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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of system does Gawande compare human bodies to?

2. What does Gawande say he and his fellow doctors hoped to do for Joseph Lazaroff?

3. Where does Gawande say Lou Sanders had grown up?

4. Where does Gawande say he witnessed the most hellish conditions of his life?

5. What does Gawande say he tried to impress on Lazaroff?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to Keren Wilson’s vision of assisted living facilities, as the idea took off?

2. What events led to Alice Hobson saying “I’m ready” to her son, and then dying?

3. When did the experience of aging and dying come home for Gawande?

4. How does Gawande characterize the problems surrounding Alice Hobson’s declining health?

5. How does Gawande characterize his grandfather’s aging and death?

6. What is rectangularization, and how does it affect society?

7. What perspective does Gawande’s father offer on Alice Hobson’s aging process?

8. How does Gawande characterize Ivan Ilych’s experience of dying?

9. What is the triumph in the story of Felix and Bella Silverstone?

10. How is the story of Lou and Shelly different from Alice Hobson's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the key omissions in Being Mortal? Where is Gawande missing key points about Americans’ experiences of death and dying? How do class or gender change Gawande’s narrative? How do different peoples within America experience different realities than the story Gawande tells?

Essay Topic 2

How do the problems Gawande describes in health care relate to other problems that are characteristic of American culture? Are American attitudes to health care related to attitudes about climate change? Environmentalism? Labor or environmental regulations? Pick an issue and show how the Americanness is similar or different.

Essay Topic 3

“Happiness” seems to be an important concept in Being Mortal, as some people, like Alice Hobson, cannot be happy with their lot as their families move them to institutions. How do you measure happiness, and how do you factor happiness into decisions about your own future medical care? What needs to happen for happiness to be factored into the decision making around aging and dying? Choose three different scenarios from the stories Gawande describes, to say how happiness can be included, or what are the consequences if it is not included in planning.

(see the answer keys)

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