Lab Girl Short Story

Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.

The quote delivered by the intelligent and insightful John M Barry states, “To be a scientist requires not only intelligence and curiosity, but passion, patience, creativity, self-sufficiency, and courage” (Barry 5). Scientists endure a great amount of adversity than most people think. They have to retain a wide variety of skills to assist them in different circumstances that form in their laboratory. Scientist need to have persistence, so that when they fail, they will be willing to try again. As well as, acceptance to come to terms with the fact that an experiment turns out the opposite of their theory. In John M Barry’s passage,“The Great Influenza” he utilizes direct diction and powerful punctuation to characterize scientific research.

This colorful and vibrant woman impacts the world through the contribution of her cells to science as well as by the kindness beheld within her heart for her family, a kindness that permits the emergence of a story untold before, of the woman responsible for the way of the world. Henrietta, although a woman of many treasures, withholds vital information of her daughter Elsie, so as to protect her and the rest of her family. This, the news of her cancer, and other such secrets define Henrietta, yet have no waiver on the view of her family of her. Famous to her family, and cherished by all who know her, Henrietta made an impact greater than her cells, though secrets kept from the sharing of this impact with the family. “...she raised the vial and touched it to her lips. “You’re famous,” she whispered, “Just nobody knows it” (263). As Deborah holds onto the cells, she holds onto the long dreamt memory of her mother, and onto the secret of her identity, the identity that the family knows; this identity connects to the unique human side of her mother, the one for which includes secrets, treasures, anguish, and

Ever since I was a young child, my parents always told me to try my best in school, they always told me this for the reason that they never had the opportunity to have a good job because they never finished school. This event is shaping me to care a lot regarding my education. In addition to that, another event that has shaped me to become the person I am today is that since my parents don’t have good paying jobs they have to work hard to take care of me and my siblings this event has caused me to become a hard working person and to seize all opportunities to live a good life because I don’t want to struggle like my parents.

This article caught my eye because I recently finished a book by the same author, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. Her memoir detailed how she became a research biogeochemist, and how the struggles she faced have never stopped. Completing the necessary education was easy for her, but receiving the funding to sustain herself, her lab, and her employees is still a challenge.

Skloot’s powerful message and use of literary devices should make her book common in a high–school classroom. Unlike the labs who classified her as simply “HeLa”, Skloot took the initiative to reveal who the woman of the immortal cells truly was. As stated by her daughter Deborah,“[e]verything [is] always just about the cells and [people] don’t even worry about her name and [if] HeLa was even a person” (Skloot 52). In order to achieve her purpose of revealing the immortal life of not only the cells but the person, Skloot uses ethos, pathos, and logos within her research of the Lacks and scientific community, to write her book accurately and sufficiently. Skloot is able to justify her story based on years of research and interviews, which a student can mock to write a research paper (to note, at the end of the book Skloot has 21 pages of notes to validate all sources of information). A example of this is regarding the Lacks family who questioned, “if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can’t afford to see no doctors?” (9). In order to complete this book, Skloot had to explain herself and her research to them, while simultaneously forming “a deep personal bond” (7). Similarly, the author had to sift through medical journals and family reflections to

“The scientific enterprise is all about failure; I mean, you learn so much from failure. And you learn almost nothing from success.” This scientist is stating that one cannot gain any knowledge without failing. This is not true. Once one obtains success one now knows exactly what to do to achieve success, thus opening doors and further experiences for them. The novel “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, due to the success of tissue culture researcher Dr. George Gey can further dispute this quote. His success in tissue culture led to further discoveries, and became one of the most important breakthroughs in modern medicine. The world was

What if you had the ability to save several lives through something only you had ? Wouldn’t you like to be told and given proper credit? Well unfortunately that is not case for Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta held a powerful and significant key which has helped as a cure for many things and is still being used till this day . I choose to write about Henrietta due to the fact that she is one of histories and science unsung hero’s.

During Sharon M. Drapers childhood years, they were very successful because of her parents. Her parents encouraged her and her siblings to study, work hard, and as a result they could reach any goal they set for themselves. As encouraging as her parent were, they would set standards for each child and push them to be the best they could be. Her parents taught her that every opportunity you get you take because you never know what the future holds for many cases. In the educational aspects “For her parents education was precious commodity”. (SharonDraper1) Ever since the time

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Flacks tells the journey of scientific advancement in both a legal advancement capacity as well as an ethical advancement capacity. As if what I could only imagine being and African American woman in the 1950’s in Baltimore City isn’t hard and complicated enough; being and African American woman and seeking medical treatment without knowledge of the sickness without a voice or understanding of the gravity of the situation must be an excruciating experience and was for Henrietta Lacks and her family.

Rebecca Skloot’s book “The immortal life of Henrietta lacks” chronicles the life, death, and immortality of Henrietta lacks. Her name is Henrietta lacks but most scientists only know her as HeLa. She was a poor southern tobacco land worker who worked on the same land her enslaved ancestors did. Henrietta was a young black woman whose cervical cancer cells became one of the most important factors in bringing about the most revolutionary advancements in both medicine and science in the twenty first century. Author Rebecca Skloot goes on a hunt to find out the story and women behind the infamous cells. After only being a given a brief summary of where the cells came at the age of sixteen. With pique curiosity skloot began to look for more information about this unknown woman only to come short with little to no information regarding her background. Deciding to take matters in her own hands she embarks in a journey that not only revealed the moving story of Henrietta and her family but the struggle the family goes through in order to stay at terms with what the field of medicine has done.

Individuals, need encouragement and support from loves ones to guide one through life. This is seen in the lack of support and encouragement displayed when Esther's mother fails to support and encourage Esther with her aspirations. No matter what Esther had wanted to do with her life, her Mother had always wanted her to learn the skills of shorthand because she would always have that skill in her life and also that was the one thing her Mother had experienced in life. As a result, her Mother failed to enhance Esther with her aspirations that she wanted from life.

Scientists do not use their talents to help civilization, they are “Pure research men” who “work on what fascinates them, not on what fascinates other people” (49). They focus on continuing research just for the sake of science and are self-centered. They do as they please without helping society with it’s actual problems, like how the entire island of San Lorenzo is starving and living in poverty. Rather than working on something that could benefit others, the scientists continuously work on research that is not always even necessary. Science also does not care how their inventions effect other people, even if their inventions could potentially be harmful. After Dr. Hoenikker wins the Nobel Prize, the Hoenikker children use the prize money to buy their mother a tombstone and a summer home. John ponders why someone would receive a Nobel Prize for such a damaging invention and thinks, “‘Dynamite money,’ I marveled, thinking of the violence of dynamite and the absolute repose of a tombstone and a summer home” (65). People grant science rewards for creating damaging innovations that are ruinous. Dr. Hoenikker does not think about the harm his inventions could cause because he does not care. This negligent attitude causes the destruction that occurs at the end of the book when it says, “The moist green earth was a blue-white pearl. The sky darkened”, and, “the sun became a sickly yellow ball, tiny and cruel. The sky was filled with worms. The worms were tornadoes” (261). Dr. Hoenikker and his children are to blame for this demolition of the world because they are careless with how they use science. Science kills the majority of life on Earth, all because the Hoenikker’s treat the ice-nine with neglect. Science is irresponsible with how it treats the devastating inventions it

One of the most prolific eras in our world’s history is the Scientific Revolution. During this time men began to think outside the realm of possibility and delved themselves deep into the exciting unknown world of science. The innovative minds of these people churned out inventions like gunpowder and the printing press, as well as, inventive new ways of thinking like the scientific method. Aside from the inventors and innovators, there were also the publicists and writers without whom no one would know or understand the new ideas of the time. One such person was Margaret Cavendish who was born and raised in England. She received the same education that a lady during her time did. However, due to her husband, Sir Charles Cavendish, she was exposed to the world of science. The subject intrigued her so much that she ended up publishing her own theory on atoms. Though her atomic theory contains many scientific Renaissance ideals, it is still seen as a major contribution of thought during the Scientific Revolution.

As a mother, Amanda Wingfield had always encouraged her children to be all they could be. When Laura asked about clearing the table, Amanda’s responded by telling her to “…go in front and study your typewriter chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty! It’s almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving” (Williams, Scene 1, 976). This quote showed two aspects of the nature versus nurture debate. Amanda intended to nurture Laura’s success by encouraging and pushing her to study hard, to practice her writing, and look pretty while naturally, Amanda was concerned about taking care of herself and making sure her children make the right decision so that they may provide for her all the things she never had.