Reading+Reflections


 * 1

"My father says that a fire will burn itself out, unless you open a window and give it fuel," pg 13.

This quoute stood out to me because it is adressing a key problem in the story. Anna does not want to be a donor anymore for her cancer stricken sister kate. If she were to not tell anyone about this desire then the problem would never be adressed and would never get ressolved. By going to the lawyer, Anna is opening that window and putting a spotlight onto the issue at hand. Doing this is causing attention to her dilema and not letting that fire inside of her for change go away. This idea behind the fire can be connected to the new health insurnce propasal. If the country does not talk about it and make it known that there is a problem then that problem, the large population without health insurence, will not get adressed and be put on the side like it has in past history. This could explain Obama's recent talk show apperances. He wants to keep the fire of health care issues fuled. Obama does not want the issue to burn out but to keep vivid in American;s thoughts. Windows must be open to make changes.


 * 2

"This is not Anna. I am used to struggling with Jesse, to lightening Kate's load, but no Anna is our family's constant...Anna gives us a backbeat," pg. 39.

While reading the novel this caught my eye. It displays the dynamic of the Fitzgerald family. What is concernign however, is that a thirteen year old is the infrastructure of a family. Putting a considerable amount of weight onto the youngets of the family can have damaging effects. Not only is Anna responisble for the physical health of her sister but the mental health of her family. The optimism and positive energy about Anna are prime character traits that can not be seen at the moment given Anna's ecent actions. It shows that Anna is not heartless but is overwheleme with the donations from her body to her sister. Perhaps this is forshadow to the real reason why Anna does not want to donate her organs. I conected on a personel level with this quote because being the youngest, I also in my family act as the spirit rejuvenator. I am most often the peace maker. I like Anna can sometimes feel the wieght of my family on my sholders except not to such a great extent as Anna does.


 * 3

"Shooting stars are not stars at all. They're just rocks that enter the atmosphere and catch fire under friction. What we wish on, when we see one, is only a trail of debris," pg.200.

This quote became a point of intrest to me while reading. It seems to be symbolism. The shooting star symbolizes the Fitzgerald family. The family is not a whole but just peices (family members) with differnt problem going through the motions of life. Wishing on the stars may be symbolizing Brian's lost hope for his family to function normaly. Brian may be wishing for his family to become a whole unit once again but in reality they are just a trail of debris. This is a more synical side to Brian. Always being seen as the one who keeps the peace and stays strong for the family is now himself giving up. He no longer see hope but only a slew of problems. This quote can be also be connceted to the function of a hospital. If all memebers of a hospital do not work together as a team then they are not being productive and are going through the motions. The hospital would not be efficient and it would just be debris. There would be no hope for a good future of the hospital. Shootingt stars are what one makes of them. If a shooting star is looked at with hope and optismism it is just that, a shooting star but if it is looked at synicaly and without hope it is a trail of debris.


 * 4

"Anna, you know we never did any of these things to hurt you. It hurt //all// of us. If you got the bruises on the outside, then we got them on the inside," pg.296.

This part of the book stood out to me. It shows a side of Sara Fitzgerald that is not seen often. Anna's mother is showing compassion for Anna and not just for Kate. Sara feels pain over her descion to make Anna a donor. This shows an emotion from Sara. She feels guilty. In the beging of the book, the potral of Sara is that she is a nerotic mother only looking to save the life of her eldest daughter. You do not get the sense that Sara has any resenment over what she is doing to Anna's body. Here it is seen that she does care about Anna. A doctor can be viewed in the same light that Sara is viewed in. At times some doctors can be seen as cold and emotionless but if you look deeper you can see that they do deeply care about their pateints. If they were not to care about their pateints then health care would not be at its greatest. We all try to do what is right but some times that can come off as an emotionless gesture. This may not be true in all cases. Sara Fitzgerald is not emotionaly detached from Anna's suffering. She also feels the pain.


 * 5

Title: //My Sister's Keeper//

After finishing the novel, the title of the book struck my intreset. I knew that the title was a biblical reference but I was not completely aware of the reference. The title is a refrence to the bible story of Cain and Abel. After Cain murders had murdered his brother Abel, God asks him where his brother was. Cain answered, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper." The meaning behind this story is that people are not willing to accept resonosibility for the welfare of others. The title of the book speaks volumes on every member of the Fitzgerald household. No one knows who to blame for Kate's terminal illness. They put all the responisbilty on Anna to keep Kate alive, which is ironic because Anna is a child and children are not suppose to have such heavy responibilities. There is too much responibilitie put on her and she is in essecence her sister's keeper. As a child Anna shoud not be her sister's keeper. The same can be said for the debate on health isurence. Many are concerned that the US government is not taking responibility for the well being of its citzens. This is some what true. Everybody must have health care and it should not be a luxury. The United States must take this into consideration especialy because of the federal taxes most citizens pay. The Unted States must be the country's keeper.


 * 2nd QUARTER**


 * 1

"The siren jarred her awake at about seven. She arose, dressed quikly, and hurried to the house of Mr. Nakamoto, the head of her Neighborhood Association, and asked him what she should do. He said she should remain at home," pg. 7 This event stood out to me while I was reading because it illustrates both how quickly there was a response to sirens but how little knoweldge there was on what to do in response to the sirens. The citizens of Hiroshima were not properly eduated on what to do if a bomb realy was to hit Hiroshima which it did end up doing. This is possibly a foreshadow as to why so many people were affected by the bomb; they were not knowledgeable on what to do. The reaction of the japanese to the sirens helps the reader to understand how seriously the sirens were taken. After experiencing oreintation at the hospital I was able to understand how important it realy is to know what to do during an emergency like a fire. Like when a siren goes off in Hiroshima, a fire alarm going off in a hospital is a serious matter. It is important for all health care workers to know the percuations to take if a fire is to occur. If they do not know how to respond there will be caos and pateints would be in danger. In any kind of emergency standard percautions must be know before hand to prevent harm to all people.


 * 2

"To my great surprise, I never heard anyone cry out in the disorder, even though they suffered in great agony. They died in silence, with no grudge, setting their teeth to bear it," Page 115 This quote grabbed my attention because it helped to showcase the culture of japense people. In their culture pain is something that should be endured with silence. This is a contrast to other cultures who believe in verbalizing the pain they are sufffering from. It helps to characterize the japenese people as a whole. They are strong people. It is quite honerable to die in silence when one is cleary going through tremendous pain. The japense are honarable people. The ways in which diferent cultures react to pain is imporatant information for health care workers to be familiar with. How each patient deals with pain helps the health care worker to treat the patient. If a patient is japenese and can take pain well then a doctor may care for them differently then an american who is more senstive to pain. I experinced this first hand while on a my physical therapy rotation in the hospital. The women where more vocal to the pain then the men where to the pain. Because of their differnt sex they responded differntly. Health care workers must be able to deal with all differnt people because everyone reacts differntly to sutuations.

" When I recalled Dr Suguro sticking that grey, bloated face of his out from behind the shutters, the room beyond him in sinister shadow, my desire to go faded away," pg. 14
 * 3

This quote stood out to me. It suggests something about the main character. It suggests that he bases his opinions about people, specifly, his soon to be doctor on appearnces. It shows that his character can be judgemental. He does not know anything about the practice of Dr. Suguro but on his appearnce alone he sees him as an inadaquate doctor. This judgment about the doctor can also be realted to how people in american culture react to people and settings. For example a hospital that is new and extravagent may not have the best doctors as perhaps a hospital that is not the most attractive. People base their opinions on what they see. The same goes when one is choosing a hospital. They may feel more safe going to the new hospital but the older hospital may hold more experienced and better dotors. This can be argued about hudson valley hospital. Many feel that the hospital does not employ the best doctors but because it is going through renovation and will soon be a new and "imporved" hospital it may not give the best care as a less new hospital in westchester county. Looks can be deiceving.

"The pupils made the same distinction as did the teachers, and it wasn't considered a bit strange. This was due to my being the only one who wasn't a farmer's son." pg. 104 I found this intresting because this helped to illustrate the Japenses's culrture. Those who have money are treated with more respect then those who do not have money. This is prevelant in many cultures. It is unfortunate that this is what goes on but as Toda said it was not "a bit strange." It is just what it is. The same idea can be linked to hospitals today. If you have private health insurence then most likely you will get better care from the same doctor who under oath has to treat a patient in an emergency room without any insurence at all. It may be seen as unethical but it is what it is. The world is not a fair place and not everybody is treated equaly, unfortunetly. An example of this could be also be taken from another part of the book. The rich woman Ms.Tabe gets better treatment then the welfare pateint. Money can not by you happiness but it can save your life. I personaly think when it comes to health care more should be done to keep equality among patients. One way this could be achived could be though nationalizing health care. If everybody is getting similar health care then hopefully everyone will be treated more or less equaly.
 * 4


 * 5

" A 'phantom,' in the sense that neurologists use, is a persistent image or memory of part of the body, usually a limb, for months or years after its loss," pg. 66

This perticular disorder struck my attention. This struck my attention because I have never heard of such a disorder. This seemed to be an extremly krippling disorder. Not alot is known about mental illnesses. This is important because many people see people with mental ailments with little understanding of what they are suffering from. Mental disabilities can be better understood when people are more educated about these problems. This book helps for this to happen. Less known ailments like the phantoms are better understood after reading this book. Education on mental illness is also benficial to health care workers. Some health care workers do not understand mental illnesses and do not treat these pateints with as much pateince and respect as those who are mentallly stable. Education is extremely important in health care. Casual reading is an easy way to educate one's self on contemprery issues. I myself is now more educated on mental disorder.


 * Third Quarter**


 * 1

"My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing," pg.11

Ths quote stood out to me because it hints towards male dominated health care. It helps to describe society at this time. Men held professional titles and women were seen as second class citizens. It was not a sister who was a doctor it was her brother. Healthcare is completely differnt from what it was in the 1930s. Both men and women are given equal oppertunities to become a doctor or any other type of professional. To allow both sexes to work as doctors is very helpful when treating pateints. A woman patient may feel more comfortable with a woman doctor then a male doctor. A patient's ease is extremly important in good health care. As a female to have more options in the health care feild then just a nurse. A women may also be able to relate to a woman patient then a male doctor would be able to. A different atmosphere is created.


 * 2

" I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposistion and more society and stimulus"

This was an intresting statement. Instead of isolation, the narrorater feels she needs people. This is intresting because instead of the routine remedy of isolation, the narrator wants to be immersed into society. For the time period this is a contemporary way of thinkng. It shows that the narrorater posses a characterstict of intelect. She is thinking in a way much more rational then that of her husband. It also helps the reader to see that this woman in fact is not crazy but simply strugilng through a post partum depresson however because of her status as a woman her input was not important. Alternative medcine is very present in todays world of health care. Not one method of therapy works for all. Rehab may work some people and weekly group meetings may be better for someone else. Todays healthcare allows this. The narrator also shows that even though one s suffering they are still a humanbeing and should be treated as one, not loced up in a room. Thankfully there isnow a better understanding to mental ailments so they can be treated with more care.


 * 3