Authenticity in Nonfiction: The Henrietta Lacks Story

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, author Rebecca Skloot tells the true story of the woman who the famous HeLa cells originated from, and her children's lives thereafter. Skloot begins the book with a section called "A Few Words About This Book", in which a particular quote mentioned captured my attention. When Skloot began writing Henrietta's story, one of Henrietta's relatives told Skloot, "If you pretty up how people spoke and change the things they said, that's dishonest. It’s taking away their lives, their experiences, and their selves" (Skloot). After reading that quote, an array of questions entered my mind, the most important being, "Do all nonfiction authors take that idea into consideration?" Nonfiction is a very delicate and

Is it then up to writers to share those incredible stories? For centuries, authors have taken it upon themselves to speak for someone, or on behalf of someone who is unable to share their story. However, what happens when an author begins to speak as the person being written about? In certain instances, the subject of the writing is unable to tell their own story, be it a disability, language barrier, lack of education, or the person is no longer living; so, is then ethically or morally right for an author to share that story using their own words? Collaborative writing in nonfiction is most commonly when an author works with the subject of the writing I order to write their story, much like Skloot did with Henrietta’s children. With that being said, it may be assumed that collaborative writing is foolproof, and has no room for ethical misconduct, however, that is not always the case. A prime example of this issue is shown in the instance of author Steven B. Kaplan, who wrote the book I Raise My Eyes to Say Yes, the story of Ruth Sienkiewicz-Mercer, who was born with cerebral palsy and mistreated in a state facility, and later became liberated from her mistreatment and became a story of liberation for many(Kaplan). On the surface, it may seem as though Kaplan did an incredible thing by telling Mercer's story, and it is an undeniable fact that Kaplan had the best intention at heart, but there are still some ethical issues that