Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

738 Words2 Pages

Truly great literature appeals to emotions in order to be most effective. If the novel does not resound with the reader’s heart and soul, they will have no incentive to care or relate to the story. Thus, love and empathy for a character’s personality makes them infinitely more real. During the 1900s, ethically controversial studies were being carried out in the name of scientific progress. Rebecca Skloot investigates the thought process of the researchers and patients involved in these studies and brings a sense of humanity to their actions. In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, Rebecca Skloot compels a sense of compassion far more effectively through pathos than she does through either ethos or logos. The author manages to bring Henrietta Lack’s personality to life through her motivations and goals, whereas Skloot’s credibility in the subject is weaker and the facts presented are not …show more content…

Skloot first heard about Henrietta almost thirty years ago, as she explains that she “was sixteen and sitting in a community college biology class” (8). Although Henrietta’s immediate relatives were hesitant to speak with outsiders, Skloot was very stubborn to let the world know the Lacks family’s story. Not every author would wait years for an interview, yet the content and research in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was carefully constructed over nearly a decade. While Skloot’s research is very thorough, however, the accuracy of her sources can sometimes be questionable. A primary source of information that is used throughout the book comes from an old man named Cootie. He is quoted as he mutters “‘I know I got some information on Henrietta in here somewhere,’ … from under the mattress” (Skloot 62). However, referencing Cootie only leaves a minor blemish on Skloot’s otherwise detailed research and does not heavily detract from the content of the

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