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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 did Mabel Nassau conduct the study of elderly in Greenwich Village, that Gawande cites?

2. When did Keren Wilson open her first assisted living facility?

3. How did Alice Hobson lose her car?

4. What does Gawande say is the first part of the brain to shrink with aging?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lou Sanders’ story mark a development of Gawande’s argument in Being Mortal?

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. How does Gawande characterize Ivan Ilych’s experience of dying?

9. When did the experience of aging and dying come home for Gawande?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When is Being Mortal most itself? What is its characteristic passage, or moment? What makes that moment or passage the most representative of the book as a whole? Are there any places where the book seems to depart from its typical self, as if to become a different book?

Essay Topic 2

“Happiness” seems to be an important concept in Being Mortal, as some people, like Alice Hobson, cannot be happy with their lot as their families move them to institutions. How do you measure happiness, and how do you factor happiness into decisions about your own future medical care? What needs to happen for happiness to be factored into the decision making around aging and dying? Choose three different scenarios from the stories Gawande describes, to say how happiness can be included, or what are the consequences if it is not included in planning.

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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