarded as “The New York Times” best seller. In each chapter, the
characters narrate and share their own story. There is only Kate who narrates one
chapter in the epilogue.
My Sister’s Keeper is a family tragedy novel which tells about love within
trying to save her dying daughter, Kate. She is diagnosed with acute
promyelocytic leukemia at age two. In order to save her dying daughter, Sara is
willing to do everything even if it means risking the happiness of her self and the
rest of the family. As she knows that Jesse, her son, cannot be a donor because he
is not a perfect match with Kate, Sara decides to have a baby who is designed to
be a perfect match donor. Thus, Sara and Brian, her husband, go to a geneticist to
conceive a baby, Anna, who can be a bodily organ donor for Kate.
To prove how much Sara loves her dying daughter, Sara always takes care
of Kate’s health and concerns on her life. She tries to fulfill what her daughter’s
need and be optimistic that there is a way for each problem. Sara does everything
to see Kate growing healthily and getting happiness like other children even
though it endangers Anna’s life and causes inequality among her children. When
Kate needs blood, bone marrow, stem cells and other bodily organ, she has Anna
donate them for Kate.
In order to save her dying daughter, Sara keeps struggling on even
troublesome comes to her. She gets rebellion from other children because Sara
gives Kate attention too much and always lays her decision on Kate’s side.
Moreover, Sara is sued by Anna in a trial. When Anna is 13 years old, Kate needs
a kidney transplantation. As a mother who loves and does not want to lose her
beloved daughter, Sara asks Anna to donate. Anna refuses to give her kidney and
hires an attorney named Campbell Alexander to sue her parents especially Sara.
Although Sara gets a petition from other daughter, she never stops doing the best
against Anna’s party. She tries to instills an understanding of the consequences
will be if Anna does not give her kidney.
This novel has a surprised ending. The Judge declares that Anna has her
own decision for her medical emancipation. Meanwhile, Alexander becomes the
one who helps her take a decision for bodily organ donation. In a trip to the
hospital, Anna gets an accident that makes her brain die. Anna’s lawyer takes a
decision to have the doctor take her kidney. Finally, Anna dies and Kate sirvives.
B. Approach of the Study
In order to have a better understanding of a literary work, applying critical
approach is required. Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. (6-15) propose five kinds of
critical approaches namely the formalist approach, the biographical approach, the
socio cultural-historical approach, the mythopeic approach, and the psychological
approach. Since psychological approach focuses on identifying any aspect of
human psychology which involves pattern of behavior, thought, and feeling
underlying a work of literature, I use it as the basis of the analysis.
To know the deep meanings of Sara’s love, it is important to understand
the relationship between Sara and her children. As mother’s love and mother-
children relationship are parts of psychological aspect, it will be beneficial to
apply psychological approach in this study. Psychology is a study that deals with
mind and how it influences behavior. Throughout psychological approach, I can
dig out the stated mind of characters which influences the way they behave and
interact with others. The ways they think, behave and interact give description of
Sara’s love to Kate, her dying daughter and how love influences her behavior to
her other children.
C. Method of the Study
This section presents the procedures that were used in analyzing the novel.
In conducting this study, I used library research method. The main procedures that
I used to gather the data were reading and taking important notes from many
written resources which were related to the object and the topic of the study. The
primary data was My Sister’s Keeper, a novel written by Jodi Picoult. The
secondary data were taken from some books and other resources from the Internet
which were beneficial to analyze topic of the study.
There were some steps in conducting this study. The first step was reading
the novel, My Sister Keeper as the primary source. I read the novel for many times
to get good understanding. After reading it repeatedly, I found some important
points that were interesting to discuss deeply. I was more interested in Sara’s love
to save Kate, her dying daughter. She faces difficult choices to give her children
happiness. She loves her children, but she devotes most of her love to Kate and
endangers Anna’s life by asking her to donate her human organ and steam cells
for Kate. It was the good one to discuss, to find out the deep meanings of
motherly love. I found how the relationship between Sara and her children were
portrayed. From their relationship, I could understand the meanings of Sara’s love
The second step was formulating what I found after reading the novel into
a formulated problem that covers the description of main and minor characters,
the description of mother – children relationship and the meanings of Sara’s love
to Kate. In the next step, I collected and read the secondary data that were related
to this analysis. I took literary and psychology books that were useful to analyze
the novel. They were theory of character, theory of love, theory of motherhood,
and theory of mother-children relationship.
In order to gain better understanding about the novel and more information
of the theories used to investigate and answer the problems, I also looked for and
took the data from the internet. I also would like to take notes of quotations and
useful information from many sources. After collecting and reading the data, I
started to analyze the formulated problem by applying those theories. At first, I
tried to find out the description of main and minor characters. Then, I analyzed the
relationship between Sara and her children. After finding those things, I analyzed
the meanings of Sara’s love to her dying daughter.
The last step was drawing conclusions of the analysis. I included some
suggestions for future researchers who aim to conduct analysis on the same novel.
Moreover, I proposed teaching learning process on Public Speaking 1 using My
33 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter analyzes the problem formulated in the first chapter. In order
to know the mother’s love toward her dying daughter, the description of main and
minor characters and the relationship between Sara and her children are important.
Thus this chapter is divided into three parts. The first part concerns with the
general description of characters: Sara as the mother and her children, Kate, Anna
and Jesse. The second part describes the relationship between them. The last part
describes the meaning of love toward Kate, her dying daughter for Sara.
A. The Description of Main and Minor Characters
Based on the theory proposed by Abrams and Henkle, there are two types
of characters. The first type is main character that becomes the focus of the story.
The second type is minor character that plays less important role. Sara and Anna
are categorized as the main (major) characters. They appear from the beginning
until the end of the story. Kate is also described as the main character. Even
though Kate does not present as many as Sara and Anna, she stays holding
important role in the story. She is the focus of the story events. Without her
presence, the story will not be created and developed. She becomes the primary
reason for the raising problems in the story and gets the amount attention from
others.
On the contrary, Jesse is considered as a minor (secondary) character. He
in the story. He just appears in a certain time and place. However, Jesse has a role
for the story development.
In the novel, Sara is considered as a loving and caring mother. She gives
her attention and cares about her family especially for her dying daughter, Kate.
Her love and care can be seen through her reaction when something happens to
Kate. She immediately brings Kate to the hospital whenever her daughter shows
the symptoms of her illness. When Kate gets fever, she announces to carry her to
the hospital. She spends the night in the hospital sitting beside Kate’s bed. She
smoothes the cover over Kate’s leg and compares her own temperature with
Kate’s (Picoult 80-82).
Further, Sara is a person who is tough, vigilant, and single-minded. She
has a purpose in her life to save Kate even though there is just a little hope. She
never gives up realizing her dream even though she has to fight again Anna,
another daughter, in the trial. One of her toughness can be seen when she decides
to be an attorney again and to fight again her healthy daughter. Sara stays to be
strong although she tears in her insight. She is fighting in two sides. She struggles
to save Kate’s life and fights against Anna in the trial (Picoult 266). In her
vigilance, she gives over attention and protection to Kate. She becomes very
anxious when Kate complains that her feet hurt. She thinks that Kate relapses
from her bony pain. Thus, she rushes Kate to the hospital (Picoult 198). To avoid
Kate’s health gets worse, Sara conceals the death of her boyfriend (Picoult
384-385). Sara’s love to her dying daughter leads her to be a single-minded person that
only focuses on Kate’s health and decides everything from Kate’s side without
thinking about other children’s need and feeling (Picoult 24).
Kate is portrayed as a weak, sensitive, and inferior person. Getting leukemia
causes her to be a weak person who needs others’ help. Kate does not have
strength to get rid of her sick even it is just an infection. Because of her
weaknesses, Sara has Anna give her sister white blood cell (Picoult 231). When
Kate gets kidney failure, she feels tired of her pity life that is like waiting her
death. Thus, she convinces her sister to kill her (Picoult 461). She becomes a
sensitive person whenever others talk about her illness and people look at her
appearance. Kate is angry because a saleswoman looks at her scarf that covers her
bald (Picoult 379). Further, she feels inferior to show herself in public. She is
ashamed with her appearance that it is not as beautiful as other girls at her age.
Thus, she does not want to go to mall and other public places (Picoult 288-289).
Because of her weaknesses and inferiority, she gets support, excessive protection
and attention from Sara. However, Sara’s excessive protection and attention
creates friction in her relationship with all her children.
Anna is a sort of person who is envious, brave, and smart. Anna feels left
out because Sara devotes most of her attention to Kate and ignores Anna’s rights.
Thus, she feels envious and thinks that Sara does not really love her. Anna often
wonders her better life when she is born in other family. If she lived in other
family, she would be happy. She will show her happiness to Kate (Picoult 57).
She is brave enough to struggle for her own rights. She sues her mother for the
