Anna (My Sister's Keeper) Heroism Review

Year 10 English

Term 1 – Representations of women

In analyzing the representation of women in a text, you should consider the following questions. Not every question may be applicable to every text. Give some thought to which are the most important.

1. What does she look like? Pay particular attention to the question of whether she is considered beautiful.

• ·     -She is an ‘average young girl’
• ·     Brown hair and brown eyes
• ·      Typical ‘tom boy’
• ·      She would be considered ‘normal’
• ·      Possibly considered as a ‘nerd’

2. How old is she?

She is 13 years old.

3. Is she in a position of power or not?

• ·      She was under the control of her parents
• ·      The story is about how she became a position of power
• ·      She is struggling to make adult decisions when in the position of power

4. What does she do?

• ·      She is very mature
• ·      She is young and tries to act older
• ·      She is independent and strong
• ·      She refuses to give into social pressure

5. What are her personal characteristics?

• ·      She is shy but has very powerful thoughts and confident in her mind
• ·      She dresses casually, which wouldn’t be considered beautiful

6. What happens to her?

• ·      She starts to become distant with her family
• ·      Her actions cause tension within her family
• ·      She becomes more pressure and unsure about her future

7. How do males react to her?

• ·      Older males are surprised by her maturity and confidence

8. How do other females react to her?

• ·      Other females are impressed by her maturity
• ·      They are either very happy or very angry about her

9. Is she punished or rewarded by the story? What is she punished or rewarded for?

• ·      She is ultimately rewarded in the story by gaining the rights to divorce her parents
• ·      She is rewarded with respect gained from her sister

10. How is she punished or rewarded?

• ·      She is rewarded by winning the law suit and divorcing her parents
• ·      But, she is ultimately punished as she dies in a car accident and her sister gets her organs

11. What qualities are privileged – What qualities are presented positively?

• ·      Beauty
• ·      Intelligence
• ·      Courage
• ·      Independence
• ·      Confidence