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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 is the greatest threat elderly people face?

2. What does Gawande say Laura Carstensen found in terms of people’s values in life?

3. What does Gawande say has increased along with our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying?

4. By what margin does Gawande say costs came down in Keren Wilson’s assisted living facility?

5. According to James Vaupel’s research, how much of your parents’ lifespans determines your own?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gawande use graphs to characterize the decline of people’s health?

2. What kind of conditions does Gawande witness at the Guru Vishram Vridh ashram in India?

3. What was Lou Sanders’ experience of assisted living like?

4. What does Gawande say he learned from Mabel Nassau’s study of elderly people in Greenwich Village?

5. How does Gawande describe the development of this problem in medicine?

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

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

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

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

10. What does Gawande say about the theory that we just “fall apart” as we age?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What has your personal experience been, of the issues Atul Gawande discusses in his book? How have you and/or the people around you been affected by the decisions people make about their last time? How are those decisions reflected in people’s regular lives?

Essay Topic 2

Would you recommend Being Mortal? For what purposes would you recommend Being Mortal, and what kinds of readers would you recommend it for? What other book would you recommend that would cover the same material or tell the same story in a different way?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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