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Henrietta Lacks Book Report

1100 Words5 Pages

When I first picked up this book, I knew nothing about the contents I was about to read. I had no idea that there could be such emotion, and anger, and tears, and hatred all towards science. I never knew people could be manipulated so much, and I never knew there could be such miracles, such as Henrietta Lacks herself. The quote above is what really captured my attention and what drew me into the book. I never knew I could learn so much and feel so much all while reading one short book. The book is jam-packed with drama, death, knowledge, love and mostly, emotion. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks deals with a lot of different themes, from poverty, to science, to race, but it also touches a lot on family, and morality and what it is truly …show more content…

Not only was the Lacks family quite large, but their love and sympathy for one another was quite large. When her family found out that she was sick and wouldn't be around much longer, they all donated as much blood as they could to save her. When Henrietta knew that she would soon be gone, she didn't worry about how much pain she would be in or what would happen to her body or anything selfish. Her final requests were given to Gladys to make sure that Day takes good care of her children. Especially her daughter Deborah. This was really touching to read because it really did show that Henrietta Lacks was a selfless woman and the only thing in the world she cared about was her family. We can also see the immense love between the Lacks family all throughout the authors reporting journey. In the beginning when no one wanted to talk to her, they weren't doing it to be mean. They were doing it because they didn't know who to trust anymore with their family’s situation since they had been lied to so many times. This shows tremendous love and respect for their mother since they wouldn't just talk to anyone randomly about what they were going through. The theme of family could also be seen when Deborah finally agreed to talk to Rebecca but still had her doubts every once in a while, thinking Rebecca was hired by Johns Hopkins to learn all about their mother. Another way that Deborah shows her love is that on hers and Rebecca’s “reportin journey” not only did she care about learning information for herself, but as many family members as she could. From giving the picture she received from Dr. Leaguer of Henrietta’s chromosomes to Zakariyya, to not only wanting to learn more about her mother but also her sister Elsie who she just found out about. And to me, the thing that shows how strong the Lacks family

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