The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

Written by Rebecca Skloot, the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, utilizes the three major rhetorical appeals in order to convey her purpose to the readers. In attempt to expose the HeLa cells, Skloot is successful in creating many complicated views on the story such as trust. The main purpose of this book is to inform readers in effort to create discussion about the ethics behind the tragic story of Henrietta Lacks through her expert manipulation of ethos, pathos, and logos. Within the first few pages, ethos is established heavily.

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 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.

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

The non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, details the happenings and life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman and tobacco farmer who became a medical miracle in the 1950’s. The book is written in an attempt to chronicle both the experiences and tribulations of Henrietta Lacks and her family, as well as the events that led to, and resulted from, research done on Henrietta Lacks’ cells. Henrietta was a very average African American woman in this period; she had only a seventh-grade level education, and followed traditional racial and gender roles by spending her time has a mother and caretaker, as well as working on farms throughout her life until the involvement of the US in World War II brought her and her husband, “Day” Lacks, comparatively better work opportunities in industrial steel mills. However, after her death in 1951 Henrietta became much more than average to doctors at John Hopkins when the discovered that cells extracted from her cancerous tissue continued to live and grow much longer than any other tissue samples. Further investigation and isolation of these thriving cells led to the creation of the first ever immortal human cell line in medical history. The incredible progress in medicine made possible by Henrietta Lack’s tissue cells were not without downfalls, though. The treatments and experiences received by Henrietta and the effects it had on her and her family demonstrate both racial and gender

In her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot discusses how the unfortunate diagnosis of cancer for one woman resulted in one of the most influential discoveries in the biomedical sciences. The use of HeLa cells has played a role in some of the largest scientific breakthroughs since George Gey discovered how well they can grow in culture. On the other hand, Skloot’s work also provides a look at the lives of Henrietta Lacks’ descendants. One characteristic that everyone in this family shares is a dedication to religion and spirituality. This juxtaposition between science and religion presents the body and its constituent cells in a unique way. It provides multiple dimensions to how people view bodies. Specifically,

Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cells have made millions of dollars, but most people don’t know her name, or her story. “She’s usually identified as Helen Lane, but often she has no name at all. She’s simply called HeLa, the code name given to the world’s first immortal human cells – her cells cut from her cervix just months before she died. Her real name is Henrietta Lacks,” (Skloot 1). Through the last few months of her life, she had major struggles with hospitals and scientists. Henrietta was in serious pain throughout the last few months, and the doctor treated her as a specimen. “Henrietta is still a miserable specimen,” (Skloot 66). Another major flaw in Henrietta story is the fact that her family was barely told of her condition of cervical

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

After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of the society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa Cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years to perfect her first book, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot essentially captured the life, the death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks’ life. With controversial issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover,

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.

The effect the discovery and creation of the HeLa cells made on the science community and Henrietta’s family had a domino effect. Both had different opinions and beliefs on the matter; this led to some difficult questions asked of the family and of the medical community. Due to the new and advanced methods of experimentation, the HeLa cells made to to the field of science, the scientific community and the media failed to remember that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. Rebecca Skloot, however, took into account the Lack’s family, she inquired both the history of the HeLa cells as well as the Lacks family, treating them as actual people with inalienable rights.

This research paper is based on the findings from the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. What you will read and come to know is nonfiction. I wish I could put the pictures of what I have seen and read together here for you to perhaps get a better understanding. A story based on not Henrietta’s life being that of immortality, but rather cancer cells removed from her body without her knowledge. These were the first cancer cells to reproduce outside of her body. You will come to know about Henrietta, her cancer, her cells, and her immortal life. Perhaps we can all learn to appreciate life in greater means of appreciation after reading and knowing the life and immortal afterlife of Henrietta Lacks. You will learn about a woman, who like us, had a family, and ended up not being able to truly live life to its fullest. Making us all realize just how cancer is and the amazing research that came from being able to reproduce her cells. Not just for cancer but for various other illnesses that plague so many of us. My hope is that you take away from this a better understanding of a time we do not know, for the ups and downs of science and the possibility of immortal life.

This type of writing style is very common for nonfiction pieces because it provides concentrated details and reality. Skloot has an amazing gift of giving a sense of reality while providing movement through interesting stories. Characterization is also used in this book very roughly to portray distinctive personalities. “I also relied on extensive archival photos and documents, scientific and historical research, and the personal journals of Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah Lacks” (xiii). Skloot manages to display the importance of Deborah Lacks in this very simple yet profound sentence. One of the things that stands out in Skloot’s work is that she puts her own feelings of the situation in there. She describes how she felt through the interview process and the different thoughts rushing through her head. “After class, I ran home and threw myself onto my bed with my biology textbook. I looked up ‘cell culture’ in the index, and there she was, a small parenthetical” (4,5). Skloot illustrates how captivated she was from the very beginning and lets the reader’s experience her true passion through this exemplary

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, was a nonfiction story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Henrietta did not know that her doctor took a sample of her cancer cells a few months before she died. “Henrietta cells that called HeLa were the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory” (Skloot 22). In fact, the cells from her cervix are the most important advances in medical research. Rebecca was interested to write this story because she was anxious with the story of HeLa cells. When she was in biology class, her professor named Donald Defler gave a lecture about cells. Defler tells the story about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells. However, the professor ended his

“The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot exposes the truth about a colored woman, Henrietta Lacks, who died from cancer leaving five children and a husband behind. Before her death doctors took her cells,without her or her family consent, to do there own research and experiments. They discovered that her cells were immortal, they became the first immortal cells known as the HeLa cells..After the discoverment the Lacks family were never told that Henrietta Lacks cells were used, bought and sold. Through the HeLa cells the scientist had made money while Henrietta kids were mistreated and were in poor situations.It wasnt till 25 years later that the Lacks family found out about the HeLa cells doing miracles. Rebecca Skloot though “The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was able to explain the unethical situations that the Lacks family faced after Henrietta’s death.