ipl-logo

Technology In The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

1896 Words8 Pages

Technology may be used to change the world by increasing efficiency in almost every situation in people's lives. How do you think technology has affected your life? The gothic romantic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley describes the issues that can arise when one doesn’t use technology wisely, and how it can affect the society of oneself. We are introduced to Victor Frankenstein, and how he makes a once in a lifetime decision to create a creature with the technology he knows about, which takes a bad turn. However, in the novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot talks about the benefits of science and technology, but at a moral expense. This novel is about a woman, and how her cells were used, but the outcomes were positive, …show more content…

Furthermore, when creating technology, and or using it, we have to look at the positive and negative aspects of it. In Frankenstein we get an insight of what can happen when you use technology to build something, like how Victor Frankenstein’s creation of the monster/ creature leads to tragic consequences, which illustrates the dangers of uncontrolled technological advancements. It all led back to when Victor was so interested in science and technology, and one day he decided to create, and bring back a human being through electricity, chemicals, stitching, and using body parts from deceased people. Which sounded like a great idea for Victor, because he wanted to become famous in science for doing something different, and cool. Things took a turn, in the sense that when the creature came back to life Victor was mortified by its appearance, and he wanted nothing to do with it. In order to not associate with it, Victor decided to abandon it. Leading the Creature to be lonely for the years to come, and because the Creature was lonely, this was leading the Creature to do malicious …show more content…

The quote also reveals how the Creature is seeking revenge and punishment for Victor, because of what Victor made the Creature go through, and the feeling of loneliness. In order to do that, he tells Victor that he will get his revenge by killing the people closest to Victor. This is a negative aspect, because there can be times where the creature can switch up out of nowhere, and cause harm to society. On the other hand, the novel stated, “I found that the youth spent a great part of each day collecting wood. took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days.” (100) This shows us how the Creature also has positive aspects for it being created, because the quote shows how after living in the DeLaceys hovel, the Creature has been observing them, and their everyday routine. He soon notices how they aren’t as happy, and they have no money, so because of this he stops stealing their

Show More
Related
1243 Words | 5 Pages

Nonfiction books can often expand ones knowledge, especially in the subject of science. In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, writer of the book and journalist Rebecca Scloot finds herself looking at an image of an African American whom had a tumor growing in her body without knowledge of it. This woman in the photo, Henrietta Lacks, although her name was unknown by most scientist and teachers, helped change the face of medicine back then and even today. Henrietta Lacks started getting treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital at age 31. The physicians at the hospital cut a dime size piece of her tumor and sent it into the lab where George Gey then put it on clots of chicken blood to see if the cells would grow.

Read More
263 Words | 2 Pages

Henrietta Lacks, an African American tobacco farmer from southern Virginia, was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 30 years old. During her treatment at John Hopkins Hospital, one of the doctors took a piece of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it to scientists who had been unsuccessfully attempting to grow tissues in culture for decades. There is no explanation as to why, but her cells never died. To this day they are still alive and have been used throughout the years to great advantages in curing diseases. Henrietta’s cells have played a part in some of the world’s most important medical advances such as the development of the polio vaccine, cloning, vitro fertilization, gene mapping, and they even went up in the first space

Read More
420 Words | 2 Pages

Henrietta Lacks, a black woman living during the first half of the twentieth century, died of complications due to cervical cancer and had her cells stolen from her by the people she originally entrusted to protect her. Her cells have allowed dozens of groundbreaking medical discoveries to take place. Despite the discoveries, her family lives in utter destitution, and her name has been forgotten by all but the most dedicated followers of her story. Rebecca Skloot’s book attempts to correct this injustice, giving life to the woman many simply know as HeLa. Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks hammers the point home by using Pathos to highlight the injustices against the Lacks clan, using Logos to highlight the breaches of medical ethics

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

Part two of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, once again submerges the reader in to the world of HeLa cells. This section emphasizes what occurred with Henrietta’s immortal cells after her death. Along with the many medical discoveries made from these miracle cells, part two delves into the physical and emotional abuse that Henrietta’s children were forced to live with after her passing all while struggling financially while their mother’s cells are being sold for millions of dollars. Skloot continues her phenomenal synopsis of the life of Henrietta Lacks and the stories her cells continue to tell. One of the utmost riveting and critical scenes of this section occurs in the first few pages.

Read More
956 Words | 4 Pages

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is at once a biography, a work of science journalism, and a book about the interconnected topics of ethics, justice, and racism. Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman who died from cervical cancer in 1951, was the source of the so-called HeLa cell line, which is “omnipresent” (Skloot, 2010, p. 24) in modern science. The HeLa cell line was derived from Henrietta Lacks’ cancerous tumor, which, against the wishes of Henrietta’s family was taken from her corpse and has been used for prolific and lucrative medical research for over seven decades (Skloot, 2010). Skloot (2010) described The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as “a biography of both the cells and the woman they came from—someone’s daughter, wife, and mother” (pp. 25-26). While the HeLa cells are ubiquitous in research, the woman from whom they came is, at best, a footnote in biological or medical textbooks.

Read More
903 Words | 4 Pages

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot and examines the life of Henrietta Lacks and her peculiar situation with her mysterious cells. This paper will focus on chapter two in the novel and how it becomes the most important part of the book when it comes to understanding Henrietta’s life story. Chapter two is called “Clover (1920-1942)”, the chapter itself dissects the early life of Henrietta and the challenges she had growing up. In this chapter, it goes over the gender, economic, and racial obstacles that greatly impacted her. It is important to understand the socio-economic conditions that led Henrietta to be treated less than human.

Read More
426 Words | 2 Pages

In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, the progression of the plot and its central conflicts can be thoroughly understood through the perspective of racism, which includes systemic injustice, medical abuse, cultural mistrust, and racial discrimination. Despite the widespread use of HeLa cells in research and the advancements in the field of medicine, there was no acknowledgment of Henrietta or her pivotal role in the public. The fact that Henrietta was not mentioned in the news and that Gey did not mention her name on TV further highlighted how her identity was erased from the story of HeLa, “Despite the spread of HeLa and the flurry of new research that followed, there were no news stories about the birth of the amazing

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

This reading consisted of an excerpt from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. In this excerpt the author has visited the home of the living relatives of Henrietta. They show distaste and skepticism towards her due to her being white and asking questions about their mother, Henrietta Lacks. However they seem to warm up to her and tell her about what had happened to their mother. Henrietta awas a cancer patient, and when she died the doctors had asked permission to use her cells, on the premise that it would help prevent her children from dying from the same illness.

Read More
936 Words | 4 Pages

The injustice of taking Henrietta’s cells and using them for research without her consent or of her family for that matter; until 20 years later is incomprehensible. Many believe that the history of medical ethics such as the Hippocratic Oath and complying the federal law in protecting human research and confidentiality wasn’t yet recognized. All the same, the Lacks’ family isn’t given credit or acknowledgement for what Henrietta, has contributed to science, known as the HeLa cell line. Henrietta’s

Read More
733 Words | 3 Pages

I have always had a passion for learning about how the human body operates. I want to take my knowledge and assist patients in their process to get back to good health. If anything, this book has caused me to want to become a health care provider even more. Henrietta’s experience at John Hopkins was an unfortunate situation. The doctors probably did not expect her cells to be as advantageous as they were, but they still should have asked for her consent.

Read More
1065 Words | 5 Pages

The fact that Victor sees the creature as such a vile thing shows us that Victor doesn’t have any respect whatsoever for it. The creature states that he was ‘dependent on none and related to none’ which also

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

This time spent here helped to begin to develop the creature’s mind, proving he was in fact rather intelligent. The monster knew that he was different from these people, often describing them all as beautiful. He knew they would not accept him, and yet his search for belonging and family continue to surge the novel forward. While the creature is lonely and hurting, his actions slowly become malicious.

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

In chapter sixteen of the text the DeLaceys just rejected the monster after he approached them. ” Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not;

Read More
888 Words | 4 Pages

When Victor abandons him, the Creature attempts to live alone and learn how others live. The people hindered his attempts with their harsh reactions and obvious fear of the Creature. He secluded himself from society and lived in the woods near a little cottage where a family lived. For a while, he stole wood and food from them until he learned their financial hardships and then he started helping them. He observed the family and began learning through them.

Read More
1727 Words | 7 Pages

The story, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, explores the true story of a woman named Deborah and her journey to discover more information about her mother and what her cells did for humanity. Deborah’s mother, Henrietta, died of cancer and her cells, which were attained by inhumane means, contributed greatly to the scientific study of curing other diseases. Although, Henrietta’s death also had a great impact on Deborah due to the fact that Deborah had to face certain difficult situations. With her passing, Deborah was forced to live with a cousin of her mother, who abused her and had a husband who also verbally and sexually mistreated her. The abuse is prominently shown when Galen, the husband, screams at Henrietta, “Get back here till I finish with you, Dale!

Read More

More about Technology In The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Open Document