In this unit, we read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot. It takes us through Henrietta’s special journey in her life. She experienced things that normal humans don’t get to experience, however, it wasn’t a pleasant one. Having those special cells led to scientists wanting her dead body for experiments. Also, the media would want to record this story or spread the story of her life through her family and others, in order to make money.
The Lacks Family weren’t in a good position. Their economic situation didn’t put them high in social status. That gave them no connections or power to know everything that was happening. They were being blindsided and those who are in contact with them aren’t transparent all the time. That being said, as the family discovers the truth little by little, they’ll be hungry for more information. It gives them the leverage to ask for other things like money. But that wouldn’t happen with the family not knowing anything, given their poor situation, it’s easy to see that they’d see and stay in the comfort zone like always.
This is a similar situation to a show called Shooter, the protagonist being blindsided to do a mission that benefits the antagonist. The antagonist lies and frames the protagonist just to get what he wants, in this case, money. Just like in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, some suspect that the scientists and media are not being transparent to achieve a goal, to get money. There would be other conflicts like collusion when two parties have a common goal. That blindsides the family and is completely unethical in this given situation as it is still their family member that they’re fighting over for. This goes to show that lying to others that do not benefit them does no good. Being exposed brings worse consequences like going to prison for money laundering or violating one’s privacy.
Exclusion, blindsided
Photo Credit: Leanne Boulton via Flickr/All Rights Reserved
Hi Renzo. I see how you view the status of Lacks Family in the story and think in their perspective to view the whole case. I found that their status in the story does stand a main role in the story as I agreed with you that the Lacks Family has experienced a substantial amount of disadvantages before the conflict of the Hela cell’s consent even started. One thing you didn’t mention in your article but I believe could also impact on their status in overall is that racism has been emphasized clearly in the book, don’t you feel like the differences between race especially white and black Americans during that time period could be another factor that causes a significant and negative impact on the status of the Lacks Family?
hey renzo~ you start off the post with a short explanation of the novel, which let the readers know what the novel is about. you also explained their status in the stories and also talked about how they had no ideas what was happening all the time. the way you analysed their situation back then is really awesome and make the readers clearly know how are they being treated. the connection you gave connects very well with the prompt you chose, you stated that the antagonist lied to the protagonist in order to achieve the goal. it connects to how the scientists and researchers achieve their goal by blindsiding the family. you also gave your personal opinion about lying to others to achieve the goal. will the lack family be treated differently if their social status is higher? really enjoyed reading this post, looking forward to read more 🙂
Hello Renzo
Your idea that the Lacks family’s social status was what caused them to be blindsided was interesting easy to comprehend. This brings me to question if Lacks family’s social status was the only factor causing them to be blindsided. I believe that social racism and the lack of policies and law protecting the patients was also a crucial factor of the time that could have led to the blindsided situation. What do you think? The connection you made between the protagonist in the show “Shooter” and the Lacks family in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” about personal violation and transparency was extremely interesting. You mentioned that exposing instead brings worse results and consequences. This makes me wonder how the plot of the story, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, be different if Henrietta and her family were to be notified and asked for consent. It was fun reading your post and I’m looking forward to seeing the next one.