Achieved Immortality A common human terror, is the fear of being forgotten. This explains the human fascination with achieving immortality, as seen in innumerable cultures throughout history. Although countless people desperately try to become immortal, only a few actually succeed, and often unintentionally, or not in the way he or she might have fancied. Such is the case of Henrietta and Deborah Lacks. In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, both Henrietta and Deborah achieve immortality through the people they have saved, through the book itself, and through the various visual media they have managed to record. Both Henrietta and Deborah have no doubt been immortalized through the people they have saved. For example, Deborah inspired her grandson Devon to “go to college and continue learning about [his grandmother] Henrietta until he knew everything there was to know about her” thereby saving him from a life without an education. Likewise, Henrietta indirectly saved her family as well, by inspiring Roland Pattillo with her story who would later grant Rebecca Skloot permission to research the family. …show more content…
And yet, Deborah persevered until her health prevented her from learning any more information altogether. In comparison, Henrietta's desire to recover from her torturous illness quietly, lest she cause unnecessary worry for her family, is reminiscent of Deborah. Both women were memorable people, who deserve to never be forgotten. Fortunately, ever since the publishing of the award-winning novel, which contains photographs of the Lackses, people are continuously exposed to their story, thus never letting them