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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 had Konner been before starting med school?

2. What does Konner say is typical of brain disease?

3. What had happened to the woman who was rolled into the ER?

4. For how long has Konner wanted to study medicine?

5. What was Konner's status during the anecdote that opens the book?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Konner's feelings about surgery?

2. What does Konner say he finds unrealistic in TV doctor dramas?

3. How does Konner contrast American medical diagnoses to African children's lives?

4. How does Konner characterize Howard Cullen's condition?

5. What effect does Konner's opening anecdote have as a first taste of the book?

6. How does Konner characterize the split between theories of psychiatric medicine?

7. What lesson does Konner say he learned from John Williams?

8. What were Konner's reasons fro becoming a doctor?

9. How does Konner say that he dealt with Bigelow, the street person?

10. How does Konner describe his first experience anesthetizing a patient?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is it about Konner's writing that makes it so funny? What expectations is he playing upon? How would you characterize his humor? Light? Dark? Cynical? What feelings is humor meant to help him cope with/avoid/mitigate?

Essay Topic 2

What are the different narrative threads Konner weaves throughout 'Becoming a Doctor'? One is the simple chronological experience of med school. What developments take place, and how does Konner's personality, or how do his attitudes about medicine or illness or his own identity change throughout the course of the book? Where do these themes intersect? How are they developed?

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate your own reading of 'Becoming a Doctor.' 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.

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