Rebecca

there!" Deborah Lacks exclaimed. Rebecca Skloot, the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was reluctant at first to include herself as a character in this piece of nonfiction. However, she became remarkably entwined with the Lacks family, specifically Deborah, that it was imperative she incorporated her character in the work. Skloot’s character added depth and meaning to the narrative, and without her presence there would be a lack of truth. Rebecca Skloot was justified for…

“I get to take care of patients with cancer, which is something I have always wanted to do.” Dr. Rebecca Tuttle on why she wanted to become a surgical oncologist. Rebecca Tuttle is a trained surgical oncologist specializing in breast cancer. She earned her medical degree from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine. She also completed a surgical oncology fellowship at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. Tuttle is certified by the American Board of Surgery. She is also an…

beautiful and grand estate, but the events that unfold on the inside, tell otherwise. Rebecca was a romantic suspense novel written by Daphne DuMaurier. The book is about a wealthy older gentleman named Maxim who marries a young woman. After their honeymoon they return to Manderley, where their lives took an unexpected change for the worse. The estate, Manderley, plays such a crucial role in the novel, Rebecca, that is has often been referred to as another character in the novel. First,…

The three research issues raised by the research now known as the Tuskegee experiment included informed consent, justice, and do not harm. In 1932, the Public Health Service (PHS) doctors working with the Tuskegee Institute did a study to collect data on syphilis for justifying treatments for blacks. The un-ethically justified study went on for forty years before the advisory panel stopped it. In other words, the knowledge gained did not outweigh the risk posed to the subjects (Center for…

Skloot makes sure that none of the events shown in her book are her portrayals of each character. Their words are not interpreted or altered in any way and the voice of each character is raw and direct from the source. The characters are developed in two ways. From a third person point of view in which she describes the Lacks family’s past or by the direct dialogue between Skloot and the Lacks family. Also, the main rhetorical device to keep the rule of “show, don’t tell” is diction of the…

While we had been discussing and reading about the ethical, legal, and social implications of various different cases throughout the semester, reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks allowed me to see it from a whole new perspective. While I have learned quite a bit from all the discussion, the many assigned readings, and the overabundance of bioethics reference readings, this book truly carried my attention from cover to cover, pulling me into Henrietta’s family while sneakily telling me…

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black farmer from Virginia who led a life that would be described as typical at the time. She had children when she was young, raised them to the best of her ability while working to survive. But “typical” would not be the word to describe the impact Henrietta had on the scientific world. While admitted to a hospital, a sample of tissue unwillingly taken from her tumor gave rise to one of the most important cell lines in medical advancement and research. The cells that…

The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” dives into the story of an African-American woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer and died at a young age shortly after, leaving behind 5 children, a husband, and many cousins. When Henrietta was at John Hopkins being treated for her cancer, the doctors took a sliver of her tumor and cultured it to see if they could make the cell “immortal”. This all happened back in the 50’s when colored people weren’t seen as equal citizens to white people…

Suspense in The Evening and the Morning and the Night “The Evening and the Morning and the Night” is a short story by Octavia Butler. This is a short story about a girl named Lynn Mortimer who was born with a disease called Duryea-Gode disease (DGD). DGD is a genetic disease that causes adults to become self-destructive.It is caused by a drug called Hedeonco, which cures certain types of cancer. If an adult has DGD and reproduces, their child will automatically have the disease. When adults…

Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who grew up in Clover, Virginia (Zielinski). She was born in 1920 as Loretta Pleasant (Biography.com Editors), and was affectionately known as “Hennie” (Brown). She was raised by her grandfather and lived with her cousin, David Lacks (Biography.com Editors). Henrietta worked as a tobacco farmer along with her family (Zielinski), and she also sold tobacco at auctions (Brown). She attended school up until sixth grade (Brown). Henrietta and her cousin Lacks later…