The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 1

I am in the middle of reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” This is probably one of the most interesting and surprising non-fiction stories that I have ever read. It is about a woman named Henrietta Lacks who is diagnosed with cancer, but a sliver of her tumor is sliced off without her permission or her knowledge of it. These cells were used to try to grow them and see if they could be immortal, and they worked. These cells grew so much, that they were used to create the polio vaccine, and solve “every diseases that was known as ‘incurable.’” In the book, I noticed that, although it is non-fiction, there are a few issues. One of the obvious issues includes lying, and racism. But these things can be narrowed down to find what the author is really trying to tell the reader.

I think that one very important aspect of the story that may not be seen on the surface is transportation. People these days take advantage of transportation, kind of like Henrietta was, but that is not the point. Without the advanced transportation that is used, like airplanes, these cells would not be so widespread, at least not as quickly. It is very unlikely that people all over the world would be affected by the discoveries these cells helped make because the cells and the information would not be able to travel overseas. The transportation in this book matters a lot. It even describes how Gey, the doctor who first used the cells, had to find a way to transport the cells across the world without letting them die, so this is part of the story too. The transportation made it possible for the cells to reach other labs where more key experiments were designed and carried out. So, Henrietta’s time period is also to blame for the spread of her cells around the world.

Another undercover issue in the book is the media. It is almost entirely the media’s fault for giving the family no idea what happened to Henrietta’s cells. This is because, as it explains in the book, the media was not allowed to use Henrietta’s name in the magazines and newspapers. They used their names, such as Helen Lake, or Helen Landerson. This gave the family no information that this was someone in their family, and it led them out of even the suspicion that this might be someone in their family. The media made it impossible for the family to even find out if those were Henrietta’s cells. This is what I find really unfair. I think that the family would be more happy than sad to find out the news that someone in their family was drastically helping the world. If the media was allowed to say the name, than the family could be famous, when now, they are forgotten.

I think that in this book, there are many underlying issues that are things that the author put there both on purpose and accidentally. But it is these things that define the main cases of the story and build it up. Without the transportation, this could have only stayed in Gey’s lab, and without the media putting them off track, the family may have known sooner. These things are what turn the story around, and in this case, turn it in the worst way.

Death on the Nile

I recently finished reading Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. It is a murder mystery about a wealthy young lady, Linnet, who marries the fiancée of her best friend Jackie. Jackie, however close to Linnet she may be, has a plot of revenge which includes following the newly-wed couple on their honeymoon to Egypt and wounding Simon Doyle (her ex. husband) and possibly killing Linnet. All of this has happened in the first half of the book. The story is very suspenseful and draws the reader in to make them keep reading. I could not stop this book, and every chapter consists of a new twist that is completely unexpected. The main setting for the book, as it looks like now, will be Egypt, hence the title. I think that the setting will be a very important part of the book later on because of what it has done for me already.

Egypt has been a common hint to me about who is involved or connected to Linnet. In the beginning of the book, each new chapter introduced a complicated new character of whom I had no idea of who they were or why they were in the story. After I found out about the honey moon of the Doyles to Egypt, I began to identify the word Egypt as a word that connected characters. This clue helped me become less confused about characters and which person does what in the beginning of the book especially, but all throughout the book as well. Egypt was important not so much to the story in this case, but more of a clue for the reader to figure out which characters would be on the trip to Egypt and the important roles they would play in the mystery.

Egypt is also the main place where Jackie decides to track Linnet and Simon down. She does this because she is angry with Simon because he married Linnet after being engaged with her. The setting becomes important here because Jackie is ruining the honeymoon to Egypt, and is a suspect of Linnet’s murder. She has become a dreaded and feared companion on the trip. The setting is unique from any other place that Linnet and Simon could be for their honey moon because they are on a boat for most of the time which makes the case much more contained, and most likely easier to solve because the murderer must be on the boat. Without Egypt, the story may have been a lot longer than it is. Jackie is cleared from one "coincidental" almost-fatal happening in Egypt. A large rock tumbles down a cliff to just where the Doyles sat but they hurriedly moved just seconds before it crashed to the ground. Literally, a piece of the setting almost killed the endangered couple. This was no coincidence it seemed after all that happened. This is when the suspicion begins, all caused by the setting of Egypt.

This book is probably my favorite book ever. One of the things that make it so interesting is the setting. I learned a lot about settings from this book. I now know that every setting has some importance to the book, otherwise, it would not be that setting. My life would be a lot different if I lived somewhere else, for the better or worse. In this book, the setting helped the story a lot by being on a boat in Egypt most of the time, this way there are limited suspects. 

The Old Man and the Sea

SPOILER

I recently finished The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway. It is a short story about an old man who struggles to catch a large fish at sea. The old man’s name is mentioned once in the whole story, it is Santiago. The story is slow moving but very enjoyable. In the beginning of the story, it introduces a young boy who Santiago loves. In the beginning and middle of the book, the old man wants the boy to be with him at sea to help him. The difference between the middle and the end is that in the end, he needs the boy. The relationship between the old man and the boy in the middle of the book and the end of the book changes from wants to needs.

In the beginning of the book, the old man is in his shack, and wants the boy to do things for him. He appreciates the things that the boy does for him. Santiago likes the boy to help him into bed, and get woken up, and enjoys when he retrieves his coffee. A reader could make the inference that he could live without the boy attending to his every need. The man is old, and needs a little assistance, but he describes how his experience has made him stronger, and that he can survive on his own. This is what I thought at the beginning of the book. I thought that the boy is very helpful to Santiago, but I would never have guessed how much the old man would need the boy. The fish that Santiago just had to catch made him and the reader and the boy realize that they need each other. 

Throughout the whole fishing trip, the old man wishes that he had the boy with him. But he manages to survive without him for the trip and catch the fish and fight off of most of the sharks. The middle of the book shows that the old man is starting to realize that he needs the boy and that he will not be able to save the fish. He knows in advance that more sharks will arrive to try to take the fish after the first shark attack. He knows that he will not be able to save much of the fish. 

The end of the book has the boy helping and healing the man’s wounds from trying to catch the fish. Santiago is so tired and exhausted from the fishing excursion and is depending on the boy to help him to recover and get better. The reader can also tell that the boy needs Santiago because he cry’s about him not getting the fish. He would rather be with the old man than fish in a boat that gets more fish. This is really sweet and shows that they love each other and will be with each other no matter the circumstances. 

In The Old Man and the Sea, there are intertwining relationships that change throughout the book. It releases a theme that can teach the reader about how you never think the same thing about a person or thing for long. Patience also is a main theme that comes from this relationship. The old man has to be patient in order to catch the fish, it takes many days. He also had to be patient to be with the boy at the end of the trip.  Patience helps Santiago get the fish and get back to his shack, and it helps build the boy and his relationship.