摘 要

朱迪·皮考特是美国当代著名的畅销小说作家，其作品笔触细腻，善于捕捉生活细节，描述人与人之间，人与社会之间的伦理冲突。《姐姐的守护者》是其代表作，讲述了美国一个普通中产阶级家庭的伦理困境。书中的主人公安娜，其出生是为了治疗患有急性早幼粒细胞血病的姐姐凯特。凯特成长中的数次发病，使得安娜不得不随时待命为姐姐捐献骨髓，细胞等物。在母亲沙拉希望安娜捐献其一颗肾拯救器官衰竭的凯特时，安娜把母亲告上法庭要求夺回医疗决定权。

小说中这家人困囿于绝望之境13年之久，尤其是母亲莎拉和她的两个女儿凯特和安娜，长期同疾病斗争，无望的治疗使他们看不到亲爱家人的生命的希望，对各自的生活亦无热情与激情，爱在沉默中难宣于口终成伤害。而一场医疗诉讼案则让这个矛盾激发，让他们重新认识彼此，从这场伦理困境中逃脱解救出来。

本论文聚焦小说中母女三人的伦理困境以及她们摆脱困难的种种努力。该论文分为四个部分。第一个部分介绍了作者, 作品《姐姐的守护者》和相关文献综述；第二部分分析了费兹杰罗家中母女三人分别面对的伦理困境；第三部分阐述了他们如何从这困境中拯救自己；第四部分则对该篇论文进行了总结，反思了生命科技对人类伦理道德体系的冲击。

关键词：姐姐的守护者；伦理困境；救赎

Abstract

Jodi Picoult is one of the American best-selling novelists. She is good at catching every detail in life. And her most works are with the motifs about the interpersonal ethical dilemmas or predicaments between human and society. My Sister’s Keeper is her representative work, depicting ethical dilemma in an ordinary American middle-class family. The leading character Anna was born to save her older sister Kate from her illness, acute promyelocytic leukemia. And Anna has to donate marrows or cells to tackle her sister’s repeated attacks. When the mother Sara hopes Anna to donate one of her kidneys to save Kate, Anna decides to sue her mother for medical emancipation.

This family has been trapped in the ethical dilemma for 13 years，especially the mother Sara and her two daughters Kate and Anna. The long-term fighting and treatment for the disease make them lose the hope for Kate’s rehabilitation and enthusiasm for life. The silent love also gradually turns into harm for each one. However, a lawsuit sharpens the potential contradictions between mothers and daughters, gives them the chance to understand each other again and helps them free from the ethical predicaments.

This paper attempts a detailed analysis of ethical dilemma of three female characters. The paper is divided into four parts. The first part introduces the life of Jodi Picoult, her representative work My Sister’s Keeper and the literature review of this novel. In the second part, it analyzes the ethical dilemmas of the three main characters. In the third part, it elucidates their salvation from the ethical dilemmas. In the four part, it makes a conclusion of this paper and has a reflection of the impacts and challenges on ethics the biological science and technology has brought.

Key Words: My Sister’s Keeper; ethical conflicts; salvation

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Jodi Picoult and My Sister’s Keeper 1

1.2 Literature Review 2

2 Ethical Dilemmas in Family Relationship 4

2.1 Sara’s Unbalanced Love 4

2.1.1 Sara’s Unbalanced Love for Anna 4

2.1.2 Sara’s Unbalanced Love for Kate 5

2.2 Anna’s Deprived Right 7

2.2.1 Sara as a Despoiler 7

2.2.2 Kate as a Despoiler 8

2.3 Kate’s Painful Reception 9

2.3.1 Sara as a Giver 10

2.3.2 Anna as a Giver 11

3 Salvation from Family Ethical Conflicts 12

3.1 Salvation of Sara 12

3.2 Salvation of Anna 13

3.3 Salvation of Kate 14

4 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 18

Ethical Conflicts in

My Sister’s Keeper

1 Introduction

1.1 Jodi Picoult and My Sister’s Keeper

Jodi Picoult, the best-selling American novelist, is widely known around the world. She has earned the honor of the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003. Currently Picoult has approximately 14 million copies of her books in print worldwide.

In 1967, Jodi Picoult was born in Nesconset on Long Island. She studied creative writing in Princeton University, and graduated in 1987. During this time, she published two short stories in Seventeen magazine. Due to the fact that she had to make her living, Picoult was engaged in a variety of jobs ranging from editing textbooks to teaching eighth-grade English. Then she pursued a further education in Harvard University and received a Master’s degree.

Jodi Picoult was awarded the title Master Writer by the famous magazine Figure for the elaborate art form and profound motifs closely associative with the contemporary social ethical anxiety and moral confrontation. Her acute perception and delicate writing always exactly catch the complex real issues and core contradictions. Almost each of Picoult’s works questions the current social ethical problems with the themes varying from euthanasia, organ transplantation, juvenile delinquency to designed babies. Her talented depiction about the twilight zone between love and truth coerces readers to face the existing problems. From her first novel Songs of the Humpback Whale in 1992, she has published 21 novels, including Harvesting the Heart (1993), Picture Perfect (1995), Mercy (1996), The Pact (1998), Keeping Faith (1999), Plain Truth (2000), Salem Falls (2001), Perfect Match (2002), Second Glance (2003), My Sister's Keeper (2004), Vanishing Acts (2005), The Tenth Circle (2006), Nineteen Minutes (2007), Change of Heart (2008), Handle with Care (2009), House Rules (2010), Sing You Home (2011), Lone Wolf (2012), The Storyteller (2013), Leaving Time (2014).

Bringing Jodi Picoult world-wide fame，My Sister’s Keeper was rated as one of the top ten in the book list of the British Richard amp; Judy book club in 2004 and was adapted for film in 2009.

My Sister’s Keeper delineates a test-tube-born girl Anna and the affairs happening around the family. Anna’s older sister, Kate, suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia (APML, APL), a cancer of the white blood cells. Anna’s birth is a meticulous design for the treatment of her sister Kate. She keeps donating whatever Kate needs from the day she was born. When Anna turns 13, Kate’s severe condition requires Anna to donate one of her kidney. However, the surgery is not able to guarantee the Kate’s rehabilitation forever, moreover, it will have a serious impact on Anna’s health and life. In order not to be deprived of the right to medical treatment and self-determination, Anna sues her mother Sara. With the support of Kate and attorney Cambell, Anna wins the lawsuit and gains the medical decision. However, Anna is unexpectedly brain-dead after a car crash. Deeply revealing the ethical dilemma and painful struggle of this special family, this book evokes extensive meditation on the development and dependency of biotechnology and the ethical issues it causes.

1.2 Literature Review