The Memory Keepers Daughter
In the Memory Keeper’s Daughter written by Kim Edward, the main character, David Henry, made a decision that has impacted not only his life but the rest of his family also. David was a very confusing character. Henry’s character played an important role because the decision of giving his daughter up changed his whole life and broke his family apart. When his wife went into labor he delivered the twin babies, Paul and Phoebe. When Phoebe entered the world he noticed she has defects in her face and hands that lead him to diagnose her with autism. He decided to give up his daughter, because he was afraid of what society would think and was afraid that an abnormal child would destroy his current family; just like his sister did during his childhood. Due to the result of giving up his daughter, one very major secret has stood in the middle of their family. Deception, secrets, and regrets have shaped the family and caused major problems throughout their life.
Almost everybody has done something that they have regretted later on in life. When Phoebe was first born, David makes a rational decision that he eventually regrets later in his life. Henry felt that having a child who suffered from Down’s Syndrome would ruin his family, because he witnessed it once with his sister during his childhood. He felt that by giving up his daughter, he was protecting his family. Later throughout life David realizes that he gave up his little girl for no reason at all. “To the other children in this preschool Phoebe was simply herself, a friend who liked the color blue and Popsicles and twirling in circles; here, her differences went unnoticed.” (Edward, 159) Even though Phoebe had Down’s Syndrome she was capable of doing everything any other girl her age could do too. In the novel Edwards writes “...anything can happen, anytime. But what goes wrong is not your fault. You can’t spend the rest of your life tiptoeing around to try and avert disaster. It won’t work. You’ll just end up
Almost everybody has done something that they have regretted later on in life. When Phoebe was first born, David makes a rational decision that he eventually regrets later in his life. Henry felt that having a child who suffered from Down’s Syndrome would ruin his family, because he witnessed it once with his sister during his childhood. He felt that by giving up his daughter, he was protecting his family. Later throughout life David realizes that he gave up his little girl for no reason at all. “To the other children in this preschool Phoebe was simply herself, a friend who liked the color blue and Popsicles and twirling in circles; here, her differences went unnoticed.” (Edward, 159) Even though Phoebe had Down’s Syndrome she was capable of doing everything any other girl her age could do too. In the novel Edwards writes “...anything can happen, anytime. But what goes wrong is not your fault. You can’t spend the rest of your life tiptoeing around to try and avert disaster. It won’t work. You’ll just end up
Cited: Edwards, Kim. The Memory Keeper 's Daughter. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.