Sythesis Paragraph - My Sister's Keeper

In "Not Waving But Drowning" by Stevie Smith, "Nobody heard him....[he] was much further out than you thought.." is what comes to mind when dealing with the character Jesse Fitzgerald in "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Jesse Fitzgerald is the oldest out of the three Fitzgerald children and claims to be "..the lost cause..." His family is forever revolved around his younger sister, Kate, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia since she was two. Due to Kate's condition ever changing, Jesse is neglected and put aside numerous times. There was a time Kate had had a nosebleed and his parents had said, "Now is not a good time." to him when he had an orthodontist appointment and was in need of new cleats in order to go to soccer try-outs the next day at school. At this point in the book, it seems, "...he always loved larking [and] now he's dead...". Brian and Sara Fitzgerald, the parents, should of made more of an effort to aid Jesse in his childhood and being there for him rather than let "...his heart [give] way...". In his adolescence, he goes through the rebellion stage and moves out into the garage attic and never comes into the house until dinner time. He "...was much too far out all [his] life...", and that's the way he liked it at that point in time. He loved the fact that in order to get to his room, you "...had to leave the house.". One could say that Jesse was "...not [only] waving but drowning." in anger and emotions he could not explain. There's a point in the novel where Sara, his mother, asks him if he's involved with drugs and he replies something along the lines of, "Yeah, mom, I shoot it up three times a week on the third floor of the hospital." When he was merely donating his blood so that Kate would have enough blood for all her surgeries and what not. Both parents should love all their children. Since Kate was diagnosed, Sara has been what one could call obsessive about her, instead of loving Jesse and Kate. She later comes up with an idea to conceive an identical genetic match for Kate in order to save her. Anna is the youngest of the Fitzgeralds, and displays more of a connection to Jesse than anyone else. It is due to the fact that Sara only pays attention to Anna because of her genetic match to Kate. And to take out his rage, he becomes an arsonist, studying ways to burn buildings more efficiently, illegally making moonshine, an alcoholic beverage illegal in North America in general, and many other things. For the most part, Jesse is an arsonist, and ironically, his father, Brian is a firefighter fighting all of the fires Jesse has begun. In a sense, this is situation where the parent is fighting what the child has begun. The parent taking on the responsibility of the child. But unfortunately, Brian and Sara have never done this with Jesse; they appear to be ever ashamed of Jesse and his rebellious behaviour instead of reading and comprehending the signs of him calling out for help. Even though he is almost a grown man, he is a little boy crying out for help and nurture from his parents, Sara and Brian who have neglected him.