Henrietta Lacks Nonfiction

Words: 688

Pages: 3

Open Document

Every book, whether it fiction, nonfiction, or something in between, has some sort of message it wants to tell the reader. Some books tell their message more clearly than others. By using the vast catalogue of literary devices and forms, an author can create a piece in ways such that readers can decipher all the piece’s intentions. The nonfiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot is no exception to this trend. The book, being about Henrietta Lacks and the immortal cell line, known as HeLa, covers a life story and scientific research. In the novel, Skloot solidly uses devices such as consistent structure and strong visual description in order to better represent and convey the events that make up the book.
The general …show more content…
Skloot uses a mixture of imagery and dialogue to bring the reader into the situation. A common pattern throughout the book is one where a situation is setup, dialogue is given, and then a visual description finishes the scene. This is part of a scene where Skloot walks us through meeting Hector Henry, a cousin of Henrietta Lacks, “He pointed to my car. ‘Turn this loud thing off and come inside. I’ll fix you some juice.’” (p. 79) Here, Skloot sets the reader up by providing some dialogue of Hector so his personality starts to show. Moving along, “He’d painted the kitchen walls the same dark olive green as the outside, and lined them with power strips and fly swatters.” (p 80) Skloot provides a nearly photographic description of the kitchen so the reader can better understand the poor situation Hector is in. Skloot depicts medical research similarly, “HeLa cells, it turned out, weren’t picky—they didn’t need a glass surface in order to grow. They could grow floating in a culture medium that was constantly stirred by a magnetic device…” (ch 13) telling the reader in common terms how the HeLa cells functioned differently than normal

Why Is Henrietta Lacks Unethical

distressed but probably befuddled as well. How could your cells from your body be taken without your permission? The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot recounts the events of a legendary lady and her family who went through troublesome and perplexing times. Henrietta Lacks, known for her “HeLa” cells, was a poor African American tobacco farmer. Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, a time when there were scarcely any ethics laws in place for doctors and medical personnel…

Words 470 - Pages 2

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Summary

rights. This conversation dates all the way back to 1951, when Henrietta Lacks was seeking treatment for cervical cancer. The informational nonfiction text, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, discusses the quest to ensure patients are fully informed about all potential uses of biological samples and ensuring protection of rights in research in regards to Henrietta Lacks. To give context, Skloot discusses Lacks visit to Johns Hopkins in which her cells were obtained without…

Words 159 - Pages 1

Essay On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a 381 page nonfiction novel written by Rebecca Skloot. Author Rebecca Skloot is more than qualified for writing this novel on the life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot “has a B.S. in biological sciences and an MFA in creative nonfiction.” This renders her a qualified author because she has a background in biology, which is the main field of science analyzed in the novel. Rebecca Skloot also encountered and grew attached to some of the real people discussed in her…

Words 1353 - Pages 6

Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

In the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, author Rebecca Skloot writes of her discoveries involving the late Henrietta Lacks, her background, her family, her medical history, and how this woman’s cells became a legacy in the name of science, also known as HeLa. Skloot tells of every aspect of Henrietta’s life and how the experimentation of her harvested tissue was an epidemic across the globe due to it’s immortality. Although the information at hand was very difficult for the journalist…

Words 1244 - Pages 5

Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Pathos Analysis

avoid becoming forgotten. However, even though individuals might disappear forever in the world, their families will remember them, as a person who has done great things and as memories. Rebecca Skloot, in her 2010 historical nonfiction novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, utilizes the rhetorical strategy of pathos to display how, even through death, individuals can impact the living. Individuals cease to exist from the world after death. Many people fear oblivion, they don’t want to believe…

Words 468 - Pages 2

Henrietta Lacks Thesis

Reflecting Upon The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Elie Wiesel once said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Today, physicians are required to disclose any risks or information about a medical procedure or prescription given to their patients. There are set rules in order to be ethical in the medical and experimental fields, but in the 1950s, the rules of ethics did not completely exist. What did exist…

Words 969 - Pages 4

Essay on Michael Wilbanks04

Michael Wilbanks 04-19-2014 Gaines SOAPStone APLang11 Assignment I concentrated heavily on the 2nd chapter in the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks due to how it introduced the background of this woman we know so little about. In this whole chapter, you get a detailed background of how she met her husband, Day, as well as her official birth name and how she became accustomed to tobacco farming. I found this chapter to also be the easiest of all thirty to complete SOAPStone on…

Words 740 - Pages 3

Rebecca Skloot Essay

Hear the screaming Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah! The pain is emotionally paralyzing but physically taking over every element of her body as Henrietta Lacks jumps and rocks rapidly from the pain moving through her tumor filled body. Being strapped down and being made a prisoner of her hospital bed was the only way to keep Mrs. Lacks from falling to the floor until her body had a filling of morphine. The pearls of cancer with in her made a permanent signature in her body promising to live on forever. Baseball…

Words 1791 - Pages 8

Henrietta Lacks Reflection

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book that caught me off guard, and going into the book I had no idea what to expect. The way the story of the Lacks family and the HeLa cell line evolved over time and through the course of the book was a new and interesting experience for me. Nonetheless, I knew going into this that it was nonfiction, and there was bound to be some emotional impact and thought provoking material within the book. The book was both informative, educational, and explored the…

Words 677 - Pages 3

Controversial Arguments Against Gun Control

Gun control has been a controversial idea ever since the creation of guns centuries ago. Much like the controversy of gun rights, Rebecca Skloot’s nonfiction text The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks explains an ethical debate on body rights, dealing with scientific research during the 1950’s. The vague rules for cells used by doctors and researchers in 1950s, relates to the similar vagueness of the Second Amendment, which leads to controversial interpretations of gun control. Some people believe…

Words 1117 - Pages 5