Novel & Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions: 1. When Alice becomes disoriented in Harvard Square, a place she's visited daily for twenty-five years, why doesn't she tell John? Is she too afraid to face a possible illness, worried about his possible reaction, or some other reason? Answer. She doesn’t want John to worry about her, or stop loving her as much because there’s a possibility that something is wrong. She’s also afraid to admit to people what’s been going on with her mind and memory, because she doesn’t want the possibility of a serious illness to become reality. 2. Were you surprised at Al...

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Still Alice: 1. When Alice becomes disoriented in Harvard Square, a place she's visited daily for twenty-five years, why doesn't she tell John? Is she too afraid to face a possible illness, worried about his possible reaction, or...

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Still Alice: 1. When Alice becomes disoriented in Harvard Square, a place she's visited daily for twenty-five years, why doesn't she tell John? Is she too afraid to face a possible illness, worried about his possible reaction, or some other reason? 2. Were you surprised at Alice's plan to overdose on sleeping pills once her disease progressed to an advanced stage? Is this decision in character? Why does she make this difficult choice? If they found out, would her family approve? 3. Alice an...

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Abstract Still Alice is a story about Dr. Alice Howland. She is a professor of psycholinguistics at Columbia University and has a successful career. In her daily jogs, words begin escaping, and she starts getting lost. She has the face a devastating diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease on its early stage. This is a progressive mental condition that destroys a person’s memory and their vital mental functions. Alice’s mental abilities declined, and she had little memory of her past left. She could confuse or forget names of her children. A supportive family surrounds Dr. Alice. Despite John Howland, her husband not coming to see the mental decline of his wife, he was aware and had accepted it. Alice stayed at Harvard with her children who cared a lot about her. STILL ALICE 3 Introduction Still Alice, film that was directed by Ricard Glatzer and Westmoreland was adopted from a similar novel known as Lisa Genova. The movie that was released in 2015 is not based on a true story. Still Alice, was featured in Harvard, USA, featuring Dr. Alice, a psycholinguistic professor of Columbia University. At the age of about 50 years, the professor starts forgetting words when she is diagnosed with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Richard Glatzer & Westmoreland, 2015). This mental condition is related to dementia, and the patient begins losing memory. The condition in the movie is a well-known medical condition that results from the death of brain cells. It is a neurodegenerative illness, and this implies that it is progressive, the death of brain cells takes place over time. The brain tissue of a person with Alzheimer’s disease has few nerve cells and connections. The manifestation of disease in the film Still Alice accurately portrays most of the symptoms across the three stages of Alzheimer’s disease according Goll (2012): the early, middle and late stages. Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease The early stage is also known as mild cognitive impairment and is a gentle decline in the cognitive abilities of the patents. This stage is characterized by increased forgetfulness such as misplacing objects, having difficulty remembering names of people they met and forgetting appointments among others. At first, Alice’s condition is referred to as Mild Cognitive Impairment. Her symptoms fit the profile of a person with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s disease but on an intensified level. During a presentation where UCLA’s Department of Cognitive Science invites her to talk about her achievements in the field, she cannot think of a word(Richard Glatzer & Westmoreland, 2015). During Christmas dinner, she welcomes the new girlfriend of STILL ALICE 4 her son, but when they get to the dinner table, she forgets having done so. Alice gets worried o her condition and sees a neurologist. After explaining her memory impairment and evidence of a decline in mental function, the doctor recommends testing since her symptoms fit the criteria for Alzheimer’s disease. While out for a run in her neighborhood, Alice gets lost and has a moment knowing where she is, in a place that she runs frequently. When John Howland gets mad at Alice for forgetting a dinner date with his boss and spouse, she apologizes saying she has Alzheimer’s, and that is why she forgot (Richard Glatzer & Westmoreland, 2015). The intensity of the symptoms increases and she moves to the second stage of the disorder. Middle-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease During this stage, the inte...

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