The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Works Cited

1.)Keiger, Dale. "Immortal Cells, Enduring Issues." Johns Hopkins Magazine. John Hopkins Magazine, 14 Feb. 2017. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

2.)Margonelli, Lisa. "Eternal Life." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Feb. 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/books/review/Margonelli-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

3.)Whatisuppeoples. "Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"." Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <http://michaelmccabeenglish.blogspot.com/2013/08/ethos-logos-and-pathos-in-immortal-life.html>.

Main Argument of Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Skloot's argument

Textual Evidence

" Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. "

This quote shows how she defends the family and believes they went through and injustice.

The author initially explores the topic objectively, but after learning about the family's struggles she develops an argument that shows how Henrietta and her family were mistreated.

Was this scientific revolution immoral?

The main way Skloot gives her argument is through the family;

she explored how

they were treated.

Skloot's Rhetoric

Appeal to Ethos

Fallacies

While the argument of the book has no obvious fallacies the book often examines fallacies that happen. The book talked about a doctor who injected HeLa cells without consent, people jumping on the bandwagon of the cells, and generally explores fallacies in the decision making of the doctors.

- The author appeals to Ethos by telling the narrative of how doctors took her cells without her consent or her family's knowledge. This ties the readers in to how Henrietta was ethically wronged, and further proved her argument.

Real life applicability

Appeal to Pathos

HeLa and modern Medicine

The author tells the devastating life story of Henrietta to appeal to Pathos. The author humanizes the person for us and makes the readers see her for more than just her cells. The author also tells the hardships of the family, and shows that the help that they would've gotten from HeLa cells would've been needed (this book appeals to pathos a lot)

While modern medicine has obviously improved from Henriettas time, we have to ask are the things we put patients through humane? This question brings up the delicate topic of assisted suicide, and can be used to question whether or not

Racism

Appeal to Logos

Racism is a very brief subject in the book but shows a comparison of how racist it used to really be. So then the question is, has there been enough improvement over these years?

- The author appeals to logos by using methodical logic to convince the reader that Henrietta was wrong (she insinuated that since her cells made so much money and so much scientific proccess, and that Henrietta's family received nothing they were morally wronged)

"

Facts and Quotes

- HeLa cells stained with special dyes, the DNA/Nucleus is yellow, filaments are blue, and the mitochondria - the cell's power generators - are pink

- Henrietta Lacks's death Certificate

Her family members were mislead to believe that Henrietta was alive somewhere being tested on by doctors.

- David and Henrietta Lacks, Circa 1945

In the time where racism was rampant HeLa cells being from an ethnic woman (double minority) was extremely ironic and caused some roadblocks in the cells progress.