Rebecca Skloot - Study Guide (Chapters 15-22)


Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Name: _____________________

Study Guide - Pages 110-176 (Chapters 15-22)

 

Chapter 15 – “Too Young to Remember”

 

1.) Describe how Henrietta’s children were treated after her funeral.

 

 

 

2.) What do we learn about Deborah in this chapter?

 

 

 

Chapter 16 – “Spending Eternity in the Same Place”

 

3.) Describe relevant information that Skloot discovers about Henrietta and her family history.

 

 

 

4.) How does race continue to play a role in Clover?

 

 

 

Chapter 17 – “Illegal, Immoral, and Deplorable”

 

5.) What did Southam do and how does he justify his actions?

 

 

 

6.) Describe in your own words what the Nuremburg Code of ethics is and how it relates back to Henrietta’s story.

 

 

 

Chapter 18 – “Strangest Hybrid”

 

7.) What is somatic cell fusion and how did this affect the media as well as the public’s reactions?

 

 

 

Chapter 19 – “The Most Critical Time on This Earth is Now”

 

8.) Why does Joe end up in court and what is the verdict?

 

 

Chapter 20 – “The HeLa Bomb”

 

9.) What is the HeLa bomb and why would this problem cause researchers to want to contact Henrietta’s family?

 

 

 

Chapter 21 – “Night Doctors”

 

10.) Explain the rumors of “night doctors” and who they are, according to Bobbette. How does this compare to the actual truth embedded in the history of Hopkins and other hospitals?

 

 

 

11.) Why is Henrietta’s family so angry at the end of this chapter?

 

 

 

Chapter 22 – “The Fame She So Richly Deserves”

 

12.) Describe the political/scientific context surrounding the time that Henrietta’s name was finally correctly published in print and why this might be important.