We look forward to meeting you and discussing this book with you soon! Below please find the remaining questions for the text.
Chapter 32: "All That's My Mother"
1. 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 towards religious faith?
2. Analyze the way that Christoph Lengauer interacts with the Lack family. Why do you think his interaction is so different from anyone the Lackses encountered at Johns Hopkins up until this point?
3. Describe the way Deborah and Zakariyya interact with their mother's cells.
4. Why do you think Deborah tells Skloot that she "just witnessed a miracle"?
Chapter 33: The Hospital for the Negro Insane
1. What is the purpose of the title of this chapter?
2. Who is Paul Lurz? Which comments of his foreshadow that something terrible happened to Elsie?
3. Why were early hospital records disposed of?
4. 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?
5. The photograph of Elsie is carefully described. Why?
6. How does Deborah demonstrate she is in control when her right to view Elsie's records is questioned?
7. Compare the medical research likely performed on Elsie with Gey's research and Southam's research. Does one seem more "wrong"? Why?
8. Skloot ends the chapter Deborah deciding to finally give her access to Henrietta's medical records. Explain why this moment is significant.
Chapter 34: The Medical Records
1. How does Deborah respond when Skloot suggests photocopying some of Henrietta's records?
2. What causes the confrontation between Deborah and Skloot? How is it resolved?
3. What reason does Deborah give for not wanting Skloot to type out Henrietta's records word for word?
Chapter 35: Soul Cleansing
1. How are Gladys and Gary related to Deborah?
2. After witnessing the amount of physical and emotional anguish that Deborah is in, Gary begins to preach and lay hands on Deborah. What burden does he ask to be lifted from her? Where does he ask it to be placed?
3. How does Deborah respond after Gary's prayer?
Chapter 36: Heavenly Bodies
1. Summarize Gary's spiritual explanation for why Henrietta's cells lived on after her death.
2. Discuss the impact that witnessing the interaction between Gary and Deborah had on Skloot. What new perspective did she gain?
Chapter 37: "Nothing to Be Scared About"
1. Why did Deborah decide to go back to school?
2. Why was Deborah unable to attend the National Foundation for Cancer Research's Henrietta Lacks conference?
3. Explain how Davon's actions saved Deborah's life.
4. According to Deborah, how is Henrietta's story going to be different for future generations?
Chapter 38: The Long Road to Clover
1. What string of events in 2009 suggests that, if Skloot had not begun researching Henrietta's story a decade earlier, it may have been lost forever?
3. Skloot ends the book with Deborah's voice. How does this choice impact the reader's experience of the story?
Where They Are Now/ Afterword
1. How did Deborah's death change the lives of her brothers?
2. What legal options do the Lackses have? What is their position on suing over the use of HeLa?
3. If Henrietta Lacks could know how important her cells have been to science, do you think she would approve of the fact that they were taken from her without her knowledge or consent? Explain your answer.
