Lit Circle 6 Henrietta Lacks

"No one told Sonny, Deborah, or Joe what had happened to their mother" (111)
Their whole life, they have been lied to and kept from. This parallels how the use of Henrietta's cells were kept from the family.

"He grabbed Deborah...Her father didn't say a word, just stared through the windshield" (115)
Deborah was traumatized in her childhood by the lack of care and the constant abuse by her cousin.

"The white and the black didn't mix then, not like they do now" (125)
Ruby believes that racial discrimination is still a problem in society today.

"By the 1960s, scientists joked that Hela cells were so robust that they could probably survive in sink drains or on door knobs" (137)
This exemplifies how widespread the cells have become by the 1960s.

"A public survey about their research was overwhelmingly negative, calling it pointless and dangerous, and example of "men trying to be gods" (143)
Many people disapprove of the research and experiment. This reminds me of Frankenstein by Shelley.

Lit Circle 5 Henrietta Lacks

 

Henrietta's cancer conditions got worse over time; death was a better option for her. Gey and Mary took advantage of Henrietta's death by taking an autopsy after Henrietta died and gathering data from that. The autopsy further supported the cell experiment carried out by Gey. Everyone knows of the widespread immortal cells, but no one appreciated the original owner or acknowledged her hardship throughout her cancer stages.