Jodie

A girl grips the steering wheel,

Sixteen.

The snow dances around her     mocking her ignorance.

Awaiting direction      she receives silence in return.

A traffic light blinks screaming for her to move

Her foot    frozen. Nowhere to run, hide

A glimpse at adulthood     A distant future

Through reading this book the idea of being a survivor is very present. Although Henrietta wasn’t able to survive her cancer, her family had to survive the aftermath of her death, and it was pretty strenuous on the relationship of Deborah and her siblings. While the Lackes thought they were dealing with this alone, there were people around the country who were also dealing with medical professionals who were taking their cells without consent. For example, page 200 explains how John Moore, a cancer survivor, had his tumor cells stolen by a doctor from UCLA. He filed a lawsuit, where the judge decided that cells, once removed from the human body are no longer the possession of the human. Moore said, “It was dehumanizing to be thought of as Mo, to be referred to as Mo in the medical records. ‘Saw Mo today’. All of a sudden I was not the person Golde was putting his arm around, I was Mo, I was the cell line, like a piece of meat.” This is the exact situation that Henrietta had been put in, and maybe if her family had known this situation they wouldn’t have felt so alone. This feeling of helplessness, lead to poor family relationships within the Lacks family, which drove them apart. This relates to the abstract theme of “Family Relationships”.

This idea of feeling alone, while people around the world are going through the same thing relates to the #metoo movement that has been taking place on the internet recently. The idea is that survivors of sexual assault are able to come forward with their story in a place where they are able to feel safe. Coming forward makes others feel safe enough to share their story. This movement has promoted many people to not be scared of their abusers and empowers women everywhere to be strong. This relates to Henrietta’s story because her family could have greatly benefited from the knowledge of other peoples story. Since this was before modern media, they had no idea and struggled alone. As more and more women come forward with their story, family relationships struggle as the loved ones of the survivors go through it with them. In an article from the Nacr, titled, “Impact on Family Members” explains how surviving sexual abuse can impact family members just as it impacts survivors. This article explores deep questions on how to properly address situations like this, while also being cautious of how the person feels. Overall, Henrietta’s family and the family of survivors everywhere are able to find solidarity in knowing that they are not alone in what they are going through. 

Throughout the book, one common theme that is mentioned again and again is legacy and how the life we live now, affects how people remember us. On page 175, there is a steep contrast between how the world remembers Henrietta versus how the world remembers George Gey, the doctor who basically stole from her. After his death, the press eulogized him by writing, “but a footnote abiding the genius of George Gey.” This quote made me upset because these cells he got lucky with were never his, and he didn’t do the work to discover them. On the other hand, when releasing the true name of the woman that these cells came from, the press writes, “It has been estimated that the weight of these cells in the world today exceeds that of the American negro from whose cervical tumor they originated.” This single sentence was used to sum up an entire human being’s life. While Gey got praise for being a thief, Henrietta was forgotten about. This is alienation due to race because after her full life of being a strong woman, she was boiled down to just an “American negro”. That is why this is such an important read because it tells the story that everyone needs to hear. 

This idea of people’s legacy is able to be related to the real world. For example, an article titled, “Texas school shooter killed girl who turned down his advances and embarrassed him in class, her mother says” from the LA Times, writes about a school shooting in 2018. Although the reporter was just trying to report on a tragedy, the headline is very concerning. This person, doesn’t matter how upset, walked into a school, firing. He should not be remembered as anything other than a murderer. This is the perfect example of victim shaming. She was just an innocent girl, and through this nasty headline, her legacy is tainted and she is remembered as someone who “deserved it”. This relates to Henrietta’s story because both stories were shifted by the press, leaving impressions on readers that they less than they should be remembered as. 

While reading, the main racial divide that the story focuses on is between white and black. While reading on page 130, a new oppression was introduced, contributing to the abstract theme of alienation due to race. Skloot describes how in order to test the effects of HeLa on the human body, they needed to inject the cancerous cells into living things and observe. When most hear that the injection they are planning on getting could possibly give them cancer, most would not comply and reject treatment. That is why Dr. Southam had to do it without patient consent. Although this brings up questions of ethics from every aspect, the main ethical concern lies within the people that he preformed these tests on. He would go into the JCDH, The Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital, and tested his cells there, where the patients were completely unaware. While 3 Jewish doctors rejected this idea, every other white doctor was on board to abusing the body of a healthy person because they were Jewish. Although they believed that it was okay due to the tests being okay and in the name of science, they were completely unethical

Just as the racism against the Jewish wasn’t talked about in the novel, it isn’t talked about in modern day society as well. Since the Holocaust, the rise in hate crime against people of the Jewish religion has steadily increased. There was recently a march in New York City that attempted to fight against the rise in Jewish hate crimes. The article, “Why Anti-Semitism is On the Rise in the United States” by Peter Drierer explains how, thanks to social media, we are seeing a rise in white supremacists and other hate groups using these anonymous platforms in attempt to share the hate in their hearts. This hate hasn’t just been shown online. The shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh PA, took 11 lives, and was solely based on the race of the attendees. As we strive to become a more loving society and work towards unity as a country, it is obvious we need to show more love to the Jewish community. 

After reading the first 100 pages of the book, my perception on the history of science as a whole has shifted. This lesser known story of a poor woman who was robbed of her body which lead to millions of dollars made completely unethically goes to show how much power the white man had 50 years ago, but also today. On page 100, Skloot begins to go into detail on how profitable the HeLa cells truly were. She talks about how Samuel Reader and Monroe Vincent, to while males, began, “the first industrial-scale, for-profit, cell distribution center.” This represents the abstract theme of alienation because of gender, race, class, or creed because although the cells had nothing to do with race, it boils down to the fact that a white man is controlling a black woman’s body. She never consented to her cells being mass produced and her family was completely oblivious to the fact that her body was being used to make millions of dollars while most of the Lacks family couldn’t even read. 

The issue of people of color being robbed of money they deserve isn’t special to just Henrietta’s case. For years, the black community has been robbed of wealth that was much easier for white people to gain. While the white people had bountiful opportunity to advance their careers and make money, the deep segregation throughout America made it very hard to advance like other people. The article, “History of economic exploitation still hinders black Americans” from the Los Angeles Times describes how although we live in more accepting times, the years of Jim Crow and slavery are not as far behind us as we may think due to the economic impact that it left behind. This is very important to realize, because large groups of people are not getting the money that they rightfully deserve, just like the Lacks family.