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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 does Gawande say happens in the third stage of a country’s health care development?

2. What does Gawande say Jewel Douglas’ death showed him?

3. What was the effect of Thomas’ first project?

4. What does Gawande say his father’s chance of being paralyzed by surgery were?

5. How does Gawande characterize the onset of treatment for his father’s tumor?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Bill Thomas’ idea for bringing more self-reliance to the residents of Chase Memorial?

2. How does Gawande characterize the ceremony for disposing of his father’s ashes?

3. How does Gawande describe what the real job of people in medicine should be?

4. What does Gawande say goes into a “comfort pack” (162)?

5. What is the cause that Gawande says Josiah Royce described as keeping people engaged in their lives?

6. What does Gawande say are the advantages of the New Bridge on the Charles retirement community?

7. How does Gawande characterize his faith in his people’s religion, and how does he describe his participation in the Hindu ritual for dispersing his father’s remains?

8. What definition of courage does Gawande arrive at, from his discussion of Plato’s Laches dialogue?

9. What effect did Thomas’ changes have on the residents?

10. What was Bill Thomas’ experience prior to starting as the director at the Chase Memorial Nursing Home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate the ending of Being Mortal. Does it ring true to you? Does the act of scattering Gawande’s father’s ashes successfully wrap up the book? What would you change about the ending, if anything? What are you left wishing for closure on, if anything?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate your own reading of Being Mortal—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 3

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 982 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample