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Henrietta's Use Of Imagery In Hela Cells

1898 Words8 Pages

While reading and even re-reading this passage, I continuously amazed with the author’s use of imagery. This description makes me immediately dislike the owner of those hands and I have no idea who they are. The fact that someone can keep enough poise while wrapping their hands around a screaming child makes me imagine them as emotionally detached person who cares little about the well-being of Henrietta’s oldest daughter Elsie and the rest of the patients. I am extremely impressed that the author noticed this minute detail and was able to paint such a vivid picture. A word that stands out to me with a negative connotation is “wrapped”. Hearing the phrase “wrapped and the throat of a crying child” makes me very uncomfortable and I cringe inwardly while imagining the same thing happening to me. The contrast between the hands and Elsie is shocking and makes me wonder what part of the story I am missing. Elsie died in the same hospital where this picture was taken and I am filled with dread when I think about what she must of had to go through.

I think the direction Henrietta’s family interpreted the HeLa cells is extremely interesting. Considering her family didn’t receive the best education, it makes total sense that they believe this. The main …show more content…

In both cases, the organism is changing forms entirely instead of merely shrinking. We see butterflies so often we know every part of their life cycle and none of it is a mystery to us. On the other hand, we know very little about jellyfish and do not observe their life cycle on a daily basis. Because of this, it was ingenious for the author to include this comparison. I also really like the use of the word “metamorphosis”. It is much easier to think of the immortal jellyfish as a creature able to reverse

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In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the author demonstrates the harsh realities that many African Americans faced in the medical and scientific field during the mid 20th century. The author shows the unjust practices of this time period through interviews with the Lacks family and medical professionals. These harsh realities are proven when Skloot talks to Henrietta’s family. Henrietta’s husband, Day, explains how they took samples from Henrietta’s body without consent when Skloot writes, “Day clenched his remaining three teeth. "I didn't sign no papers," he said.

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In Rebecca Skloot’s novel “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” , she informs readers about “HeLa” aka Henrietta and also about her journey discovering the many traits of Lack’s past . Henrietta Lacks , known in the medical world as “HeLa” died in 1951 due to cervical cancer . She experienced frequent bleeding from her genital parts , due to a tumor that was in her womb . She wasn’t known for going to the doctor whenever she had a health problem , but in the book Skloot said that HeLa explained the tumor as a “ lump in her in womb” and had a feeling that she needed a doctors help. After being looked at by her doctor and being tested for possibly having syphilis , she was redirected to a gynecologist .

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When doing research like the author of this book did, it is easy to get caught up in all of the information and forget it is from 70 years ago. What Henrietta’s doctors did to her is unthinkable now, but it didn’t happen in 2023, it happened in 1951, and back then the laws and acceptable practices were different. That does not excuse behavior, but it is still important to keep in mind. V. Further reading/ Additional Information 1.

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Deborah was struggling with her family, Zakariyya was in jail, and the discovery of their mother cells had been a cultural shock. It was by word of mouth that the Lacks family heard about Henrietta’s cells being immortal. It was 1973 and Bobbette was having a conversation with her friend’s brother in law. What happened was that he eventually told her that he worked at the National Cancer Institute and that he has been working with a cell from a woman named Henrietta lacks that died of cervical cancer at Hopkins in the fifties. After hearing about this new discovery, Bobbette relayed the message to her family.

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