systemic problems of Jim Crow or the unwritten laws that enforced the “separate but equal” status of African Americans. Sparrows Point Steel Mill stands as a symbol that illustrates the injustice and inequality that penetrated American society on all levels, a point which Skloot will later expand to include the medical field and Johns Hopkins.

In the same chapter, Skloot describes Henrietta’s early life in Clover. Henrietta grew up in the “home-house,” which was once the slave quarters on the Lacks plantation. The term “home-house” symbolizes the historical distinction between a home that was once used to house slaves.

In chapter 7, Skloot describes Alexis Carrel’s immortal chicken heart. This symbol stands for the public fear of cell culture, which was fueled through the media propaganda of the time. (An interesting note: Bill Cosby has a “chicken heart” sketch in which he describes his own fear of this propaganda.)

Chapter 12 introduces the storm that accompanies Henrietta’s funeral. This storm is symbolic of Henrietta’s death, her pain and the coming complications associated with her cells. The Lacks family reads the storm as a bad omen.

In chapter 16, Skloot meets the white Lacks family, who claim no relation to the black Lacks families. The chapter is titled, “Spending Eternity in the Same Place.” This is a reference to the graveyard, where both white and black Lacks family members are buried. The grave yard is symbolic because the white Lacks family cannot escape the truth and will spend “eternity” in the proximity of their black family members.

The night doctors are introduced in chapter 21 and are symbolic of the mythology and superstition found throughout the novel. The night doctors illustrate that much of the superstition is grounded in actual, historical events.

In chapter 30, Zakkariya describes the doctors as having “raped” his mother’s cells. Zakkariya’s words are symbolic of the lack of consent given to Henrietta or to her family.

Finally, the section “Deborah’s Voice,” which opens the book, also comes around full circle in the end; the final lines are spoken in Deborah’s voice. Her voice is particularly symbolic as she is the present embodiment of Henrietta and her journey illustrates the pain and suffering of black women that continues into the 21st century.

The most important symbol in this fascinating work is that of HeLa itself: the cells of Henrietta Lacks that caused her own death through the cancer but also which have benefited untold millions through the scientific discoveries that have been founded through them. As the title of this work indicates, the symbol of HeLa and the immortality it represents means that in many ways, Henrietta Lacks, in one form or another, is still very much alive, albeit in a radically different form. Note how Skloot comments on this symbol in her opening chapter, where she introduces Henrietta Lacks and why she is so important:

I've tried to imagine how she'd feel knowing that her cells went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity, or that they helped with some of the most important advances in medicine: the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilisation. I'm pretty sure that she--like most of us--would be shocked to heart that there are millions more of her cells growing in laboratories now than there ever were in her body.

The list of medical advances that have been helped by HeLa is incredibly impressive. The way in which the immortality of her cells means that there are now far more cells belonging to her body alive now than there ever were during her lifetime is an indication of the strength and power of this symbol, and just how important the life of this poor black female who had such a hard life was to us all.

The biggest and most important symbol in this fascinating work of non-fiction are the cells that were taken from Henrietta's cervix, without her knowledge, so long ago. By some curious design, they are cells that are, as the title indicates, immortal, and this is the very crux of the novel: the character of Henrietta Lacks and her suffering is something all of us have so much to be thankful for. Even though Henrietta died long ago, her life is still worth remembering out of thanks for the advances that have been achieved in medicine through her cells. This is most poignantly referred to when the author records Deborah's last words to her about death, who was Henrietta's daughter:

I don't want to be immortal if it mean living forever, cause then everybody else just die and get old in front of you while you stay the same, and that's just sad... But maybe I'll come back as some HeLa cells like my mother, that way we can do good together out there in the world.

The HeLa cells are powerful and important symbols of immortality and the way that one formerly unknown black woman's life has managed to change the face of medical science. She, against all the odds, has gained immortality for herself in a world where she wasn't valued or treated as anybody special, least of all by the medical establishment that gained so much from her.