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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Rebecca and Deborah go after leaving Crownsville to look for more medical records on Elsie in Part Three: Immortality, Chapter 33?

2. How much money did the NIH invest in 2009 to develop a bank for the samples taken from newborns nationwide in the U.S.?

3. What sentence did Deborah's son Alfred Carter, Jr. receive for robbery with a dangerous and deadly weapon and first-degree assault with a handgun?

4. When was the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passed in the United States?

5. In what year did Bobbette Lacks discover the truth about HeLa cells and their connection to Henrietta Lacks?

Short Essay Questions

1. When did Deborah Lacks die? What is significant about the timing of her death in Rebecca Skloot's narrative?

2. How did the members of the Lacks family respond to the new found fame they received on Henrietta's behalf in Part Three: Immortality – Chapter 28?

3. Why did Deborah Lacks fail to attend the Foundation for Cancer Research's event dedicated to her mother in Part Three: Immortality – Chapter 37?

4. How did Deborah's behavior change after her visit to Crownsville with Rebecca?

5. Discuss the actions of the doctors at Johns Hopkins in obtaining blood samples for research from the Lacks family. What was unethical about these actions?

6. What factors contributed to the Lacks family's distrust of Rebecca and of the scientific community?

7. How does the author describe her meeting with Zakariyya in Part Three: Immortality – Chapter 30?

8. What are the two main points of controversy regarding tissue research, according to the author in the Afterword?

9. What gift did Rebecca Skloot give to Deborah Lacks when she first met her in person? How did Deborah respond?

10. What did Rebecca Skloot and Deborah Lacks encounter when they first arrived at Crownsville in Part Three: Immortality – Chapter 33?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the impacts of HeLa cells on Deborah Lacks. What misinformation caused Deborah to become paranoid when working with author Rebecca Skloot? Were Deborah's fears justified? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the theme of poverty in the narrative. What role did poverty play in the lives of the Lacks family? How does the author juxtapose this poverty with the successes of HeLa?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the narrative and language styles seen in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. How does the narrative shift in the course of the book? How does the dialogue in the narrative differ from the language style of the author? What literary devices are employed the most in the story?

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