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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. Approximately how many people live "in the town"?

2. In what month would Lynch prefer to die?

3. What did Reader want done with his body after death?

4. What seafood dish did Lynch refer to at the end of Chapter 8?

5. What did Uncle Eddie need help coming up with as he was starting his suicide cleanup business?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lynch view a world in which certain deaths are acceptable (abortion, war, capital punishment)?

2. How do Lynch and his wife differ in their views of Milford as they walk through town in Chapter 7?

3. What statement does a casket, versus a simple coffin, make?

4. How did Lynch react to the body of the young man who shot himself in Chapter 9?

5. How did Lynch feel about the prospect of his loved ones feeling guilt at his funeral?

6. Why did authors such as Jessica Mitford attack the funeral industry?

7. What characteristic of "successful" suicides did Lynch say he admired?

8. How does Sweeney approach the consuming of food delicacies?

9. What did Lynch see as the advantage of being at the midpoint of one's life?

10. How do most people view undertakers, according to Lynch?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of Wesley Rice's work on the young girl who had been brutally murdered. How important was it that this work be done? Why did the mother insist on seeing her daughter one last time? How did Rice's "repair" work give the girl's body back to her family? Is the work done on corpses "barbaric," as Jessica Mitford claimed, or a kindness, as Lynch saw it? What kind of person does it take to do this kind of work?

Essay Topic 2

In the first chapter, Lynch repeatedly states that "the dead don't care" and that only the living care what happens to the body. Why are the dead valuable to the living? Why do the living feel the need to have ceremonies and other ways to recognize someone who no longer cares? In what ways are funeral services really for the living? Would it really matter what we do with the dead?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the assisted suicide doctor, Jack Kevorkian. Why were so many people willing to allow him to "assist" them in killing themselves? How does Lynch view the notion of providing someone with assistance in suicide? How did the general public react to Kevorkian and why was he not convicted? Is there an absolute value of life or can society reach an agreement about when people may choose to end theirs?

(see the answer keys)

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