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When the reader can connect with a novel and what it is trying to say in between the lines it is a truly valuable book. Students especially, need to have the opportunity to relate to what they are reading; it gives them a better understanding of the subject. Jodi Picoult’s novel, My Sister’s Keeper, and Sandra Cisneros’ short book called The House on Mango Street contrast greatly. While Picoult’s novel illustrates relationships that are found in most families and covers the issue of designer babies throughout a moving story, Cisneros falls behind with the development of a minor theme in her book.
Sister to sister and mother to daughter relationships are the two main themes that are discussed throughout the novel My Sister’s Keeper. Anna’s bond with her sister Kate is inseparable, but when her Kate’s illness is at its worst, Anna’s kidney is her only lifeline. Anna’s main purpose is to be her sister’s donor whenever she needs a transplant, but she has had enough of her parents making these decisions for her; Anna wants to be noticed as a single person and not just her sister’s keeper. “Through all the things her family goes through with the trial, Anna still realizes that her bond with her sister is too great to break, and she can't live without her, “ (My Sister’s Keeper). Another relationship that is shown in the novel is that between Kate and her mother, Sara. No one is able to let go of the children they love, especially a mother. Ever since Kate was two years old, she has been struggling to defeat her illness, and her mother’s unquestionable support is what convinced Kate that it is worthwhile to fight back. During the fourteen years that her daughter has been at war with Leukemia, Sara has stayed positive and helped her daughter be the strongest that she could be even when almost all hope was lost. These relationships show how one person’s illness effects numerous people in all different ways, which is practical to reality.
My Sister’s Keeper is based on a storyline that so many people can relate to because everyone deals with a situation where someone you love is sick and you would do anything to cure them. The controversial issue of creating designer babies to help cure someone who is sick is the story’s main focus. As science has improved over the past few years, advances such as creating “designer babies” have come about, causing controversy. A real life example is that of a British couple who wanted to create a designer baby to save their oldest son with a fatal blood disease. After having this designer baby, procedures were done to donate his stem cells to his brother. This then brought up questions such as, “ how would a child feel, knowing that he was conceived for the sole purpose of saving his sibling’s life,” or “where would a donor’s own rights being and his responsibility end?” (Arie). The only way to save their child’s life was to treat him with his newborn brother’s stem cells, but if complications arose, who knows what else he would have to donate to his older brother. The idea of this statement relates right back to My Sister’s Keeper. At first, just like in this newborn’s case, Anna was only conceived for the purpose of donating stem cells to her sister, but as time passed, she was in the hospital getting procedures almost as much as her sister Kate was. It went from donating stem cells, to eventually thinking about a life-saving kidney transplant. As Anna explained when talking about her parents and being a donor she said, "they don't really pay attention to me, except when they need my blood or something. I wouldn't even be alive, if it wasn't for Kate being sick," (Picoult, 33). As much as she loved her sister, there was a part of her that wanted to be set free, just as most people who are in her position probably feel.
On the contrary, The House on Mango Street lacks a main idea that is relevant to today, making it not necessary to study. Although the short story of vignettes creatively explains the life of a young girl maturing, it only theme is change. Depending on how this theme is used in a book and the story that it goes along with, it can be meaningful or insignificant. In this book however, the theme of change proves itself to be minor compared to what the author could have made it into. The book’s purpose is clearly expressed by the author, but its ideas are not easily discussable like those in My Sister’s Keeper. When comparing the two books, the idea of creating designer babies is much more relevant to people than a person growing up and changing. Since there are so many issues that people debate about, it would make the most sense to include a book that is revolved around a controversial topic. When you compare the two types of change that these girls go through in both books, it is apparent that My Sister’s Keeper goes beyond just the idea of the protagonist, Anna, changing. From Anna wanting to change her life, the bigger story evolves. Books do not always have to teach a life lesson, but typically in our school’s curriculum, they tend discuss significant messages or themes that students can relate to. By reading a book that relates to a problem in the world, students get a better understanding of the issue and are able to relate better to it. From this, it is safe to conclude that The House on Mango Street’s theme is not as fully developed as My Sister’s Keeper, and should therefore, be removed from the curriculum.
The two books seem so different, but when you really take the ideas apart, My Sister’s Keeper and The House Mango Street have similar ideas, but they also have ideas that are not equally strong. Throughout the novel, My Sister’s Keeper illustrates the inseparable bonds connecting a mother to her daughter and also one sister to the other. By just examining the critical issue that the book revolves around, it is apparent that My Sister’s Keeper would, without a doubt, be a strong and worthwhile addition to the English curriculum.