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Chapter 35
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism, Classism, and Sexism
Family and Faith
Progress vs. Privacy
Technology and Globalization
Immortality and Its Costs
Summary
Analysis
Still swollen with hives, Deborah goes home to a doctor, while Rebecca visits Gary again. Gary has her read a passage in the Bible out loud, telling her that Henrietta was chosen to do the Lord’s work, and that HeLa is her “spiritual body.” For the first time, Rebecca understands why the Lackses believe that Henrietta was selected for immortality.
Rebecca contemplates the division between religion and science, realizing that for the Lackses, a religious explanation of Henrietta’simmortality makes much more sense than a scientific one. She and Gary continue to read Bible passages.
The Lacks family also believes that the existence of HeLa confirms the existence of the afterlife—that, essentially, Henrietta is living out her eternal life as HeLa.
Themes
