HeLa

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot

Purpose & Discussion Director

In our discussions, we focused most on the ethical components of the book. In modern day time, we as a society are very aware of our personal and natural rights, especially in relation to those in the medical field. However, during Henrietta’s time, the laws we have come to take for granted did not exist, especially for those of her racial background. As a black woman in her time period, the relation between her neighbors and medical professionals were not up to par, especially with experiments such as the Tuskegee trials going on to keep respect blacks and white doctors tense. Our seminars were primarily centered around the evolving ethical amendments since her time. Other driving background questions we had were based on the discoveries made by scientists, such as the contamination of other cultures by the cancer cells and the true impact that Henrietta had on the world, especially perceived from our small bubble of modern-day suburbia.

Skloot clearly defined her purpose as she was attempting to convince the Lackes to share their story. She wanted the world to know their story, the real story, behind the cells that shaped the world of medical achievement. She dove deep into the history of an amazing woman and corrected the wrongs of the scientists who mislabeled and controlled the fate of the family. From just two initials to the wrong name, Henrietta Lacks has been the victim of years of questionable ethics and her family has been carrying on in the wake of the discovery of the first line of immortal line of cells.

The surviving Lackes, poor and uneducated, continue to work through the unknown in order to comprehend the magnitude of the impact that their relative has had and will continue to have on the world. All of Henrietta’s children, most of all her daughter Deborah, have worked tirelessly to bring to light the person behind the microscopic miracle. With the help of the author, Deborah was able to find the information she needed to make sense of her family. She defied the impossible and found the truth, about her mother, about her sister who had been in a mental institution, and her own past. This purpose remains the same throughout the entire story.

Speaker & Vocabulary Guru

Subject & Summary

Part 2 : Death

• Speaker is Rebecca Skloot
• Same style of story/investigating as the first but removes herself a little more than before
• Skloot’s belief in all aspects of the story
• Creates a more textbook like feeling as she goes through the history of the cells with less of a focus on specific interaction between characters

Agnostic (7):

a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

Inoculate (93/17):

• Treat (a person or animal) with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease.
• Introduce (an infective agent) into an organism.
• Introduce (cells or organisms) into a culture medium.

Part 3 : Immortality

• Speaker is Rebecca Skloot
• Returns to story/investigating style with detail
• Exposures her belief of the Lacks family having closure on their history and telling all aspects of the story
• Gives the perception that these events are more important is it has emotion connected to real people

Analgesics (85):

(chiefly of a drug) acting to relieve pain

Buzz Words

Fait Accompli (47):

a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept.

Metastasis (29) :

the development of secondary malignant growths at a distance from a primary site of cancer.

Rebecca Skloot creates a portrait of one of the most widely used figures in science, however anonymously she played that part. Henrietta Lacks, her story, and almost everything else having to do with her story were covered; so in order to summarize this piece, one must summarize Henrietta Lacks’ life. So, starting the book, the scene is set in Baltimore, Maryland in Part 1 (Life), where she starts her narration. Skloot goes through the journey of the diagnosis and events following that, including her struggle through cervical cancer and treatment. Following this summarization of events, she then dives into Henrietta’s whole life, specifically her young childhood and personal facts within personal stories that paint a vivid picture of where she and the Lackes really come from. Following that, the author proceeds to divulge about the specifics and the science behind Henrietta’s experience at John’s Hopkins.

At this point, Henrietta’s cells are just being sent for culturing at Hopkins.

Part 1 : Life

• The speaker is Rebecca Skloot
• More of a story/investigating style of writing with lots of detail due to her journalism background
• Skloot’s belief that Henrietta and her families story needs to be told
• This creates a sense of discovery as she narrates Henrietta’s life, journey of her cells, interviews different characters
• Importance on character interaction (Lacks) and emotion through detail

On the path down this part of Henrietta’s life, Skloot depicts how the cells were found to be immortal and the background of George Gey, the man who found these cells to be immortal. Then the cancer inside the subject completely spread after months of normalcy. As the author does often within this work, she flips the focus toward her work researching the information for this book, and here was the beginning as the reader gets to examine the first interactions between the young “reporter” and the Lacks family. But, she draws right back to the timeline of George Gey after he first discovered the special cells and the conflict that ensued. Henrietta’s condition worsens, but Skloot throws the focus toward her search for information and even more introductions and conflicts. Tracking the subject’s roots, her trip down the creation takes her to Clover, where Henrietta grew up, Flashback to Henrietta and there is now an image of her final moments and the impact throughout the family.

Part 2 (Death) steps into George Gey’s actions following news of Henrietta’s death and a storm that seemed to symbolize her death and foreshadow bad events to come. A HeLa factory is then built shortly after Henrietta’s death, the first of the industrialization of HeLa. Problems followed but Skloot switched to focus on presenting more information about the Lacks. Experiments derived from the HeLa cells were then listed and described. Shockingly, the author reveals sexual abuse within the Lacks family, while also illustrating its normalcy within the gene pool. This pattern of writing continues one more time, furthering the plot line in all of the certain timelines and parts connecting to Henrietta Lacks. The last part of this book completely dives into the early parts of Skloot’s investigation and continued on until the death of Deborah, the main Lacks helping the author along the way. Overall, the book travels among the descriptions and histories of the Lacks, her investigation, and the science involving the cells and other things.

Tone & Rhetorical Analysis

Overview

Illustrator

Music: Cropped Instrumentals from Columbus band Starset

This book was broken up into three different parts, Life, Death and Immortality. The author, Rebecca Skloot, started with telling the story of Henrietta herself, supplying a background of the woman who shaped science and medicine throughout the entire world. The second part provided the technical- and data-filled section. The third focused on the family, the living descendents that are still affected by the cells of their mother, HeLa, the impressive and never-before-seen miracle of human biology. Because of this, we decided to split each topic into those three sections, to give a conclusive and holistic description of this thrilling tale.

• Skloot has a heavy use of dialogue making the story feel more human and real
• This is important during the impactful moments of the book

“As they rocked back and forth, Gary tipped his head to the sky , and began singing in a hauntingly beautiful baritone.

These scenes and other help to effectively display why the Lackses do some of the things that they do. They often would blame reporters getting hurt while on the HeLa cases on Henrietta seeing their intentions as bad. The family was also always very skeptical of everyone that came searching for answers about Henrietta.

One of the ways that Rebecca develops the characters of the Lacks family is through the very descriptive religious view they have. One example of this could be the way the family described Henrietta's burial. It is described very similarly to the death of Jesus in the bible.

“...lowered Henrietta’s coffin into her grave and began covering her with handfuls of dirt, the sky turned black as molasses. The rain fell thick and fast. The came the long rumbling thunder, screams of babies, and a blast of wind so strong t tore the metal roof off the barn...The wind caused fires that burned the tobacco fields. It ripped trees from the ground, blew power lines out for miles.”

Also the scene in the book with the religious cleansing that Deborah went through.

“‘That you said your word Lord, that the BELIEVER would lay hands on the sick, and that they shall RECOVER!’ His voice rose and fell, from a whisper to a yell and back. ‘I REALIZE God that TONIGHT there’s just some things doctors CANNOT DO!’”

• “Welcome, into this place … Welcome, into this broken vessel.” His singing, quit at first grew louder with each word until it filled the house and poured into the tobacco fields. “You desire to baide in the praises of your people, so I Lift my hand, and I lift my heart, and I offer up this praise unto ya, Lord”
• “You’re welcome into this broken vessel, Lord,” he whispered, squeezing Deborah’s head in his palms.”
• The use of detailed and descriptive language to tell specific actions of characters to convey the character's emotions
• “Deborah started convulsing in Gary’s arms, weeping and whispering, “Thank ya, Lord . . . Thank ya, Lord,” Gary squeezed his eyes tight and yelled along with her “THANK YOU, LORD! tHANK YOU FOR TONIGHT!” Their voices grew louder together, until Gary stopped, tears and sweat pouring from his face onto Deborah as she screamed “Thank you Jesus!”

Audience & Literary Luminary

Audience- Skloot’s ideal audience ranged from high school students to those heavily active in the science community, although her writing style and perspective on the story differs in all three part the audience stays consistent. The novel is extremely informative and doesn't overwhelm the reader with scientific facts and terminology. Skloot uses understandable diction, syntax and well timed scientific facts to keep the attention of her audience.

Part 1 : Life

The color of the Lacks family skin greatly affected their treatment while at Hopkins while also affecting the overall care Henrietta received

• “After Henrietta checked into the hospital, a nurse drew blood and labeled the vial colored” p. 65
• “The nurse shooed the Emmett and his brothers out of the ward to the room designated for colored blood collection” p. 85

• If Henrietta had been white would her initial complaints of pain be taken more seriously or, would have the cancers treatment been approached in a different way?

Part 3 ; Immortality

• “The words used in the medical records about Henrietta would have been very scaring to Deborah. She thought that she was going to get what her mom had and was mortified.” p. 210
• Contradicts the superstitious nature of the Lacks family
• Provides insight on how little the family knew about their mother's cancer

Part 2 : Death

• “It's surprising how much some people (Lackses) care about certain things (Henrietta's picture) and how little others care about the same thing (doctors)” p. 189

• Henrietta's story means different things to different people, those who focus on the progression of medicine would most likely not pay much attention to the person behind the cells.
• Those who were close to Henrietta feel a connection to her cells and the research being done with them. They simply want people to know about the person behind the cells

Occasion, Connector, & Investigator

Part 3 : Immortality

The last part of the book was about how Rebecca Skloot and Deborah went around and found the information that was in the book. This part took place in the late 1990s to the 2000s. This part gives the reader a deeper understanding of how little is known about Henrietta.

Part 2 : Death

The middle of the book is during the 1960s-1980s. During this time, the cells that were taken from Henrietta were around the world, being tested and experimented on to develop new vaccines and medicines. This part of the book lets the reader into the scientific aspects of HeLa and was written to give the much needed credit to the Henrietta.

Part 1 : Life

During the beginning of the book (1920s-1950s), the family lives in rural Virginia on a tobacco field. Around this time, blacks are still discriminated against and are looked down upon. This part of the book lets the reader into the life of the Lacks family.

Throughout the book there are many scenarios that display the discrimination of blacks, especially in the beginning of the book which takes place in rural Virginia. Many of the hospitals or other facilities mentioned in the book didn't have the appropriate records for the Lackses because they didn't care to keep them as the family was black. This type discrimination is opposed somewhat today by organizations that promote black equality.

The characters in the book are also very religiously inclined. They believe everything happens for a reason, whether it be an act of God or Henrietta, as demonstrated on page 92:

“...lowered Henrietta’s coffin into her grave and began covering her with handfuls of dirt, the sky turned black as molasses. The rain fell thick and fast. The came the long rumbling thunder, screams of babies, and a blast of wind so strong t tore the metal roof off the barn...The wind caused fires that burned the tobacco fields. It ripped trees from the ground, blew power lines out for miles.”

This passage could be a reference to the killing of Jesus in the bible.

There are many experiments and studies that still use HeLa today. There are over 50 million tons of HeLa today and still more is being made. There are also still lawsuits put on by the Lacks family for what was done to Henrietta and the minimal acknowledgment and financial aid that the family got.