Friday, August 9, 2013
TILoHeLA Blog#3: Authorship & Authority
What does it mean to be an author, to tell a story? Is the author the authority, or should the subjects have a say in their own lives? In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks writing about experiences in detail that she could neither have known about nor experienced. In the past, particularly in writings from the Anti-Slavery movement, this was a common practice, and was seen as a necessary tactic to combat the evil of slavery. However, we live in a very different world today, so, is this still fair? Or does this kind of book allow privileged outsiders to reap the benefits (this is a highly successful work) of another’s suffering? Explain whether or not you think this kind authorship is appropriate. If yes, why? What “gives them the right”? If no, why not? Aren’t these stories important? If we didn’t hear them from these White women, would we hear them at all?
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Being an author and having the ability to tell someones story brings great power. The author can find sources for these stories anywhere, write anything they want, and tell the story in the manner they understand it. This power may seriously hurt the persons a story is being told about, or it may empower these stories and people.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Rebecca Skloot, her power of authorship was nearly necessary. Skloot took interest in the story of Henrietta Lacks at a young age, and even after the publication of her book she was engulfed with Henrietta, her story, and her families story. Stories about HeLa cells were all easily accessible, why was the woman whom these extraordinary cells a shadow? Skloot took the liberty to give the Lacks' family the recognition and compensation they deserved. She used her power of storytelling with the hopes to empower the family.
I don't believe Skloot had any right to trouble the family to uncover a curiosity that she had, but I feel that her doing so was ultimately the best thing for them. People know what HeLa cells are, and they know who Henrieta Lacks is. Her story and her name should be known by everyone, and Skloot used her power to ensure that it was.