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Summary: The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

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Henrietta Lacks, a black woman living during the first half of the twentieth century, died of complications due to cervical cancer and had her cells stolen from her by the people she originally entrusted to protect her. Her cells have allowed dozens of groundbreaking medical discoveries to take place. Despite the discoveries, her family lives in utter destitution, and her name has been forgotten by all but the most dedicated followers of her story. Rebecca Skloot’s book attempts to correct this injustice, giving life to the woman many simply know as HeLa. Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks hammers the point home by using Pathos to highlight the injustices against the Lacks clan, using Logos to highlight the breaches of medical ethics …show more content…

When Henrietta fell ill, she resorted to the only means of treatment she could attain: the free clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The doctors who worked at these free hospitals considered black people little more than guinea pigs, instruments to be used to carry out experiments as they saw fit. As Henrietta’s condition worsened, her doctors observed the expanding tumors in her cervix with little concern for her safety. At one point, “her doctors tried injecting pure alcohol straight into her spine” (Skloot 93). Skloot repeatedly paints a picture of a woman with no other recourses who suffers for the medical curiosity of doctors. Near the end of her life, Henrietta endured seemingly unending pain “New tumors seemed to appear daily- on her lymph nodes, hip bones, labia- and she spent most days with a fever up to 105” (Skloot 93). Skloot makes sure to evoke vivid images of a patently pathetic woman. The use of a pathos appeal is repeated throughout the novel, making all but the most hardened reader have a gut-reaction to the disturbingly detailed descriptions of Henrietta’s

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