46 pages • 1 hour read
Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America
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.
Essay Topics
Dr. David A. Ansell, the author of this edition’s foreword, has also published his own book about inequity in the American healthcare system, entitled The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills (University of Chicago Press, 2017). How have Abraham’s ideas in the early ‘90s been carried forward and developed by Ansell nearly 25 years later?
Mama Might Be Better Off Dead is a book that deals heavily with racial politics and racism but approaches these issues from the perspective of a white author. How do you think Abraham’s whiteness impacts the messaging and insights of the book? Where in the text do you see the discrepancy between her experience as a white person and the experiences of her Black subjects most clearly?
By design, Mama Might Be Better Off Dead focuses on a very specific case study within the broader American healthcare system: a Black, impoverished family living in a specific neighborhood in Chicago. To what extent do you think the book reveals overarching issues, and to what extent does it present a limited perspective?
Abraham attempts to humanize the issue of healthcare inequity by focusing on one family’s particular experiences within the medical-industrial complex. What are the effects of addressing such a broad issue in this way?
In addition to addressing systemic racism in America, Abraham’s exploration of the medical system in North Lawndale touches on the history of antisemitism in Chicago, as well as on the complicated relationship between Black and Jewish populations in the city. How does the issue of antisemitism complicate and/or augment the issues of medical racism explored throughout the book?
In the Introduction, Abraham acknowledges that the public’s interest in healthcare inequity at the time of publication was partly due to a sense that such inequity was beginning to affect the middle class, rather than only the poor. With this in mind, write an essay identifying who you think the book’s target audience is, and what their motivations for reading it were. Which elements of the book back up your point?
The Banes family is an intergenerational family, and as a result, Abraham is able to cover aspects of healthcare inequity that affect various age groups. Examine the role of age and aging throughout the text. What is gained by viewing healthcare inequity through an intergenerational lens?
How does Cora’s memorial service scene relate to the themes and messages presented in the book?
What role do interpersonal dynamics in the Banes family play within Abraham’s larger societal claims?
How do the ethics of journalism dictate the form of the text? Think, for example, of the anonymity of the Banes family (Abraham changed their names for reasons of safety and privacy).
Unlock all 46 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 9,150+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: