I read the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and connected it with The Post-American World.
In Kara Gurvey's blog she talks about how the theme of challenging the status quo was represented in her book. This theme occurs in my book as well. In my book, Skloot describes how Henrietta and her family challenged the status quo during their lives. Henrietta challenged the status quo in the way she carried her self and acted while she had her disease. She was not afraid and always exuded confidence until her disease took over her soul. After her death her family kept strong and didn't accept news reporters or any people who wanted to share or learn about the story of their mother. This was strange, because Black people were still discriminated against in that time and it was odd to not accept help or give information to white folks. These same themes appear in the Post-American World as well.
In The Post-American World, instead of people challenging the status quo, it is countries as a whole challenging the status quo. This is a more major problem in the grand scheme of things. In Kara's blog she talks about how China challenges the status quo. China is a country with the largest population yet viewed as a "sleeping giant." What people don't understand is that what happens in China today and in the future will affect the entire world. China is constantly challenging the status quo with rallies, protests and other efforts against the government. With these types of challenges going on, China will keep the world on edge to see what will play out in the future. Just like how HeLa cells keep the world up to date and on edge with the latest and greatest medical research.
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