Before I Die

What does Tessa appreciate about Zoey, as a friend? What are Zoey’s strengths and limitations, as a character? How does her pregnancy change her? How does it change Tessa and Zoey’s relationship?

Describe Tessa’s reaction to driving through a thunderstorm without a license. What does she mean when she says that her death is “mine now” and that “it doesn’t feel so bad” (155)?

Tessa has a complicated relationship with her mother. How and why does she learn to appreciate her mother over time? What can her mother give her that her father cannot?

Describe the progression of thoughts, desires, and hopes that draw Tessa to Adam during the course of their relationship. What ideals, values, and emotions do they have in common? What beliefs and values separate them? 

What does Tessa mean when she looks at random strangers on the street and says, “We make patterns, we share moments. Sometimes I think I’m the only one to see it” (266)? Find two other places in the novel where Tessa identifies patterns and compare them to this instance. What do these patterns mean to Tessa and why?

Tessa’s father is devoted and responsible, yet Tessa is often at odds with him. Why are their needs in conflict, even though they both want Tessa to live? 

Describe the novel’s view of families and family life. In what ways are the characters in this novel sustained and nurtured by their families, and in what ways are they thwarted and shadowed by them? 

Tessa’s circumstances are tragic and unusual, but she is still representative of a typical teenage girl. Which of her desires and preoccupations are universal? How are these desires and preoccupations heightened, altered, or otherwise transformed by her illness?