The novel "My Sisters Keeper" by Jodi Picoult and the poem "Snake" by David Herbert Lawrence are closely related. Anna has to choose whether or not she should give a kidney to her sister Kate who is going to die of kindey failure because of her leukemia. Anna doesn't want to kill her sister but giving a kidney is dangerous. She doesn't want to die or put herself at risk.The speaker in the poem knows he should kill the snake at his water trough because if he doesn't it puts him in danger. "Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him?" This quote from "Snake" reflects how Anna feels about Kate. Kate has told Anna she doesn't want to live in pain and suffering anymore. However, Anna does not want to picture life without Kate. After Anna goes to the lawyer to request medical emmancipation (so she can chose NOT to give a kidney) she starts to feel horrible and confused just as the speaker in "Snake" does when he throws something at the snake. He says "And immediately I regretted it. I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act! I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education." They both feel guilty for trying to hurt something even though it is in some ways best for them tha they did. Both of them were putting their own safety first. In the end of the poem, the snake and Kate both live. Even though Anna never is given the option of choosing to give Kate her kidney, it is implied that she would have. She knew that it was morally right to save her sister that she loved. The speaker in "Snake" felt it would be morally wrong to kill the snake who just wanted water. The poem and the novel are related because both the speaker and Anna have tough moral decisions to make.
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1252.html
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