A Critical Evaluation Of The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Tyrell Jean

Pre-IB AP Language and Composition

Summer Assignment

October 9, 2015

A Critical Evaluation of: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

While a name is, in essence, a way of identification, it is also an essential part of who people are. A name is important, because it is how an individual is given the respect they have earned, and the recognition they deserve. In society, everyone-rich or poor- is afforded the right to a name, and the respect that comes along with it. Without the presence of a name, a person is erased from history, almost as if they never existed in the first place. This is almost what happened to a woman named Henrietta Lacks. The woman who’s cells, to this day, still live and continue to undergo the

The purpose was to produce the first cells to live outside of the human body. Unlike the cells of others, Henrietta’s cells actually managed to survive outside of the human body, and are still living to this day. Henrietta was not given credit, or even notified or this. Henrietta Lack died without even knowing the impact her cells would have on the scientific community or the world. The initials HeLa were given to the cells, not acknowledging that they were from Henrietta at all. By removing her name, Henrietta Lacks was dehumanized by the scientific community. Henrietta’s cells were taken from her unethically without permission. When the initials HeLa were assigned to her cells, Henrietta was not given the recognition or respect that was so rightfully deserved to her. It took George Otto Gey’s assistant, Mary Kubicek seeing Henrietta’s dead body lying on a metal table in the “colored freezer” of John Hopkins hospital to realize that she was indeed a real person, who had once carried out all of the necessary functions for life, just as she herself

She states that she has conducted thousands of interviews with the Lacks family, and she was close with Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah. She exhibits knowledge of biology, and it is apparent that Skloot has dedicated lots of her time researching Henrietta, her family, and HeLa cells. Skloot provides dates of events that occurred throughout the novel, and she also provided names of the parties involved. Skloot’s elicitation of ethos lets the audience know that she is qualified to tell the story of Henrietta Lacks, and that she is qualified to speak on behalf of the Lacks