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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 event does Jewel Douglas ask Gawande to help her get to?

2. What was the first place Gawande’s father wanted his ashes scattered?

3. What does Gawande say has provided him with the most meaningful experiences as a doctor?

4. What does Gawande say his father always understood about life?

5. Where does Gawande say his father’s pains began?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sara Monopoli’s story illustrate?

2. What compromises does Gawande make, to give Jewel Douglass a “palliative operation” (240)?

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

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

5. How does Gawande say that dealing with elderly patients changed his medical approach?

6. How does Gawande say the western medical model is spreading throughout the world?

7. How does Gawande characterize his daughter’s piano teacher Peg Bachelder’s final days?

8. In the metaphor of death as the enemy, which general’s philosophy does Gawande say patients should want to emulate?

9. How did Bill Thomas’ idea play out?

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

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

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,064 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample