Lab Girl Book Report

In the book, Lab Girl, author Hope Jahren attempts to describe her life as an upcoming female scientist, but has an inability to express her emotions and describe the events in her life with ease. As a child, she was unusual and had a weak relationship with her parents. There was minimal talk, and days would consist of her silently cruising through her father’s laboratory or reading books with her mother. Throughout the book, Jahren uses different parts of plants and trees to compare and describe her life trials and decisions she makes. Instead of telling us straight forward what problems occurred and how she overcame them; she used her knowledge of plants to mirror her life to that of a plants life to compensate for her inadequacies with expressing

Jahren quotes, “The delicate shape of those lines tells you the story of a couple of years. If you know how to listen, each ring describes how the rain fell and the wind blew and the sun appeared every day at dawn” (79). The rings of the tree show a different set of trials it faced each year. In comparison, Jahren faced a different set of decisions and risks she needed to take to get to the point she is at today. The roots spread out and take hold of the ground to then grow into something big and spectacular that only a small percentage of seedlings can conquer. Jahren is taking a similar risk by becoming a respected female scientist in a male dominated field where women are typically looked down upon. Not only did she have to beat societies sexist standards, she also left her family and took this courageous path alone. This step of maturity is similar to a seed taking root by itself away from its parent plant. She uses the plant’s roots as a metaphor to familiarize the audience with the struggles she must face that she cannot fully explain