Jodi Picoult - Research Paper Example

Her first novel titled ‘Songs of the Humpback whale’ was written when she was pregnant with her first child and she found it quite difficult to strike a balance between work and motherhood. It was all these experiences that influenced her second novel titled ‘Harvesting the Heart.’ The basis for this book comprised partly of her balancing act between her career and her life as a mother. As Picoult states - "It took me a while to find the balance," Picoult says, "but I'm a better mother because I have my writing… and I'm a better writer because of the experiences I've had as a parent that continually remind me how far we are willing to go for the people we love the most.

" (Jodi Picoult, 2007) ‘Nineteen Minutes’ by Jodi Picoult, is a rather shocking story that is very much relevant in today’s contemporary society. This very interesting story revolves around a young boy named Peter Houghton, who was a victim of bullying right from his kindergarten up to his High School. The bullying included slamming him into the school lockers, snatching away his lunch and breaking his spectacles to smithereens. (Nann Blaine Hilyard, 2007) Hate builds up over the years and one fine morning in March, Peter goes to school with a gun and shoots down a teacher and nine students within 19 minutes.

The author has given a very apt title for this story and with her keen sense of analyzing the current scenario of today’s society, she has the ability to trigger feelings and emotions of people involved in different relationships. Her fictional stories such as ‘Nineteen Minutes’ seems almost lifelike because we see it happening in our lives even today. Her philosophy of life goes beyond sensationalism and creates an awareness not only among parents but also among students, of some of the social issues that face us today.

‘My Sister’s Keeper’ is another enlightening story by Picoult who makes use of multiple narrators to drive home the message of social awareness in contemporary society. The central theme in this story is dependency, that is clearly brought out by 13 year old Anna Fitzgerald who has an older sister Kate. It is rather unfortunate that Kate was afflicted with a rare kind of leukemia and depended on her sister Anna for a variety of blood products. Anna being an allogeneic donor was a fitting sibling match for Kate.

(Dignan Jennifer, 2005) Picoult pulls at the heart strings of her audience by making use of different narrators who express their feelings and emotions regarding the happenings in the Fitzgerald household. She involves the readers by shedding light on what life would mean to the donor, the recipient, parents and other children in the family and comes out with the moral, ethical and legal issues that can confront them at every stage of their lives. Though Anna’s parents show a lot of love and concern for her, in the bigger picture Anna understands that she is there for a purpose and the purpose was to save her sister Kate.

(Dignan Jennifer, 2005) Anna feels used and does no quite believe her mother when she says that she and her father love her a lot. This point clearly expresses Anna’s doubt when she states that her mother ‘made sure to say’ that her parents loved her. The bond and respect between both the sisters is very strong even though they quarrel sometimes. Jodi Picoult’s ‘A Change of Heart’ is the gripping tale of a murderer who was on the death row