Monday, December 8, 2014

Henrietta Lacks Reading Review

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”?

No comments:

Post a Comment