Analysis Of The Poem ' The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks ' Essay
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The things that make one human are convoluted. That’s why in a world where everyone strives for simplicity, people are often eluded by the nature of humanity. They often overlook certain aspects of a person in favor of simplicity, reducing them to a single idea which fails to encompass all the facets of an individual, which is what happens to the Henrietta Lacks’ family in Rebecca Skloots recounting of their story called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. However, this has its ramifications. Even though many feel it is simpler to dismiss the messier details of humanity in favor of cold hard facts, Skloot shows that major consequences arrive when these personal elements are overlooked.
From the start, the people involved with Lacks only have their personal goals in mind. When Gey, along with other doctors, take Lack’s cells without permission, it is not out of malice, but out of an utter lack of thoughtfulness. He is so preoccupied with obtaining cells, he does not think twice about who they are coming from. In fact, Lacks is not the only one whose cells have been taken in that manner; Gey’s lab is full of cell samples. This blasé attitude permeates the whole field. This is why, “There is no record that George Gey ever visited Henrietta…or said anything about her cells” (Skloot 66). Even if he does interact with her, he does not bother to take note of it. All he is concerned with are the cells, and possibly the name behind it. The journalist Michael Gold is