Reading+Reflections

"Shes got a few acquaintances, sure, but mostly when they come over they look like they're serving out a sentence, and sit on the edge of Kate's bed counting down the minutes until they can leave and thank God this didn't happen to them. A real friends isn't capable of feeling sorry for you". (pg. 57) I re-read this passage several times after Anna says it. When someone is really ill most people do not feel comfortable with visiting and watching them suffer. When you visit someone that is very sick, we often imagine ourselves in that position, and in the back of our mine we are thiknking how greatful we are that we're not in that position. It's sad that people treat others differently just when they are not well, and the main reason is because they feel sorry for the person. Anna says a real friend isn't capable of feeling sorry for you and i feel that is only true to a certain extent. When you see someone you love suffering you can't help but feel sorry for them that they have to go through that but at the same time you don't want to feel sorry for them, you want to tell them they are going to get better and not let them give up hope.

"When I'm finished, I get to my feet, take one last drag, and toss the cigarette into the sawdust. I know this one's going to move fast, so I'm already running when the wall of fire rises behind me. Like all the others, they will look for clues. But this cigarette and my initials will have long been gone". (pg. 95) I think that how you are raised says alot about person when they are older. I think Jesse's obsession with starting fires and leaving his initials and cigarettes behind are a symbol. Having a family member on call with death is scary, and having to prepare yourself that everyday death is a reality can really change a persons point of view on life. Leaving those things behind in the fire to dissapear is a reflection of him and how if he were to die there would be nothing left of him. He could not donate his kidney to Kate even when he wanted to, and forced to think and deal with death on a daily basis makes him think what it would be like if he died. I think his view on if he died would be there is nothing left of him on earth besides his organs since he is a donor. I dont think I am like Jesse, the situation he is put in with Kate and his family affects his personality for the worst, instead of rising above it and doing more with his life like that would drive me to do, he slumps into a hole and thinks life is miserable what's the point of living.

"My parents looked at each other. Neither of them understood like I did, like Jesse did-that no matter who you are, there it some part of you that always wished you were someone else-and when, for a milisecond, you get that wish, its a miracle". (pg. 138) I agree with Anna on this quote. People will always imagine themselves as someone else, so that for those few seconds you feel superior. I feel this is especially true with people, especially children with serious illness's. For instance, if you were told you had a disease that was terminal, or that you were paralyzed from the waste down, in a way you feel trapped. And when you cant physically escape, you can with your imagination. I think in that moment that is what Kate did. Suddenly she wasn't sick anymore she was a normal girl playing football with her family on Thanksgiving. I think its important for children that are sick to be treated as normal as possible so that they can have real memories instead of people feeling sorry for them.

I think my sisters keeper has a very ironic plot. Throughout the book Sara tries to get Anna to give Kate her kidney in order to save her life. Anna refuses because she wants to keep the right to her own body and is tired of being poked and used just for Kates benefits. When Anna dies at the end of the story I feel like it is the most ironic point of the story. I think this because Anna winds up passing away and kate does recieve her kidney. Whether Anna wanted to donate it or not she ultimately does have to give Kate her kidney. Anna never had a childhood, since she was born she was used to save Kate's life. This is probably why she felt the need to stand up for herself and stop being used, even though you can tell she is scared to face up to her parents. This book had alot of irony in it and I find it surprising that after all Anna went through ultimately Kate still got her kidney.

"I said that I wasn't clever. I was just noticing how things were, and that wasn't clever. That was just being observant, being clever was when you looked at how things were and used the evidence to work out something new". (Pg. 25) When Christopher says this I think it says a lot about his character. He views the world in a different way, and yearns for more knowledge and understanding about human life. Although Christopher is seen as "slow" I think the way he views things isn't strange, just different. We live in a world where order and routine is all we know, but to go beyond that and create your own world and research your own knowledge is what I think is clever. I give Christopher credit for trying to be different in a society where that is not always accepted.

"Or you see a sign which says KEEP OFF THE GRASS but it should say KEEP OFF THE GRASS AROUND THIS SIGN or KEEP OFF ALL THE GRASS IN THIS PARK" (pg. 29) I think this is a very interesting way to put this. Most people say things but its not literally what they meant, but our minds have a developed a different way of understanding. I think Christopher is smarter in the way that his mind processes information. Technically speaking Christopher is correct in the things that he says. Statistics show that the average humans only use a small percentage of their mind. If we were able to use more the things possible are intangible. I would like to learn and understand christopher more because of the different view points he give.

"And this shows that sometimes people want to be stupid and they do not want to know the truth". He is very accurate when saying this. This is also like saying ignorance is bliss, which is how most people perceive things. For instance when you are at a very old age you often go into denial. You dont want to know how much longer you have to live, or what will come next, you just live in the moment and wont let youself think about it. The truth is though people who are in that mind set are only lying to themselves. It is better to admit what really is rather than what could be. Knowledge is everything and I think the people who live in ignorance are the people who will never feel personal gratitude.

"And I replied, "But I dont feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr. Shears isnt around anymore. So, I would be feeling swad about something that isn't real and doesnt exist. And that would be stupid". (pg. 75). After Christopher says this I had to re-read this sentence multiple times. It shocked me that he is aware his mother cheated on his father, but he doesn't react to it. Christopher thinks with logic over emotions and I think it is very interesting when he compares humans to computers. I think that he is right on most things that he says, but that sentence shows how he doesnt understand emotions because he only reasons with logic. I think its more important for people to show emotions and to love and to revolve their world around reason and logic like christopher tends to do during his childhood.

"For example, I remember standing in a field on Wednesday, 15 June 1994". This sentence caught my attention for several reasons. One reason is that we find out in the begining of the book that Christopher thinks differently then others. But after finishing this book I realized he thinks in a more intelligent way. He says how his memory is like a tape recorder and he can go back or forward to any day in time after the age of 4 and remember it perfectly. I recently saw an episode on T.V where a few people talked about how they can do the same thing. They have a way of recording everday of their life and remembering not just what happend but the date, and what day it falls on. I think having that sort of memory is amazing and I also think that is why Christopher excels in math.

"And then she didnt say anything for a long while. And then she made a loud wailing noise like an animal on a nature program on television". It makes me feel sad for Christopher that he can't feel emotions, or understand when other people are sad. Christopher was put in a situation similiar to one I have experienced, and I would find it impossible not to want to break down and cry sometimes. Although he doesn't understand sadness or compassion and other emotions, he does try and learn to understand. In the begining he had to use faces that expressed how he felt inside because he didnt know how to show it on the outside. And at the end when he gets an A on his math exam which is all he wanted, in order to show how he was happy he had to draw a smiley face.

"He's positive for the marburg virus. This is really serious. We don't know much about marburg". pg 34. I thought this was a very important statement made by the doctor. I think this because this is when the book takes a turning point. The doctor now realizes that his co-worker had died from a very serious disease. After he looks up this virus he comes to see that it is airborne and will spread killing many people. I think it's also a frightening statement because they are wondering into the unknown. They do not have adequate research on this bacteria which means they cannot have a vaccine. This virus will kill many lives and spread fast if they do not figure a way to control the spread.

One thing that scares me in this book is how the outbreak was sudden and rapid. It's scary to think that their are diseases out there that if exposed could essentially kill the human race. People aren't as aware as they should be of the dangerous illness's we can be exposed to. We make big deals over the flu and simple sickness that it's hard to imagine people response to a potential deadly disease. There needs to be more education on what to do in an international emergency because if that were to ever happen nobody would know how to respond.

I think the most interesting part of this book was the first chapter whent he virus is first exposed. Nobody was prepared for this deadly virus to take place. The symptoms progress over a week long span and this is the first and only sign that you will die from eboli. The doctor taking care of the patient of the plane was unaware of the sick mans diagnosis, I think its sad how he ultimately risked his life to save this man. I think this relates to a job in health care. When you devote your life to helping others, you are also risking your life. You take care of sick patients that at first you do not know the illness that they have. Health care professionals have one of the most important job, and thats to save lives, but in the process they are also risking their own.

"A hot virus from the rain forest lives within a twenty-four-hour plane flight from every city on earth" This quote explains how serious and deadly this virus is. Once eboli was found in the rain forest it quickly was transmitted and now longer is hidden. Within 24 hours, anyone infected with the virus and gets on a plane can ultimately destroy man-kind. Since the disease is air borne is will be transmitted quickly and they will most like be dead within in a week because the surviving rate of this disease is one out of ten. If this were to happen in todays world there is a small chance that we would be able to stop the transmissions completely. Most Americans havent even heard of eboli, and we are not prepared as a nation in what to do in a state of emergency.