68 pages 2 hours read

Paul Kalanithi

When Breath Becomes Air

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Introduction

Teacher Introduction

When Breath Becomes Air

  • Genre: Nonfiction; autobiography/memoir
  • Originally Published: 2016
  • Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
  • Structure/Length: 2 parts, 9 chapters, prologue, and epilogue; approximately 228 pages; approximately 5 hours, 35 minutes on audio
  • Central Concern: When Breath Becomes Air chronicles the life of neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi after he is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at the age of 36. The memoir reflects on his transformation from a medical student to a neurosurgeon dealing with life’s fragility to a patient grappling with his own mortality. Kalanithi shares his insights on the relationship between doctor and patient, the challenges of facing death, and what makes life meaningful. The narrative explores identity, the human condition, and what it means to live a meaningful life.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: Discussions of terminal illness, death, and dying; personal and emotional reflections on mortality and the experience of facing cancer

Paul Kalanithi, Author

  • Bio: Born 1977; died 2015; Indian American neurosurgeon and writer; earned degrees in English literature, human biology, and medicine from Stanford University and Cambridge University; wrote When Breath Becomes Air in the last year of his life
  • Awards: Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Biography (2017)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

  • The Meaning of Death
  • Books and Literature
  • The Patient-Doctor Dichotomy
  • The Future

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will: