Secretion (69): a substance discharged
Misbegotten (66): badly conceived or designed
“Kate’s ribs seem as thin as matchsticks, and there is a large gray blot just off center.” (69)
This is an example of figurative language because of the use of “as” to compare what Kate’s ribs look like to matchsticks. This is when Kate is laying in the hospital bed, and her mom is looking at her and the toll chemotherapy has taken on her small body.
“It comes out in a thick clump, drifts down to the carpet like a small blizzard.” (67)
Once Kate goes home after her first infusion of chemotherapy, she comes back into her parents’ bedroom, worried. When her parents, they inquire as to what is troubling their daughter. Kate shows them how her hair is falling out, and Sara describes back to the reader what it was like using a simile.
“With grim resolve I make a ballet out of rinsing the emesis basin and bringing it back. If you focus on sandbagging the beachhead, you can ignore the tsunami that’s approaching.” (65)
I chose this not only because it’s an example of figurative language (metaphor: comparing two things without using like or as), but also a very true statement. I like how she compares focusing on small aspects of being her daughter’s caretaker instead of her illness like focusing on sandbagging for a tsunami.
“After Zanne takes Jesse home for the night, Brian and I become bookends in the dark, bracketing Kate. “Brian,” I whisper. “I’ve been thinking.”
He shifts in his seat. “What about?”
I lean forward, so that I can catch his eye. “Having a baby.”
Brian’s eyes narrow. “Jesus, Sara.” He gets to his feet, turns his back to me. “Jesus.”
I stand up, too. “It’s not what you think.”
When he faces me, pain draws every line of his features tight. “We can’t just replace Kate if she dies,” he says.
In the hospital bed, Kate shifts, rustling the sheets. I force myself to imagine her at age four, wearing a Halloween costume, age twelve, trying out lip gloss; age twenty, dancing around a dorm room. “I know. So we have to make sure that he doesn’t.”.” (72)
This quote is significant because this is how Sara introduced the concept of adding a family member just to keep the original siblings alive. It is the whole foundation of the story, and relates to when Anna said that if you were born for a purpose, you must make sure that purpose remains, because when the purpose is gone, so is yours.
PROBABLE THEME:
I think that the theme comes down to how much of an obligation one has to their family, and where it begins and where it ends.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
{Post B Week 3}
Dear Anna,
That must have been quite the surprise when the notice of your legal affair was brought to your mother when you all were with your sister as she was receiving a transfusion treatment!! I can't imagine what it was like for everyone to have the peacekeeper of the family suddenly turn and ask for her own rights to herself. I think that your mother became extremely irrational, when Kate got really sick and the nurses had to be paged. It is a little bit weird that with all this sudden family stress/trauma that Kate's health would rapidly decline. When Jesse welcomed you to the dark side, I wonder how his thoughts of you have changed since finding out that you no longer want to be a part of Kate's lifeline. It seems that Jesse has made that decision, being that he refuses to live in the house like a normal family member and instead reside above the garage. Jesse seems like a good person to go to when the rest of the family is far too frustrated with your decision to seek medical emancipation. I think that the hardest part is going to be feeling guilt about Kate, and that if you succeed in receiving the medical emancipation that you seek that you are not responsible or reliable for supplying Kate with extra cells. Because Kate never got the chance to have a normal childhood, with being in and out of multiple treatments, she never really got to make any good friends, and that is why you're so important to her, being the closest thing she has to a friend.
Best of Luck,
<3C
That must have been quite the surprise when the notice of your legal affair was brought to your mother when you all were with your sister as she was receiving a transfusion treatment!! I can't imagine what it was like for everyone to have the peacekeeper of the family suddenly turn and ask for her own rights to herself. I think that your mother became extremely irrational, when Kate got really sick and the nurses had to be paged. It is a little bit weird that with all this sudden family stress/trauma that Kate's health would rapidly decline. When Jesse welcomed you to the dark side, I wonder how his thoughts of you have changed since finding out that you no longer want to be a part of Kate's lifeline. It seems that Jesse has made that decision, being that he refuses to live in the house like a normal family member and instead reside above the garage. Jesse seems like a good person to go to when the rest of the family is far too frustrated with your decision to seek medical emancipation. I think that the hardest part is going to be feeling guilt about Kate, and that if you succeed in receiving the medical emancipation that you seek that you are not responsible or reliable for supplying Kate with extra cells. Because Kate never got the chance to have a normal childhood, with being in and out of multiple treatments, she never really got to make any good friends, and that is why you're so important to her, being the closest thing she has to a friend.
Best of Luck,
<3C
{Post A Week 3}
VOCABULARY:
coxcomb (59):a vain or conceited man
succumb (63):to give in, fail to resist pressure
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
"In the hospital cafeteria, eating rubberized French fries and red Jell-O, I'd gland around from table to table..."(49)
This is an example of figurative language because Anna describes the texture and appearance of her food when she is at the hospital with her sister. This really gives the reader an excellent idea of what exactly Anna is eating.
"The last thing I see as I run out of the room is my mother pushing the nurse's call button over and over, as if it's the trigger to a bomb."(52)
The author uses a simile to help the reader visualize the way the mother is frantically pushing the nurse's call button because her daughter is coding and she just found out that she is being sued by her daughter so she is in an absolute state of panic.
"My throat closes like the shutter of a camera, so that any air or excuses must move through a tunnel as thin as a pin."(54)
Jackpot!! Here Jodi Picoult uses two similes to give insight into how Anna feels when her parents have just received the official paperwork saying that they are being sued by their daughter for medical emancipation. I know these are similes through the use of "like" and "as" to compare the size of her throat to a camera, and the tunnel to a pin.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
"Suddenly, the curtain whips aside, leaving me totally bare. "That's what I wanted to talk about," Kate says. "If you don't want to be my sister, that's one thing. But I don't think I could stand to lose you as a friend."
This really sums up a lot about what I read this week. As Kate is in the hospital receiving a transfusion, the sheriff comes in, and gives Sara (the mother) the official notice that she is being sued by her own daughter to get medical emancipation. The family gets spun into an absolute frantic. The parental concern is blatantly obvious, but what Picoult hides until the end of the section, is how Kate, the one whose life support rests on Anna's shoulders, feels about her sister not wanting to give up her body anymore.
PROBABLE THEME:
I think that the theme comes down to how much of an obligation one has to their family, and where it begins and where it ends.
coxcomb (59):a vain or conceited man
succumb (63):to give in, fail to resist pressure
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
"In the hospital cafeteria, eating rubberized French fries and red Jell-O, I'd gland around from table to table..."(49)
This is an example of figurative language because Anna describes the texture and appearance of her food when she is at the hospital with her sister. This really gives the reader an excellent idea of what exactly Anna is eating.
"The last thing I see as I run out of the room is my mother pushing the nurse's call button over and over, as if it's the trigger to a bomb."(52)
The author uses a simile to help the reader visualize the way the mother is frantically pushing the nurse's call button because her daughter is coding and she just found out that she is being sued by her daughter so she is in an absolute state of panic.
"My throat closes like the shutter of a camera, so that any air or excuses must move through a tunnel as thin as a pin."(54)
Jackpot!! Here Jodi Picoult uses two similes to give insight into how Anna feels when her parents have just received the official paperwork saying that they are being sued by their daughter for medical emancipation. I know these are similes through the use of "like" and "as" to compare the size of her throat to a camera, and the tunnel to a pin.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
"Suddenly, the curtain whips aside, leaving me totally bare. "That's what I wanted to talk about," Kate says. "If you don't want to be my sister, that's one thing. But I don't think I could stand to lose you as a friend."
This really sums up a lot about what I read this week. As Kate is in the hospital receiving a transfusion, the sheriff comes in, and gives Sara (the mother) the official notice that she is being sued by her own daughter to get medical emancipation. The family gets spun into an absolute frantic. The parental concern is blatantly obvious, but what Picoult hides until the end of the section, is how Kate, the one whose life support rests on Anna's shoulders, feels about her sister not wanting to give up her body anymore.
PROBABLE THEME:
I think that the theme comes down to how much of an obligation one has to their family, and where it begins and where it ends.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
{Post B Week 2}
Dear Campbell Alexander,
I too think it's very funny that you are a firsty-lasty. It was very noble of you to agree to take on Anna's case. How exactly do you plan on being paid for your services, when you know very well that Anna is just in middle school, with no source of income? I'm curious as to when you will talk to her parents, and how they will react knowing that their daughter, who has been so patient and tolerant all along with each and every surgery she has endured with her sister, doesn't want to be the Godsend anymore.I wish you luck with your new case.
Dear Sara,
How you felt when you thought about starting a family at first is exactly how I feel. Starting a career that you truly have a passion for, and then being willing to give it up to devote your time 110% to your children. I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to notice a string of bruises down your daughters back. What all started out as a simple observation turned out to be a very serious and fatal disease.As Kate layed on the table, anesthetized, I found it so interesting that you described Kate crying, even though she was sleeping. I wish you very much strength in the process of fighting off Kate's leukemia. I wish you could've been warned to hold on to the rest of your family as you are Kate...both Jesse and Anna are slipping from the family...and the worst part is, is that nobody seems to notice.
<3C
I too think it's very funny that you are a firsty-lasty. It was very noble of you to agree to take on Anna's case. How exactly do you plan on being paid for your services, when you know very well that Anna is just in middle school, with no source of income? I'm curious as to when you will talk to her parents, and how they will react knowing that their daughter, who has been so patient and tolerant all along with each and every surgery she has endured with her sister, doesn't want to be the Godsend anymore.I wish you luck with your new case.
Dear Sara,
How you felt when you thought about starting a family at first is exactly how I feel. Starting a career that you truly have a passion for, and then being willing to give it up to devote your time 110% to your children. I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to notice a string of bruises down your daughters back. What all started out as a simple observation turned out to be a very serious and fatal disease.As Kate layed on the table, anesthetized, I found it so interesting that you described Kate crying, even though she was sleeping. I wish you very much strength in the process of fighting off Kate's leukemia. I wish you could've been warned to hold on to the rest of your family as you are Kate...both Jesse and Anna are slipping from the family...and the worst part is, is that nobody seems to notice.
<3C
Monday, February 18, 2008
{Post A Week 2}
phlebotomist(31):a nurse or other health worker trained in drawing venous blood for testing or donation.
asbestos(38): a fibrous mineral, either amphibole or chrysotile, formerly used for making incombustible or fireproof articles.
"Trailing her spine, like a line of small blue jewels, are a string of bruises."(28)
This is figurative language because the bruises on Kate's back are being compared to a line of jewels. This is the first sign of Kate possibly having more of illness than just a cold.
"Tonight, Sara makes roast beef. It sits on the table like a sleeping infant as she calls us to dinner."(38)
This is an example of a simile because of the use of the word "like" to compare the what the food looks like sitting on the table to a small child.
"Look at my child, at the shine of her flyaway curls and the butterfly flight of her smile--this is not the face of someone dying by degrees."(34)
This is really good imagery for what Kate looks like as she is going through multiple tests to see what exactly is wrong with her. The mother, Sara, realizes that you don't have to be awake to cry when her young anesthetized daughter is crying on the table.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
"This is when I realize that Anna has already left the table, and more importantly, that nobody noticed." (40)
I thought that this quote was really significant because this is essentially what the book is about...Anna feeling like the only reason she is part of the family is just to be her sister's lifeline.Anna goes out by herself and finds a lawyer to try and regain rights to her own body because she hates that every single time her sister ends up in the hospital, she does too. When Anna comes to the dinner table, obviously upset, her family barely seems to notice, and just continue what they were doing. It is her father who says the above, and realizes that there just might be something going on (considering Anna isn't wearing the locket that he gave her, and that she has rarely taken off since she was young).
PROBABLE THEME:
I think the theme is how tightly does family obligation bind one and to what extent should a person allow it before demanding freedom?
asbestos(38): a fibrous mineral, either amphibole or chrysotile, formerly used for making incombustible or fireproof articles.
"Trailing her spine, like a line of small blue jewels, are a string of bruises."(28)
This is figurative language because the bruises on Kate's back are being compared to a line of jewels. This is the first sign of Kate possibly having more of illness than just a cold.
"Tonight, Sara makes roast beef. It sits on the table like a sleeping infant as she calls us to dinner."(38)
This is an example of a simile because of the use of the word "like" to compare the what the food looks like sitting on the table to a small child.
"Look at my child, at the shine of her flyaway curls and the butterfly flight of her smile--this is not the face of someone dying by degrees."(34)
This is really good imagery for what Kate looks like as she is going through multiple tests to see what exactly is wrong with her. The mother, Sara, realizes that you don't have to be awake to cry when her young anesthetized daughter is crying on the table.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
"This is when I realize that Anna has already left the table, and more importantly, that nobody noticed." (40)
I thought that this quote was really significant because this is essentially what the book is about...Anna feeling like the only reason she is part of the family is just to be her sister's lifeline.Anna goes out by herself and finds a lawyer to try and regain rights to her own body because she hates that every single time her sister ends up in the hospital, she does too. When Anna comes to the dinner table, obviously upset, her family barely seems to notice, and just continue what they were doing. It is her father who says the above, and realizes that there just might be something going on (considering Anna isn't wearing the locket that he gave her, and that she has rarely taken off since she was young).
PROBABLE THEME:
I think the theme is how tightly does family obligation bind one and to what extent should a person allow it before demanding freedom?
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