Soapstones
Alyson Smith
2nd Semester AP English
Henrietta Lacks SOAPSTone
Speaker: Rebecca Skloot is the speaker. She is a woman who has a picture of Henrietta Lacks hanging on her wall. As she was in her community college biology class her professor mentioned Henrietta sparking her knowledge. After hearing about Henrietta, Rebecca was intrigued to find out more about the cells and Henrietta’s life.
Occasion: Rebecca starts talking in present time as she is looking at the picture on her wall. An example of this is, “There’s a photo on my wall of a woman I’ve never met, and its left corner is patched together with tape.” (pg. 1). She soon moves to more a past tone of voice. She tell the audience how she came upon Henrietta and when she first heard about it. For example, “I first learned about HeLa cells and the woman behind them in 1988…” (pg. 2). The author was very interested in how Henrietta would feel knowing even after her death her cells are still living. This mad Rebecca Skloot want to do research and learn more. Her professor sparked the interest of the development in one of his lectures in biology class/
Audience: The audience is not very specific. In this particular passage she is just sharing general knowledge about her past and how she came across the cells. Of course the people most likely reading are students in high school or people interested in science that wanted further information. Overall Skloot is not directing to a certain group of people or groups. The language is very every day, not using big vocabulary, making it easier for a younger audience to relate with and understand.
Purpose: This particular passage is setting up for the book. Rebecca Skloot gives the background information of how she became introduced to Henrietta Lacks and the reason she was so introduced. Skloot seems very dedicated to the Henrietta case showing that she is hard worker and very dedicated. Skloot wants to know the feelings behind Henrietta Lacks and how she would’ve felt
2nd Semester AP English
Henrietta Lacks SOAPSTone
Speaker: Rebecca Skloot is the speaker. She is a woman who has a picture of Henrietta Lacks hanging on her wall. As she was in her community college biology class her professor mentioned Henrietta sparking her knowledge. After hearing about Henrietta, Rebecca was intrigued to find out more about the cells and Henrietta’s life.
Occasion: Rebecca starts talking in present time as she is looking at the picture on her wall. An example of this is, “There’s a photo on my wall of a woman I’ve never met, and its left corner is patched together with tape.” (pg. 1). She soon moves to more a past tone of voice. She tell the audience how she came upon Henrietta and when she first heard about it. For example, “I first learned about HeLa cells and the woman behind them in 1988…” (pg. 2). The author was very interested in how Henrietta would feel knowing even after her death her cells are still living. This mad Rebecca Skloot want to do research and learn more. Her professor sparked the interest of the development in one of his lectures in biology class/
Audience: The audience is not very specific. In this particular passage she is just sharing general knowledge about her past and how she came across the cells. Of course the people most likely reading are students in high school or people interested in science that wanted further information. Overall Skloot is not directing to a certain group of people or groups. The language is very every day, not using big vocabulary, making it easier for a younger audience to relate with and understand.
Purpose: This particular passage is setting up for the book. Rebecca Skloot gives the background information of how she became introduced to Henrietta Lacks and the reason she was so introduced. Skloot seems very dedicated to the Henrietta case showing that she is hard worker and very dedicated. Skloot wants to know the feelings behind Henrietta Lacks and how she would’ve felt