The Pact Essay

Everyone has gone to extreme lengths to protect someone they love, even if that means hurting others. In Jodi Picoult’s “The Pact”, two families, who were once very close friends, are torn apart when the daughter of the first family, the Golds, dies and the son of the second family, the Harts, is accused of murdering her. Emily Gold’s parents are determined to protect their daughter from anything that might be said or thought about her even after her death. Chris, however, is willing to do anything for Emily, no matter what the consequences were for him. Through the relationships between Emily and her parents, and Chris and Emily, Jodi Picoult shows that when you love someone, you are prepared to do anything for them, no matter what the outcome is.

Michael and Melanie Gold, the parents of Emily Gold refuse to believe their daughter committed suicide, although thats the story that Chris Hart, Emily’s boyfriend told to his parents. Despite having known Chris for years and not being able to believe that he killed her, Melanie Gold is insistent that her daughter would not have killed herself. She cuts ties with her best friend Gus Harte, because Gus was defending her son (“you know Chris would never hurt Emily,” Gus said… “What I know about Chris” Melanie said, “is that he’s alive.”) Melanie does not want to believe that her daughter could have been anything short of perfect and also does not want to believe that she may not have noticed her daughter’s problems. She wants to bring justice to Emily’s death, no matter what that means for anyone else she know. Also, she testifies for the prosecution, and is extremely harsh towards Chris. It quotes“ “Do you believe Chris could have been violent toward your daughter?”... “I think he killed her...you couldn’t keep her from bruising, you couldn’t control the angle of the bullet...you killed my baby!” ” Melanie wanted to present Chris in the worst possible light, and her daughter in the best. She loved Emily too much to consider any other possibilities for her death. Michael Gold also wants to do the right thing for his daughter. Although he first agreed to testify for the defense, because he didn’t think Chris could have shot Emily, while he is one the stand he says that he could not imagine Emily killing herself. (“Can you actually see you daughter picking up the gun, holding it to her head, and pulling the trigger?”... “No,” he whispered. “No.”) He loved his daughter too much to say anything against her, even though he might be hurting Chris. Michael and Melanie Gold had to turn against people very close to them to protect their daughter.

Although they were not related, Chris wanted to do anything he could to make Emily happy. For example, when he first told him she wanted to kill herself, he started by doing everything he could to prevent it. It says that he “He took her out to restaurants where dinner cost a hundred dollars; he drove her to watch the sun set over the jetties that glided into the Atlantic. He dug out old notes they’d passed back and forth on a pulley system.” Chris wanted to do everything in his power to stop Emily from killing herself, and he worked very hard to show her he loved her. However, he loved her so much that when she didn’t change her mind, he was going to support her. He tells her “When it happens...I want to be there.” You would have to be extremely selfless and in love with somebody to agree to help them commit suicide, if they wanted it. Chris loved Emily so much he was willing to put himself through unimaginable pain, not to mention risking life in jail, just so she was happy.

In the world, everyone has gone to great lengths to protect someone who they love. Jodi Picoult showed that many people will try to protect someone they love, no matter what. Throughout the book the Golds tried to protect their child, and Chris was willing to do anything for Emily, even though in the end the results were disastrous.  Despite the consequences, every character needed to protect the people they loved. In life, no matter what the relationship to someone is, if you love them, you will do something for them without first considering the results.