The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks In the novel the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot thoroughly explains many different themes. But, the most important theme in the novel is the importance of faith and spirituality. Not only does the author experience it but the characters, and the reader experiences it too. The massive question of how Henrietta’s cells continue growing is followed by many theory’s of a higher power by her family, the audience and eventually the most unfaithful, religious person of all, Rebecca Skloot. Firstly, the book directly describes faith and spirituality through Henrietta and her family. Not only were they raised up in a religious setting but they’ve always had the idea that everything will work out eventually. Overall the main question that baffled everyone, and mostly her family, was the why her cells continued growing without being inside her body. This brought up the idea of a higher power, especially to her family. Not only positives from a God but also negatives such as voodoo done by ancestors. An example is from Cootie when Rebecca visited him. “`Voodoo,’ he whispered. “Some peoples is sayin’ Henrietta’s sickness and them cell was man- or woman-made, others say it was a doctor-made.” Cootie also says he reportedly saw a spirit. “I saw that thing crossin the road to the family cemetery. The spirit stood right there in the road, its chain swinin and swayin in the breeze.” Secondly, the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks directly gives us a meaning of faith on the reader, the Lacks’ family and Rebecca Skloot. In the beginning of the book, Rebecca clearly states that she isn’t much of a religious person but once she takes a couple visits to Deborah’s cousins, her ideas and thoughts change on what it is to be a faithful person. One of the moments where faith and is changed is when Deborah and Rebecca visit one of

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