Chapter
30-33
Discussion
Questions:
Does the title of this chapter evoke an
emotional response from you? Why do you
think Skloot
chose this title?
Compare the
connotations of the name “Crownsville” with the name “Hospital for the
Negro
Insane.” What do you think the directors were trying to achieve when they
renamed the
facility?
Why did Deborah and Skloot travel to
Crownsville?
Why was
Skloot surprised by the appearance of Crownsville? What do you think she
expected to
find?
Who is Paul Lurz? Which comments of his
foreshadow that something terrible
happened to
Elsie?
Why were the hospital’s medical records from
the 1950s and earlier disposed of?
What part of Elsie’s medical records did Lurz
have? Why had he saved patients’ medical
records? Why
was he surprised that he had Elsie’s records in particular?
Skloot carefully describes the photograph of
Elsie. What specific things can you infer
about
Elsie’s treatment based on the description of the photograph?
How does Deborah demonstrate that she is in
control when her right to view Elsie’s
records is
questioned?
Compare and contrast Skloot’s, Deborah’s, and
Zakariyya’s interactions with the Jesus
statue at
Johns Hopkins. What do these interactions reveal about their attitudes toward
religious
faith?
Analyze the way that Christoph Lengauer
interacts with the Lacks family. Why do you
think his
interaction is so different from anyone the Lackses encountered at Johns
Hopkins up
until this point?
What is Lengauer’s attitude toward the HeLa
contamination problem? What belief of
Deborah’s
does his attitude affirm?
Describe the way that Deborah and Zakariyya
interact with their mother’s cells.
What important misunderstanding about HeLa
does Lengauer clarify for Deborah?
What does Lengauer believe about the Lackses’
right to be financially compensated for
the sale of
their mother’s cells?
Why do you think Deborah tells Skloot that she
“just witnessed a miracle”?
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