The Immortals

Wiesel once said, “We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with it’s own secrets, with it’s own treasures, with it’s own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph”. In the novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, the Lacks family is viewed as an abstraction both by the scientific community, and the media; however, Rebecca Skloot did not view them as an abstraction, and she made it her duty to discover the…

In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebbeca Skoolt, who’s a journalist, was in college when she learns information about Henrietta Lacks, and African American woman, who died in 1951, from cervical cancer. Some years later, she heard about the name again and was so curious that she decided to do research on this woman. Rebecca later learns that Henrietta’s cancerous cells were the first to become the first human cell line, called HeLa. After doing some research Rebecca later learned that in…

In chapters 18-22 of Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the author informs us of what Henrietta’s HeLa cells have done and some history of her family. In chapter 18, HeLa cells have gone to space in the Discoverer XVIII satellite to help determine what happens to human cells in space. Scientist were also creating hybrids with the HeLa cells to help further their understanding of gene regulation. The media didn’t understand what was being accomplished by doing this and…

The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, provides insight to scientific development issues in the mid 1900’s through the eyes of the Lacks family, the scientists involved, and the author herself. Three key issues discussed in this book are the ethics of informed consent for research, the ethics of genetic engineering, and how scientists relay information to people who are not experts in their areas of practice. The foundation of this book revolves around the ethical…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lack who was an African American women born in 1920 the eighth of ten children. Her mother died when she was the age of four and her father her and the rest of her siblings went to live with her father in Virginia. From there the children were distributed to several relatives as it was too much of a burden for one person to handle ten children. Henrietta lived with Tommy Lacks, her grandfather. They grew up poor…

Pervading the story of Henrietta Lacks and her “immortal cells” was the idea that doctors should be required to obtain informed consent from their patients before conducting any extensive research that could affect the patient. Aside from the HeLa case itself, another situation mentioned in the book was Mo versus Golde, a case where a doctor- David Golde- patented and profited off of the cells of one of his patients- John Moore. Doctor David Golde should have been prosecuted for taking and…

Rebecca Skloot, in the second part of the “Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks”, extensively examines the relationship of science with the non-scientific and indicates the reality of the scientific community. Basically, the reading explicates the consequences, both within and outside science, of the research enthusiasm of the scientists. Humans are classified in terms of their ability and regularity of exercising science. This categorization is quite different from those based on identity such as…

“What Makes Mortals And Immortals Heroic.” I am writing/typing about to heroes, one is Markiplier a mortal and the other is Poseidon a immortal. They both had an impossible task and bravery but in two different ways, Poseidon had to save the ocean, by protecting the dolphins, mermaids, and many other sea creatures. Markiplier's impossible task and bravery was to give money to charity and help out many orphanages. There is one reason why they similar is because they both save lives and help…

Enjoy family and friends, make the most use of having friends and family. You should enjoy every minute that you spend with family and friends because they will not always be there for you. One example I noticed in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is that Deborah and Rebecca started to have a growing friendship and Rebecca had cherished it. Eventually though Deborah had passed away and this is would explain why you should cherish all the moments and make the most of having…

Throughout The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it is revealed that although science is helpful, it also has its own evils. Scientists stole people’s body parts, injected diseases, and did unnecessary treatments, all without patient consent. Henrietta Lacks was one of these unfortunate people. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Scientists then took those cells and started marketing them and doing experiments with them to come up with cures for various diseases. The family tells an…