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Definition of Pathos
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Key Examples in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Prologue: The Woman in the Photograph
Explanation and Analysis—Wrap Around the Earth:
Rebecca Skloot highlights the global impact of Henrietta Lacks’s cells by contrasting their unimaginable proliferation with the humble reality of Henrietta’s own body. The juxtaposition appeals directly to readers’ emotions with pathos, forcing them to reckon with both awe at scientific progress and sorrow at the human cost behind it:
There’s no way of knowing exactly how many of Henrietta’s cells are alive today. One scientist estimates that if you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons — an inconceivable number, given that an individual cell weighs almost nothing. Another scientist calculated that if you could lay all HeLa cells ever grown end-to-end, they’d wrap around the Earth at least three times, spanning more than 350 million feet. In her prime, Henrietta herself stood only a bit over five feet tall.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2: Clover
Explanation and Analysis—Separate Sides:
Rebecca Skloot evokes Henrietta Lacks’s childhood not only through descriptions of family and farm life but also through her education under Jim Crow segregation. This scene, in particular, appeals strongly to readers’ emotions using pathos, by juxtaposing innocence with cruelty and deprivation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+During the school year, after taking care of the garden and livestock each morning, she’d walk two miles — past the white school where children threw rocks and taunted her — to the colored school, a three-room wooden farmhouse hidden under tall shade trees, with a yard out front where Mrs. Coleman made the boys and girls play on separate sides.
Related Themes:
