68 pages • 2 hours read
Paul KalanithiWhen Breath Becomes Air
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016A 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.
Themes
The Meaning of Death
Death is explored through numerous lenses throughout the book and is the very foundation of Paul’s philosophical and medical exploration. The existence of death is fairly implicit during Paul’s childhood and college years, as he commits himself to a “monastic, scholarly study of human meaning” (31), as his conception of meaning is informed by mortality.
Paul’s continued studies in medical school deepen his thinking and questioning, and it is during his dissection with cadavers that he learns how “their humanity pops up at you” (47). The attempt to ignore the realness of the corpses, in order to perform the operations without being traumatized, is a paradox that returns to the novel over and over again as the deaths Paul witnesses come with an increasing amount of responsibility, and, therefore, an increasing amount of weight.
Death looms over each word describing Paul’s battle with cancer. However, instead of questioning death, he questions life. He has suddenly fast-forwarded into the latest stages of his existence, for which he thought he’d have decades to prepare.
And, of course, Lucy paints an intimate portrait of death in the Epilogue. The details of the process of dying are described with a gentle 
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