Henrietta Lacks Research Paper
Tran 1
Sophia Tran
Miss Calahan
AP Language
1st period
26 August 2013
The Unknown Woman One of the main themes in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is justice. I feel this is so because Henrietta along with her family were not well-aware that Henrietta's cells were being taken from her without her consent to use in scientific research while she was only seeking help for her unknown illness. Alongside being unaware, she was never fully recognized for her unknown contributions to the scientific research that involved her cells. The fact that someone who has things taken from them and they are unaware of it is huge injustice to anyone. 'They're beautiful," she whispered, then went back to staring at the slide in silence. Eventually, …show more content…
without looking away from the cells, she said, "God, I never thought I'd see my mother under a microscope -- I never dreamed this day would ever come." (266) This quote highlights the feelings Deborah, Henrietta's youngest daughter, had when she finally started to learn about her mother after many years of hardships as stated in the novel. She is not only shows she is pleased and happy, she also shows she is relieved to know she is able to still seemingly connect with her mother in someway. In the novel Deborah often cries over not knowing anything about her mother's history at the hospital since her mother died when Deborah, herself turned four which made it harder for her to talk about her mother to just anyone. The quote also shows great emotion almost all at once because of all the years she never knew or understood about her mother's cell. "There's a photo on my wall of a woman I've never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape.
She looks straight into the camera and smiles, hands on hips, dress suit neatly pressed, lips painted deep red. It's the late 1940s and she hasn't yet reached the age of thirty. Her light brown skin is smooth, her eyes still young and playful, oblivious to the tumor growing inside her -- a tumor that would leave her five children motherless and change the future of medicine. Beneath the photo, a caption says her name is "Henrietta Lacks, Helen Lane or Helen Larson." Henrietta Lacks is depicted as a normal person who lived in a time of racism and unfair treatment of African-Americans. Although she was black, she managed to seek a hospital that treated both blacks and whites. It was during these treatments that her cells were taken from her without proper consent until a couple of days just before her death. She fortunately gave consent to the cell taking after hearing that it could benefit her children. She is later recognized through her children and they received commemorations in her place for her contribution to scientific research. "As we left Cronsville, Deborah thanked Lurz for the information, saying, "I've been waiting for this a long, long time, Doc." When asked if she was okay, her eyes welled with tears and she said, "Like I'm always telling my brothers, if you going to go into history, you can't do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was
different." (276) The great feelings of pain and hardship hurt much of how Henrietta’s family felt during the time where they were uniformed is also a great injustice because it seemed as though she was less of a person than any other patient at the hospital at that time. In conclusion the injustice of stealing from someone and hiding it from their family means a great deal to those people. As stated in the second paragraph, Deborah, one Henrietta's children, was never fully open to discussing about her mother until the author of this novel, offered to help her find information about her mother. This is how she finally came to learn about her mother and how she along with the rest of Henrietta's children were being recognized in place of Henrietta's contributions. The third and fourth paragraph, show more of the feelings of those Henrietta's children and how much the family felt they were done a great injustice. But after being recognized after so long, I see justice was there because Henrietta's contribution didn't go unknown and treated like they were unseen.
Sophia Tran
Miss Calahan
AP Language
1st period
26 August 2013
The Unknown Woman One of the main themes in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is justice. I feel this is so because Henrietta along with her family were not well-aware that Henrietta's cells were being taken from her without her consent to use in scientific research while she was only seeking help for her unknown illness. Alongside being unaware, she was never fully recognized for her unknown contributions to the scientific research that involved her cells. The fact that someone who has things taken from them and they are unaware of it is huge injustice to anyone. 'They're beautiful," she whispered, then went back to staring at the slide in silence. Eventually, …show more content…
without looking away from the cells, she said, "God, I never thought I'd see my mother under a microscope -- I never dreamed this day would ever come." (266) This quote highlights the feelings Deborah, Henrietta's youngest daughter, had when she finally started to learn about her mother after many years of hardships as stated in the novel. She is not only shows she is pleased and happy, she also shows she is relieved to know she is able to still seemingly connect with her mother in someway. In the novel Deborah often cries over not knowing anything about her mother's history at the hospital since her mother died when Deborah, herself turned four which made it harder for her to talk about her mother to just anyone. The quote also shows great emotion almost all at once because of all the years she never knew or understood about her mother's cell. "There's a photo on my wall of a woman I've never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape.
She looks straight into the camera and smiles, hands on hips, dress suit neatly pressed, lips painted deep red. It's the late 1940s and she hasn't yet reached the age of thirty. Her light brown skin is smooth, her eyes still young and playful, oblivious to the tumor growing inside her -- a tumor that would leave her five children motherless and change the future of medicine. Beneath the photo, a caption says her name is "Henrietta Lacks, Helen Lane or Helen Larson." Henrietta Lacks is depicted as a normal person who lived in a time of racism and unfair treatment of African-Americans. Although she was black, she managed to seek a hospital that treated both blacks and whites. It was during these treatments that her cells were taken from her without proper consent until a couple of days just before her death. She fortunately gave consent to the cell taking after hearing that it could benefit her children. She is later recognized through her children and they received commemorations in her place for her contribution to scientific research. "As we left Cronsville, Deborah thanked Lurz for the information, saying, "I've been waiting for this a long, long time, Doc." When asked if she was okay, her eyes welled with tears and she said, "Like I'm always telling my brothers, if you going to go into history, you can't do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was
different." (276) The great feelings of pain and hardship hurt much of how Henrietta’s family felt during the time where they were uniformed is also a great injustice because it seemed as though she was less of a person than any other patient at the hospital at that time. In conclusion the injustice of stealing from someone and hiding it from their family means a great deal to those people. As stated in the second paragraph, Deborah, one Henrietta's children, was never fully open to discussing about her mother until the author of this novel, offered to help her find information about her mother. This is how she finally came to learn about her mother and how she along with the rest of Henrietta's children were being recognized in place of Henrietta's contributions. The third and fourth paragraph, show more of the feelings of those Henrietta's children and how much the family felt they were done a great injustice. But after being recognized after so long, I see justice was there because Henrietta's contribution didn't go unknown and treated like they were unseen.