Henrietta Lacks had a large, religious family who lived their entire life in poverty. She and her husband, Day, grew up together on a tobacco farm, and received little education as children. Day was a handworker and provided for the family as best he could; however, he was unfaithful to his wife on multiple occasions. Throughout their marriage, Day had affairs where he would pick up sexually transmitted infections and spread them to Henrietta. They began having children when Henrietta was only 14 years old, and they had a total of five children together. Henrietta loved her children and would have done anything for them. Their oldest daughter, Elise, had epilepsy and was nonverbal. When Elise became too much for Henrietta to handle on her own, the doctors convinced her to send Elise to Crownsville State Hospital, which was for the insane. “A bit of Henrietta died the day they sent Elise away, that losing her was worse than anything else that happened to her” (Skloot 45).…
Lynn was born in April of 1965. She is a joy to the parents because she seems to be a perfectly healthy and normal child, despite the anxious pregnancy that the couple had went through. Relieved, the parents were happy to have such a beautiful happy baby. However, at six months the parents fear had come back. There was a fourth of July parade where many families gathered. Lynn had fallen asleep before the fireworks started. The parents had anticipated Lynn to wake up and deal with the fussy baby because of all of the noise and commotion. However, she slept right through the fireworks and the noises of them and the cheers from the crowd. This is when Thomas and Louise knew that their baby was deaf.…
“The Myth Of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed To Be. How It Was” by professional writer Hope Edelman, a non-fiction author, essayist, and writing instructor, tells her personal account of being a co-parent. Her main focus is on the hardships of not being in a co-parent situation, and the effort it takes to create a balanced relationship.…
The ability of a text to be universally accepted in a range of contexts ultimately determines its textual integrity and appreciation. Gwen Harwood’s work draws from the inspiration of her context, her lifelong influences, primarily music, her childhood and religious beliefs. This can be identified through study of Gwen Harwood's poem, "Father and Child" that is able to be appreciated in a multitude of different contexts due to its universality and textual integrity.…
Sensory details emphasize that Eleanor Roosevelt had a troubled childhood, filled with loneliness and discomfort. In the later years of her life she referred to her younger self as a “blue eyed rather ugly little girl.” This statement accentuates Eleanor’s lack of confidence in herself as a child. However, this uncertainty about herself as a kid likely contributed to her success as an adult. Second, Eleanor wrote that during “mother’s hour,” time Anna would spend with her kids in an attempt to reconnect their broken family. She wrote that she “felt a curious barrier between (herself) and (those) three.” Even within Eleanor’s own family, she felt disconnected and unlike them. Not only was there an emotional detachment from the rest of her family,…
The first paragraph of the story tells us that the mother loved her daughters very much. She prepared everything such as making the yard so clean just to wait for her daughter to come. Therefore, we can say that the mother is a loving mother. In the paragraph number four, the mother tells the readers that she dreamed a dream that one day she and her daughter Dee brought together on a TV show and her daughter would tell the world how she was proud of her mother. The paragraph can tell us that the mother was only proud of Dee, not Maggie. She only dreamed that Dee would say something great about her, she didn’t mention anything about Maggie. So, one of the character of the mother was partial. The paragraph thirteen tells us that the mother was a poor and uneducated woman.…
In the TV show Jane the Virgin, the protagonist Jane Villanueva was artificially inseminated with Rafael sperm and now on this episode Jane and her family learn the ugly side of motherhood. Mateo had been born and since Jane had been so focused on being the perfect mother she had forgotten to worry about herself. Meaning she had been skipping her shower days, not fixing her hair, brushing teeth, the normal disciplinary body practices that we women do. Jane later on is encountered with some loud next door neighbors who seem to be wannabe rockstars and struggles to keep Mateo asleep. Jane has stepped into the role of Motherhood and is having to give up her time, work, and study for her new baby Mateo all by her self.…
In 19th century Louisiana, there was a gender role for men and women. The men went to work while the women were “mother wives” whose main job was to to care of the children and help the family. This way of life was predominantly unquestioned, except in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, a wealthy “mother wife”, tries to fight her gender role and become independent. Edna Pontellier’s strive for independence leads to struggles with the society’s gender role upon women.…
Many people would say we are all just products of our environment. For two young boys from Baltimore, this could not be truer. In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore, two fatherless, young boys growing up in the same neighborhood with the same name, end up on two entirely different paths of life. The author becomes a Rhodes Scholar, college graduate, veteran, and much more, while the “other” Wes gets deeply involved with the drug game and spends most of his life in trouble with the law. When these boys come from such similar backgrounds, how is it that they take such different journeys in life? The reason why one Wes Moore became mixed up with drugs and the law, and why one became successful, is because of the family each grew up with. The expectations that each family held their Wes to set the tone for the way each would live the rest of his life. The author’s mother sacrificed what she had to in order to make sure her son wouldn’t become involved with drugs, while the “other” Wes’s mother told him not to, but she was in fact using drugs. They each grew up without a father, but for different reasons. Wes’s father, peace-loving with a stable career, died when Wes was just three, while the “other” Wes’s father, who was alive and well, chose not to be a part of his son’s life. Wes’s parents made a positive environment for their son, while the “other” Wes’s parents left him to suffer in the environment he was born into. The amount of expectations each family put on their Wes was, in turn, the amount of expectations each Wes had for his future self.…
By the 1930’s, the commission lead by Luciano, began to move towards illegal gambling, bootlegging, loan-sharking, and labor rackets. Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey was one the first to try and stop the mob’s illegal activities. Dewey led several raids which resulted in several hundred arrests, including Luciano. In 1936, Luciano was arrested, charged and later convicted of running a prostitution ring, which he was sentenced to approximately 30 years in prison (American Mafia history.com). Because the Mafia was in control of the export and imports during the time of WWII, the United States government approached Luciano to aid the U.S. against possible evasion by German sea boats; in exchange for a lighter sentence (American Mafia histroy.com).…
Carol Berkin masterfully presents a glimpse of the lives of the women who were affected by the Revolutionary War through many different eyes, views, and opinions in Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for Independence. She paints a vivid picture in your mind of how the war affected these women by not focusing on one race or political view, but rather through multiple races and political views.…
This book is about a woman who forever changed the course of women's role in American history. Eleanor Roosevelt was an extremely important figure in the history of the United States, especially during the twentieth century. The way the author uses the book to help the reader to feel included in Eleanor's life, makes the reader feel as if he knows Mrs. Roosevelt.…
It was feared that if Billy came too close to either Isaac or Amy, they would catch whatever it was that Billy had, and become sick as well. With Isaac only being an infant and Amy weak from childbirth, the possibility of them becoming sick and dying was high. Billy was not allowed near Isaac or Amy. Billy only became sicker. It seemed as though as Isaac began to grow and become stronger and healthier, Billy became weaker and closer to death. “Yet as the weeks passed by, the stouter Isaac got the punier Billy seemed” (104). Amy was scared that Billy would die, leaving Isaac fatherless and her to raise him alone, so she decided to seek out Widow Glendower for medicine. However, it was winter at the time. It was cold and snow was covering the ground. The path was not an easy one. Amy decided to risk it nevertheless, and as a result, she almost lost her life. The cold became too much, but because of her will, she persisted on. Amy would not allow herself to die on Isaac. At one point Amy thought, “After all you done to be his momma, you ain’t going to leave him without a momma” (107). The trouble and difficulties of trying to have Isaac made it hard for either Billy or Amy to give up. Amy was willing to risk her own life to save Billy’s, to make sure that Isaac had a proper father growing up. Even then, Amy was not going to allow herself to not raise the child she had worked so hard to…
Carol Berkin’s book, Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for American Independence, proclaims that the Revolutionary War was "the last great romance with war". It was more so a time of turbulence and disorder. The American Revolution did not discriminate against man or woman, class, race nor culture. The Revolution took a toll on the families during this time in history and it also made women important figures. Women were forced to take charge over their families and even on the battlefront. This was very intriguing to society because the roles that that they took on were not expected of their gender. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence illustrates the historical events of…
The idea discussed in this case was Extend Fertility. Extend Fertility was founded by Christy Jones in the early 2000’s and during her time at Harvard’s Business school while pursuing her MBA. When she began her time at Harvard she had to put certain thoughts on hold such as marriage to her serious partner because she knew she would be very busy for the next two years while at school. Jones read a book titled Creating a Life: What Every Woman Needs to Know about Having a Baby and a Career by Sylvia Hewlett and also had conversation with some of her friends that were currently undergoing fertility treatments and as a result Christy Jones learned that a women was at her most fertile at 27 and once she turned 35 her fertility began to considerably…