Guided Reading Questions Pt. 3

Chapter Six: Lady's On the Phone

1. What do the Tuskeegee Syphilis Study and the Mississippi Appendectomies suggest about the history of African Americans and medicine?
2. What questions does Deborah have about her mother?
3. Explain who Ronald Pattillo is. How is he connected to both Henrietta Lacks and George Gey?
4. How does Dey initially respond to Skloot's request for information?

Chapter Seven: The Death and Life of Cell Culture

1. What controversial beliefs did Carrel have?
2. Give an example of propaganda that was used to fuel the public's fear and distrust of tissue culture.
3. What details suggest that Carrel's claims about the immortal cell line were not scientifically sound?
4. What did Gey hope to accomplish with HeLa cells?

Chapter Eight: A Miserable Specimen

1. In your own words, explain the parados "benevolent deception"
2. What does the use of the term "a miserable specimen" by Henrietta's doctors reveal about their attitude toward her?
3. If Gey did speak to Henrietta just before she died, do you think she would have understood what immortal cells were? Explain.
4. How did her doctors react to Henrietta's intuitive conviction that the cancer was spreading inside of her?

Chapter Nine: Turner Station

1. Compare and contrast the Turner Station that Skloot visited in 1999 with the Turner Station that Henrietta experienced as a young woman.
2. Make a prediction based on the foreshadowing regarding Mr. Cofield. What do you think he did?
3. What subjective conclusions can you make about Mama Speed based on the objective details on page 72?
4. What does the fact that the town still has "more than ten churches" suggest about the people in Turner Station?