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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. When does Gawande say he started to write about medical issues?

2. What made the Harry Truman Gawande describes a hero in his townspeople’s eyes?

3. How old was Alice Hobson when she was widowed?

4. What was the event that triggered a readjustment in Felix Silverstone’s life?

5. How does Gawande characterize the corpse he was given to work with, his first semester of medical school?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gawande describe the transition from traditional forms of elder care to the (failing) modern forms of care?

2. How does Gawande say Keren Brown Wilson ended up starting her first assisted living facility in the 1980s?

3. How does Gawande explain the fact that our culture has not developed methods for providing better care for the elderly?

4. How does Gawande characterize the future of geriatrics as a field?

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

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

7. Who was the first person Gawande says he personally witnessed get old and decline?

8. How does Gawande characterize the finances of geriatrics?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of the author based on her style and content. What can we tell about him, based on the choices he makes in terms of description, characterization and information presentation? What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

Essay Topic 2

What is the reform you would suggest or support, to change the nature of elder care in our culture? What problem would your reform address, and what are the potential complications it would create? Who would be in favor of your reform, and who would not? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Have you or your family thought about plans or had discussions about care trajectories for the elder members of your family? What made those conversations possible, or made them impossible to have? Describe the impediments to holding these necessary conversations, and describe either how your family overcame them, or who stands in the way of having them? Why is it so hard to have these hard conversations?

(see the answer keys)

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