my sisters keeper

My Sister’s Keeper In the movie “My sister’s Keeper” Ana Fitzgerald, who is an engineered baby, is currently functioning at Erik Erikson’s “identity versus identity confusion” stage. All her life she has been used by her parents as a donor for her dying sister, Kate, who is a suffering leukemia patient. Ana is finally at the point where she is evidentially trying to find her identity because she wants to claim the rights to her own body. She is now old enough to realize that being a donor can have a negative effect on herself. Erikson states that people in the identity versus identity confusion stage begin to develop the ability to explore different alternatives to questions of concerns (John). One of Ana’s alternatives for her situation concerning the rights to her own body is getting a Lawyer. In this scene she shows how important it is for her to have her own identity by wanting to sue her own mother (Cassavetes). When she tells the lawyer about her situation and presents him with her medical documents, it shows how she is morally developing and growing up to be an individual person— not an object (Cssavetes). This is a big step for somebody her age. One would expect her to go directly to her mother instead of going through the hassle of bringing the justice system into play. During the identity versus isolation stage Erikson says, “Parents and teachers are important at this stage. They can help to inform a positive identity by providing opportunities and encouragement as adolescences explore the various options of life” (John). In Ana’s case, her mother, Sara, is not there to encourage her to be an individual or explore the many paths which she can take in life. This isolates her from both of her parents. In the court scene near the end, Sara and the lawyer debate about Ana’s mindset. Sara says that she needs to continue to use Ana in order to save Kate, and she has no choice but to do so because she is too young to make her own decisions (Cassavetes). In

Cited: Cassavetes, Nick, dir. My Sister 's Keeper. Writ. Leven Jeremy. Film. 26 Nov 2012. . John , B. In search of the good: A catholic understanding of moral living. 2nd ed. Ottawa: the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004. Print. Wey, J. "Fowler 's Six Stages of Spiritual Growth." Trans. ArrayPrint. Wey, J. "Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning." Trans. ArrayPrint.