The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is an essential character in the story who provides more insight on the journey of attaining Henrietta Lacks’ recognition. Without her, the readers would not have been able to see the outlook of the struggles and hardships of Henrietta’s family. Scenes, like the faith healing on page 289, would have been lackluster if it hadn’t been for Skloot’s input on the actions of the characters first-hand which delved further on how they cope with the new information they are presented with. Also, her thoughts gives interpretations on the situations she encounters. Deborah constantly looks at Elsie’s pictures in her car and starts thinking about sad thoughts that Skloot, at one point, wants to

Rebecca Skloot, however, used a different perspective in her portrayal of Lacks. This is evident in the way in which she conducted her research and the way she wrote the book. Skloot’s book, The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, included both the “scientific element concerns the origin and the subsequent uses of the HeLa cell line of cultured cancer cells” (Harper, 2011, p. 463) and the social and

Henrietta Lacks had cervical cancer and Doctor TeLinda took samples of her cells without telling her or her family. Doctor TeLinda put the samples in a tubes with the help of Doctor Gey exchange for same of Lacks cells, they named them “HeLa” (Skloot 41). A young woman named Rebecca Skloot found out about Henrietta Lacks, Skloot was only sixteen. After research into Lacks, her family, and “HeLa” cells for about ten years, she wrote an award-winning book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot was a winner of several awards, including the 2010 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, the 2010 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Award for Excellence in Science Writing, the 2011

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is full of different perspectives on a significant event. Rebecca Skloot explains the process of african american Henrietta Lacks’s cancer from her point of view along with the doctor’s and the Lacks family’s. Skloot included many issues from the current time period. She heavily addresses the fact that informed consent was not a priority to doctors and scientists and the effect of the abuses that occurred.

Rebecca Skloot the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks became obsessed with learning the story behind Henrietta Lacks when hearing about her and her cells in a college biology class. She wanted to know more and find out who this woman was and why her cells were so important to science because there was little known about her. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cancer cells were the first ever immortal cell line in science. Skloot decides to tell their story but when she begins to dig and research she realizes that the family is very standoffish and does not like the idea of sharing information with reporters therefore it was very difficult to connect with them and gather more information about Henrietta.

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, was written about an African American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who had cervical cancer and then had her cells taken from her without consent. The author, Rebecca Skloot, thoroughly explained how the cells being taken, and Henrietta’s death, affected the lives of the Lacks’ family, along with why it affected them the way that it did. Henrietta was married to David “Day” Lacks and they had five children: Lawrence, Sonny, Zakariyya, Elsie, and Deborah. Rebecca Skloot had the most contact with Deborah, who wanted to know all about her mother and her sister, Elsie. In my opinion, the most significant part of the book was the unethical medical research that played a part in Henrietta’s

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, begins by sharing Henrietta Lack’s journey of becoming the dehumanized HeLa cell. Henrietta was a poor, black woman who grew up in the era of institutionalized racism, which created no way for her to become educated and therefore, unable to further herself or her family. Skloot shows how Henrietta’s race dictated her life by leaving her with no choice in hospital, no chance in understanding her treatment, and no identity to her own ‘immortal’ cells.

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot pictures the life of both Henrietta and her family. Skloot first starts with illustrating the early and adolescent life of Henrietta, and also ending it with Henrietta’s fight with cervical cancer. Skloot covers heavily on the ethics of researchers or scientists taking cells of Henrietta without her consent. The medical field becomes more involved with the creation of the HeLa cell line and starts getting out of control. Therefore, causing problems between the Lacks family and the hospitals.

In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot writes about Henrietta’s life and how her cells were taken for medical research. The book progresses by identifying how the medical breakthroughs and the realization that their mother’s cells were taken and experimented on impacted her family, the people around her, and the medical world. Skloot describes the vast amount of medical conditions that Henrietta’s cells, or HeLa cells, have improved or cured, yet the source of the cells is unknown. Henrietta’s personal identity was not associated with the cells. Skloot recalls an incident where biologist George Gey received Henrietta’s cells for research.

Lies cause worry and grief. The doctors had lied to Henrietta and her family. Skloot included when Deborah was giving blood for researchers but they didn’t test for cancer like Deborah believed: “She still thought she was being tested for cancer” (187). Skloot included the incident because Deborah spent many nights worrying and suffering without her results of a test that never

In the first part of the book, Skloot tells us almost the whole life of Henrietta, her early years, her life with Day and the kids, and the whole process when she was diagnosed with cancer. However, if we think more deeply, throughout the whole story she is trying to show us how unethical doctors were back in those days, and the social and health issues that black people used to have. But more than that, what Rebecca really wants throughout the whole section is that we know how important were the HeLa cells to the medical word, that without Henrietta immortal cells health science would not be as advanced as it is today. Therefore, she wants us to be thankful to live in a time with so many opportunities, and to be thankful with Henrietta for

Rebecca Skloot has always had an interest in Henrietta Lacks, the African-American woman whose cancer cells were cultivated and recognized as the first imortal cell strain and used for scientific research and discovery. There isn't much information about Henrietta and her family so, Skloot wanted to tell the world about the host of the famous HeLa cells and her family. Before realizing how much backstory, emotion, and controversy exists until she starts connecting with the family and people involved with them.

All of the ignorance of the past caused Deborah so much stress and worry that to finally learn that she does not have cancer obviously gives her relief. Skloot uses Deborah’s story in the book because it provides an emotional hook in an otherwise serious biography. In the beginning, Deborah’s anguish over her sister and mother’s unknown fates heighten one’s relief when they finally learn the truth. Also, when Deborah says, “‘I want to go to research labs and seminars to learn what my mother cells did, talk to people that been cured of cancer’” and starts “bouncing, excited like a little girl” (235) , she demonstrates how educating oneself can have an exciting appeal.

When I first heard about the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", I thought it was just a reading assignment when I was in high school that I had to complete for a grade. As I began reading I became particularly interested in Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells. In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", Rebecca Skloot talks about Henrietta Lacks and how her cells were taken without her permission, and how her family suffered afterwards. Skloot shows how medicine and science were seen back in the 1950's compared to now.

Even though she had little, she always tried to make do of what she had. She was heart-warming, beautiful, and always had a smile on her face. After her death and the impact of her cells, the character she withheld during her time of living was now tarnished. People no longer associated her as once being a living-breathing human being, but an immortal cell culture. As time progress, her name became to be HeLa cells. It took the general public decades to know her birth name and learn about the life of this woman. Skloot mentions many times that after seeing how impactful Henrietta cells became, they often forgot that these cells belonged to an actual human being, somebody who was just like us. That was why it was so important for Henrietta’s family that their mother’s life be broadcast to the world and show the public that she is much more than the HeLa cells. Her family also wanted to make themselves known, hoping to receive some kind of financial benefits. For several decades, the Lack’s family had been in the dark during the HeLa era. They were unaware of the significant impact their mother had in the world of medicine. There were no doctors who took them aside, educating them about cell culture, cellular immortality, or HeLa. As the PH story of Henrietta Lacks grew, the deeper her family was in the shadow of it. All changed, once a reporter by the name of Rebecca Skloot came into the family’s life, wanting to write about them and Mrs. Henrietta Lacks in her upcoming novel. Unlike everyone else, Skloot was aware that the Lacks family had a story to tell and that Henrietta needed her identity and to be heightened. From a national perspective, the PH story of Mrs. Lacks introduced the most well-known medical research discovery, in which helped billions of people around the world. Masses of people were able to benefit from the HeLa in a way in which they were all biologically intertwined.