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The Immortal Life Of Deborah Lacks Sparknotes

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The Unintentional Story of Deborah Lacks
Negative incidents in one’s past can have an enormous impact on that individual’s future. A person should not linger on the negative, they should try to learn from their past and move forward, and look for positive aspects in life. In Rebecca Skloot’s, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, proves that the memories and struggles that Deborah Lacks endured, impacted the way that she lived her life, and helped with molding her identity. “I used to get so mad about that where it made me sick and I had to take pills. But don’t got it in me no more to fight. I just want to know who my mother was.”(9) Deborah Lacks knew that she wanted to know who her mother was, and she also knew she needed to know more …show more content…

Skloot and Deborah traveled together to Crownswell. While there they found the autopsy report, along with a horrifying picture of her sister. It’s described in Chapter 33. The picture is of a poor girl, she’s crying, and being held down by this white woman with pretty manicured nails, and her face is being held so that she is facing the camera. One of the employee’s at Crownswell gives them articles with information regarding the institution back in the fifties. Skloot writes, “The Crownswell that Elsie died in was far worse than anything that Deborah had imagined.”(275) When they left Crownswell, Deborah keeps the horrifying picture of Elsie in her front passenger seat. Whenever they made stops Deborah would show the picture to whomever she crossed. Skloot states, “Each time, the reaction was the same: sheer horror.”(277) Deborah would make up stories each time they stopped; telling people, “My sister’s upset because she’s been looking for me but can’t find me.” Or, “She’s a little puffy from cryin because she misses my mother.”(278) I believe this is an expression of guilt. She felt guilty that she could not save her sister. She knew her sister was deaf, that she died alone, and probably in pain. It was something that burdened Deborah, left her feeling heartbroken and

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