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23. 1997: Sara
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Sister’s Keeper, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bodily Autonomy
Siblinghood
Parenthood
Control
Illness and Isolation
Summary
Analysis
Jesse, who has been truckjacking for years, steals a dump truck on I-195, since Brian took away his car after he was arrested. He struggles to drive the massive vehicle, but manages to reach Dan, who cowers behind his drums until he realizes it’s Jesse. Jesse loads up the truck with the fire supplies he needs, then impulsively asks Dan if he’d like to come—so long as Dan is able to keep quiet about what he sees. Dan promises, and the two head off to an old shed. Jesse tells himself he brought someone along to add to the thrill, but deep down he knows he did so to feel less alone.
Once again, as Kate and Anna’s situations escalate, so does Jesse’s behavior. Having his car taken away not only doesn’t deter him but actually propels him to commit an even more visible act of theft. Furthermore, his decision to invite someone to witness his arson for the first time illustrates just how badly he wishes to be seen by someone else—even if they’re seeing him at his worst moment.
Themes
In a flashback to when Jesse was 11, he receives a skateboard, which he describes as a “guilt gift” from his parents, who often buy Kate and Anna presents as consolation for their medical procedures. Jesse loves his skateboard and convinces Brian to take him and his sisters out to the school on Friday so that he can skate. Jesse, excited for the outing, greases his board’s wheels and polishes it. However, the day of, Kate has a terrible nosebleed that both Sara and Brian attend to. Jesse doesn’t see the nosebleed as a big deal since Kate has had them before, so he asks Brian when they’re going to go to the school. Brian looks through Jesse “like [he] was made of smoke.”
Much like the flashback in which Sara refused to follow through on her promise to get Jesse new cleats, this flashback shows how regularly Jesse was discarded whenever an emergency with Kate came up. In this case, Jesse doesn’t understand the gravity of Kate’s nosebleed (that it’s a sign of her cancer returning), making the slight cut even deeper. Thus, this scene further contextualizes how invisible Jesse feels in comparison to his sisters.
Themes
Back in the present, Jesse and Dan stare at the shed that Jesse’s just begun to burn. Dan makes a small sound that Jesse thinks is respect, but when he turns to look, he sees that Dan is crying. Jesse tries to reassure him, but Dan cries that the shed is “where the rat lives.” Jesse tells him that any animals would have instinctively fled the fire, but Dan says that “the rat” has newspapers all the way back to the Kennedy assassination. With horror, Jesse realizes that Dan is talking about a person. He asks if someone lives in the shed, and Dan tearfully responds, “Not anymore.”
The revelation that someone is in the shed Jesse is burning is the natural consequence of his escalating behavior. In an ironic twist, Jesse’s arson—which has been his outlet to come with not being able to save Kate—has led him to put another person in danger. In this way, this terrible mistake serves as a major turning point for Jesse’s character arc.
Themes
Back in the flashback, Jesse sneaks out of his house and makes it to downtown Providence, which takes him a few hours. Theorizing that he might be invisible, he walks through the business district and notes all of the people staring straight through him. Ultimately, he ends up standing in front of a busy intersection and has to be removed by police. At the station, Brian asks him what he was thinking. Internally, Jesse admits that he wasn’t thinking; he just wanted to be noticed.
Once again, Jesse’s flashback here shows how badly he needs to be acknowledged. This particular scene serves as an early example of Jesse partaking in drastic, dangerous, and illegal behavior in order to get attention—even negative attention—from his parents.
Themes
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In the present, Jesse wets his shirt and wraps it around his face, then rushes into the shed to rescue Rat. The smoke blinds him, so he calls out, but gets no answer. Dropping to his knees, he feels his way around, badly burning his hand on something metal in the process. Despite this, he manages to find Rat and pull him out of the shed. By the time he does so, the fire engines are already pulling up; Jesse wonders if Brian is there. He leaves Rat on the ground and runs in the opposite direction.
In another ironic twist, Jesse briefly becomes the firefighter rather than the arsonist when he rushes in to rescue The Rat. This role swap is a nod to the fact that, although Jesse’s relationship with fire is the opposite of Brian’s, both of them use it to enact control in their lives—even though, in this case, Jesse has completely lost control of the situation.
Themes
